Claudia Baez-Camargo, holds a PhD in political science from the University of Notre Dame, USA and a graduate degree in economics from the University of Cambridge, England. She is currently the lead researcher of the SNF project on the "Governance of Health Systems" being undertaken jointly by the Basel Institute on Governance and the Swiss Tropical Institute. Before joining the Institute she was professor of political science and history at William Paterson University in the USA. Her professional experience also includes work with the Mexican federal government in developing poverty alleviation programs as well as research activities with the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Her research interests focus on the interrelation of political and economic processes in developing countries with a strong emphasis on methodological issues.