Elizabeth Threlkeld is a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center, where she has worked since 2018 and previously served as deputy director. She leads the Program’s work across a range of initiatives including online publications, educational courses, fellowships, dialogues, and analysis. Her own research focuses on nuclear competition in Southern Asia, regional security dynamics, and Indo-Pacific geopolitics. Her writing has appeared in leading foreign policy publications, and she is frequently quoted in the media on South Asia and regional security issues.
Before joining Stimson, Threlkeld served as a U.S. Foreign Service officer in Monterrey, Mexico, and Islamabad and Peshawar, Pakistan, where she focused on political and security developments in the western border region. She also worked in northern Iraq’s Kurdish area, managing development programs on gender-based violence and ethno-sectarian reconciliation. She began her career with the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.
Threlkeld holds an MPhil in Politics and International Relations from the University of Cambridge and a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Swarthmore College. She is a recipient of a Department of State Superior Honor Award and the Matilda W. Sinclaire Language Award.
