Larry Heilman is currently a Research Associate in the Anthropology Department at the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum.  His research focus is the U.S. Government’s development assistance program in Latin America.  He wrote USAID in Bolivia, Partner or Patron, published by First Forum Press.  He has taught a course on Latin American cultural development at Montgomery College, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins and the Institute for Learning in Retirement, affiliated with American University.

In 1998-99, Larry was resident technical advisor for monitoring and evaluation for a local government project funded by the Agency for International Development (USAID) in Poland.  Previously, he was a Director of Management Systems International, where he managed development activities, including articulating strategic plans for USAID field missions in Asia, Africa and Latin America.  For 20 years before that, Larry was a Senior Foreign Service Officer with USAID.  He planned, implemented and evaluated development programs in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  His particular interests were in planning and managing rural development, nutrition improvement and disaster recovery.  During that time, he was posted to Bolivia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso.  Larry has a Ph.D. in History from American University, an M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a B.A. from the University of Florida at Gainesville.  He served in the U.S. Marine Corps.