Shari Turitz became director of programs in the Public Health Program at the Open Society Foundations in January 2008. From 1997 to 2007 she worked at the Synergos Institute, where she ran a global program to build philanthropy and foundations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Prior to that she was deputy director of the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA, consulted to the Covenant House Latin America programs, and worked for the UNICEF NGO Committee on Exploited Children, where she researched and wrote a report on global NGO initiatives on child labor. Turitz holds a BA in political science and Latin American studies from Tufts University and an MA from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.