Affiliated Fellow

Kalisha Dessources Figures

Co-Director of the Director's Fellows Program

Kalisha Dessources Figures is a PhD student in Sociology at Yale University, and a Dean’s Emerging Scholar at the Graduate School of Arts and Science. Her research interests lie at the intersection of race and gender, urban poverty, and social policy, with specific focus on the ways in which the education and justice systems produce inequality for youth of color.

Daniel Hornung

Co-Director of the Director's Fellows Program

Daniel Hornung is a second-year student at Yale Law School. Before YLS, Daniel worked at the White House, including most recently as Special Assistant to President Obama and Senior Policy Advisor. In that role, he worked on a wide range of policy issues, including domestic and international climate and energy policy, conservation, economic policy and judicial nominations. Prior to that, he worked on economic and fiscal policy in the Office of Management and Budget.

Director's Fellow Coordinator/Law School Student

Sam Kuhn

Co-Director of the Director's Fellows Program

Sam Kuhn is a second-year law student at Yale. Before YLS, Sam was a Field Adviser with the National Network for Safe Communities. At NNSC, he led a multi-city Department of Justice pilot police reform project called the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice and developed and implemented strategies to reduce urban gun violence and violence in prisons.

Kevin Sabet

Assistant Professor Adjunct/ Yale School of Medicine

Author, consultant, former advisor to three U.S. presidential administrations, and assistant professor, Kevin A. Sabet, Ph.D., has researched and implemented drug policy for more than 20 years. In 2011 he stepped down as senior advisor in President Obama’s drug policy office, having been the only drug policy staffer to have ever served as a political appointee in a Democrat and Republican administration.

Annie Wang

Co-Director of the Director's Fellows Program

Annie J. Wang is a student at the Yale Law School. Before law school, Annie served as the Director of Research and Analytics at the Analyst Institute, working with Democratic and progressive campaigns to improve strategies for voter mobilization. She graduated from Yale College magna cum laude with a degree in political science.

David Wilkinson

Senior Fellow

Mr. Wilkinson served as Connecticut’s Chief Performance Officer, a cabinet level role in which he set up interagency data sharing and performance management systems to build a more effective government. In a previous role, as head of the White House Office of Social Innovation under President Obama, he led efforts in favor of results-driven government and the use of data and data science for the public good.

Institution for Social and Policy Studies

Advancing Research • Shaping Policy • Developing Leaders

Affiliated Fellow