Alena Shalaby

Education:

Bio:

Alena’s work investigates how informal and hybrid governance actors collaborate and conflict with state institutions in response to the shifting dynamics of global migration policies. Focusing on the intersections of health, migration, political economy, and governance, her research explores how NGOs and healthcare providers partner with local communities along Central American transit routes, and how these interactions politically, economically, and socially transform local institutions and actors. Her projects, which employ both qualitative and quantitative methods, are conducted in close collaboration with global academics, community members, and NGOs, contributing to broader understandings of border externalization, transit migration, and the long-term implications of humanitarian care provision. Alena holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a concentration in punishment studies and a BA in International Affairs with a focus on conflict resolution from The George Washington University. She has worked as a public health evaluator for the Healthy Hawai‘i Evaluation Team and has policy experience with the Department of Health, at think tanks, and on Capitol Hill.

Publications:
2025. (Revise and Resubmit) “Transit Migration Entrepreneurship: How Nicaragua’s Government Has Built a Profit-Driven Global Transit Migration Industry.” Migration Studies. With Kai M. Thaler
2025. “Stagnated, on the Verge of Breakthrough, or Both? The State of Grand Theories of Legal Phenomena.” Law and Society Inquiry. With Ashley T. Rubin
2025. “Sweet Lies! Lessons Learned from Hawaii’s Sweetened Fruit Drink Countermarketing” Campaign. Journal of Health Communications. 2025. With Meghan D. McGurk , Gail Ogawa, Katherine Inoue, Colin Wills, Lance K. Ching, Naomee Kong, Heidi Hansen Smith, Jessica Lee, Lola Irvin, and L. Brooke Keliʻikoa
2024. “Utilizing Community and Familial Connections to Increase Recruitment and Retention in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) in Two Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) Serving a Diverse Minority Population in Rural Hawaiʻi,” Public Health Research & Program Strategies for Diabetes Prevention & Management. With Kara Saiki
2022.“Intersections between Adolescent Fertility and Obesity - Pathways and Research Gaps Focusing on Latin America Populations.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. With Câmara, Saionara M. A., McGurk, Meghan D. Gigante, Denise, Lima, Mateus, Sentell, Tetine, Pirkle, Catherine, Domingues, Marlos