Sydney Rubinstein

Sydney Rubinstein is passionate about reimagining tourism and economic development through a lens of equity, sustainability, and local agency. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Sydney earned a Bachelor's degree in Public Health from Tulane University and has since built a career at the intersection of community development, international education, and environmental justice.

Her professional journey has taken her across the globe from supporting disaster relief in the Philippines with All Hands and Hearts to coordinating emergency public health interventions with Partners in Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. In both roles, she helped design and implement culturally responsive systems, from community resource coordination to contact tracing infrastructure.

From 2022 to 2025, Sydney lived in Bocas del Toro, Panama, where she served as the Health and Wellness Manager for The School for Field Studies’ Tropical Island Biodiversity program. In that role, she oversaw student wellness and risk management while facilitating engagement with Indigenous Ngäbe communities. She also supported faculty-led studies on tourism impacts and biodiversity conservation, helping translate local perspectives into actionable insights. 

Sydney’s research and advocacy focus on creating inclusive tourism models that protect biodiversity while empowering local entrepreneurs, particularly Indigenous stakeholders. She recently assisted in the development of an Indigenous-led tourism entity and organized evidence in support of community land rights.

At Georgetown, Sydney hopes to deepen her knowledge of sustainable tourism, environmental governance, and microfinance as tools for self-determined development. She is especially interested in participatory research models and evaluating programs that enhance local ownership of conservation and economic initiatives. In her free time, she enjoys surfing, hiking, photographing insects, and exploring cafes with a good book in hand.