Uniting
Research and Policy

Natalia Zorrilla Ramos, originally from Mexico City, is an MPP student at the Harris School of Public Policy. She has a strong interest in irregular migration driven by violence caused by drug cartels in underdeveloped communities in Mexico and Latin America.  

Before enrolling at the University of Chicago, Natalia worked for the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked on issues related to agricultural subsidies and technical barriers to trade. Afterward, she worked for four years at the General Consulate of Mexico in San Diego, CA, where she cultivated an understanding of the complex relationship between the US and Mexico through the lens of California-Baja regional relations, experiencing the other side of Mexican diplomacy. Zorilla participated in executive-level diplomatic meetings as a part of her fieldwork in assisting migrants at Border Patrol stations and assisting human trafficking and domestic violence victims, as well as unaccompanied minors, in the process of reunification. Her professional experiences helped Natalia develop greater empathy for humanitarian causes, as she saw firsthand the importance of practicable public policy that directly targets the sources of irregular migration.

At Harris, Natalia looks forward to strengthening her data analysis skills, getting a solid analytical quantitative background, and continuing working on migration issues as a fellow at The Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts.

Natalia holds a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM).