Gabriel Demombynes is the World Bank’s Program Leader for Human Development in the Philippines in the East Asia and the Pacific Region. He leads the Bank’s country program in the areas of poverty, education, health, nutrition, population, social protection, and labor.

Prior to joining the Manila-based Philippines team in August 2016, Gabriel was Senior Economist for poverty and equity issues in Vietnam, where he led analytical work including the social inclusion pillar of the Vietnam 2035 Study as well as a study of health quality. Previously he held posts working on Latin America and the Caribbean region while based in DC and on Kenya and South Sudan while based in Nairobi. Prominent examples of his past work include a critique of the Millennium Villages Project evaluation, a study of infant mortality in Kenya, development of innovative approaches to surveys in South Sudan, and studies of crime and violence in Central America and the Caribbean.

He has taught economic development at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and was Economic Policy Advisor to Howard Dean during his 2003-04 U.S. presidential campaign. Gabriel holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California-Berkeley and bachelor's degrees in civil engineering and humanities from the University of Texas at Austin.