Pearl Teiko, she/her

Class of 2025

Pearl Teiko is a Master of Public Policy student at Duke Sanford. Born in Ghana but raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, Pearl developed an interest in promoting social and health equity for marginalized communities through her own experiences of disadvantage. Pearl received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Policy & Health and Society from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023 (Go Heels!). Before joining Duke Sanford, Pearl worked as a Senate Intern at the North Carolina General Assembly in the office of the Senate Minority Whip during the 2022-2023 session. In this role, she engaged with Senator Jay Chaudhuri to study the legislative process and think critically about the intersection of policy, politics, and society. She also worked as a Research Assistant for the LITE Plus project, where she supported the NIH-funded study as it sought to observe the effects of minority stress on the health of transgender Black and Latinx women diagnosed with HIV. In the future, she hopes to work with state and federal governments to implement policies that reduce health inequities across the nation. In her free time, Pearl enjoys listening to (mostly) non-violent true crime podcasts, weightlifting, and visiting gardens.

Areas of Policy Interest: