Combating gender inequity in global agriculture

Maria Hinson Tobin ’14 M.S.

Director of Development, CARE

MASTER OF SCIENCE IN GLOBAL HEALTH

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Tennessee, Maria Hinson Tobin ’14 M.S. chose to focus her education on population health and inequity, earning a master’s in global health from Notre Dame. As part of this degree, she interned in Uganda with The Carter Center’s River Blindness Elimination Program, assisting with the development and testing of a model used to evaluate the program’s effectiveness and improve ongoing programming.

In 2015, Tobin joined CARE, an international humanitarian organization committed to saving lives, defeating poverty, and advancing social justice. At CARE, she applied her analytic and program management skills within the international development sector, managing and providing technical expertise for food security, nutrition, and health programs. She supported marginalized, disenfranchised, and impoverished agricultural communities, including but not limited to, Côte d’Ivoire, Guatemala, and Indonesia. At the center of this work, Tobin oversaw the implementation quality of an initiative committed to transforming the lives of women farmers, empowering them with the resources, skills, and knowledge to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

Since 2019, Tobin has also spearheaded fundraising efforts, raising more than $12 million for humanitarian aid to address crises around the world. In 2020, she was honored for her leadership in the nonprofit sector with the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Atlanta’s 30 Under 30 Award. Tobin is currently a Director of Development at CARE while also pursuing her doctorate in public health at the University of Georgia.