Elayne G. Whyte is a Professor of Practice at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies -SAIS- and a renowned diplomat from Costa Rica, with special experience in the fields of security, human rights, regional integration and global governance. She is the former Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Costa Rica.  She served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations. In 2017 she was President of the United Nations Conference that negotiated and adopted the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons by a mandate of the UN General Assembly. She has served in different leadership positions in security and disarmament treaty-regimes and has led several global negotiation processes to fill legal or cooperation gaps in the fields of human rights, and global health at the World Health Organization. She also has served as senior consultant for international organizations, Elayne Whyte was a Fellow at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Scholars Program and at the Advanced Leadership Initiative. She has also served as Adjunct Professor at the International Law Department of the United Nations-mandated University for Peace, as well as in the School of International Relations of the National University of Costa Rica.  With a Master’s Degree in International Policy Studies, in 2018 she received a Doctorate Honoris Causa from her Alma Mater, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California.