Patricia C. Vaughan

Patricia C. Vaughan, Esq. is Co-President of the Population Council. Together with Co-President James Sailer, she is responsible for the vision and strategy of the organization, working closely with the Council’s Executive Team, Country Directors, and scientific and technical leadership. 

Prior to her appointment as Co-President, Vaughan led the Council’s legal group for more than 20 years as the organization’s Vice President & General Counsel, as well as led the regulatory and quality assurance work involved in the development and commercial licensing of the Council’s pharmaceutical drug products—used by more than 170 million women worldwide. She oversaw the establishment of the Council’s subsidiary and affiliated organizations in India, Kenya, Belgium, South Africa, Tanzania, and Pakistan. Vaughan also directed the Council’s global enterprise risk management program, as well as its Institutional Review Board, which is responsible for ensuring the ethical conduct of the Council’s research. 

Vaughan is chair of the board of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, which provides education services to approximately 40,000 non-profit organizations. She is a director of Literacy Solutions NY, which implements programs that improve adult literacy, and a director of Vennue Foundation, a social enterprise that improves patient care in low- and middle-income countries by strengthening pharmacy services. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

Vaughan served as chair of the board of the African Population Health and Research Center, a premier research organization based in Nairobi, Kenya, and chair of Solutions for Innovative Policies, Programs and Technologies, NPC, Johannesburg, South Africa. She was an adjunct lecturer at the State University of New York at Purchase. 

Before joining the Council, Vaughan was in private practice in New York City. 

Born in Jamaica, West Indies, Vaughan received her Juris Doctor from the Columbia University School of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in public and international affairs from Princeton University. She is admitted to practice law before the state and federal courts in New York and New Jersey. She also earned a business management certification from New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In recognition of her experience and professional accomplishments, Vaughan was named a Top 50 Attorney of New York by Attorney Intel in 2023.