Debra Shushan, PhD is the first-ever Director of Policy at J Street, serving as a scholar-in-residence and author of her regular “Shushan Street” column and other publications, public speaker, and manager of congressional education. She previously oversaw J Street’s congressional advocacy operations as Director of Government Affairs. As an analyst of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and US foreign policy, Dr. Shushan honed her expertise as Director of Policy and Government Relations at Americans for Peace Now. Prior to that, Debra was Assistant Professor of Government at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, where she focused on the comparative politics and international relations of the Middle East, including the Gulf states. She was also a research fellow at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar. Shushan’s research and language studies have taken her to much of the Middle East, including Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Turkey and the UAE, in addition to Israel/Palestine. Dr. Shushan is a former Marshall Scholar, Truman Scholar, and Yale World Fellow, and served on the advisory board of the Yale World Fellows Program. She is a graduate of Harvard University (BA), Oxford University (MPhil) and Yale University (PhD).