Penny Rechkemmer, left, at the reception to welcome her as the new US Embassy Public Relations Officer, hosted by Chargé d’Affaires Lisa Johnson, right.
US Charge d’Affaires Lisa Johnson hosted a welcome reception for the embassy’s new Public Affairs Officer (PAO) Penny Rechkemmer at the US Ambassador’s Residence on Wednesday.
The event attracted a cross-section of key embassy contacts representing government, civil society, the arts, education, NGOs, State Department alumni and the media.
Ms Rechkemmer began her career at the State Department through an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Diplomacy Fellowship. Her experiences in the Office of International Women’s Issues and Bureau of International Organisations led her to join the Foreign Service where she’s served in Mumbai, India and Lima, Peru. Prior to coming to the State Department, she worked as a research fellow at Johns Hopkins University with at risk youth in one of Baltimore’s toughest neighbourhoods.
Born and raised in Iowa, she received a MA and BA in anthropology from Iowa State University, where she conducted field research with women farmers in Ara, Nigeria. She then moved across the border to Minnesota where received a MPH and PhD both from the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health. Ms Rechkemmer conducted her PhD research in environmental health, investigating the health effects of cooking fuels on women’s respiratory health in Mysore, India.
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