MacFarlane provides MDRC’s Data Collection Unit with expertise in designing and implementing web-based surveys across diverse sectors. He advises project teams on best practices for developing online and text-message-based tools and executing survey, projects while spearheading efforts to update reporting and data-visualization initiatives. Before joining MDRC, MacFarlane worked for nonprofit organizations on child protection and public health research internationally, managing evaluation projects across developing countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. He holds an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Guelph and a master’s degree in public health and epidemiology from Columbia University.