Itena Dhrami is an Adjunct Lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. She is also a Law Enforcement Intelligence Analyst, working for the New York City Business Integrity Commission, Background Investigations Unit with a focus on organized crime. Previously, she was a Research Analyst with the Research Foundation of the City of New York, working on exploring the topics of transnational crime, terrorism, human trafficking, and human smuggling. This position followed her role as a Research Assistant with John Jay College of Criminal Justice Investigative Psychology Research Unit, a two-year collaboration with the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Behavioral Science Unit (BSU). Her work focused on analyzing crime scenes of adjudicated serial homicide cases, in order to create an applicable model of empirical profiling that would link homicide cases, based on evidence collected at the crime scene. Prior to joining John Jay College of Criminal Justice, she worked as a Research Assistant at Columbia University in the City of New York where she also completed her undergraduate education, and for four years she was a member of the Editorial Review Board of Columbia University Undergraduate Science Journal.

She was born in Albania. In her native country, she worked as a Humanitarian Aid Worker for United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) where she participated in collecting testimonies from war victims to be presented at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and provided first assistance to refugees crossing the border from Kosovo to Albania, and to victims of rape and long-term abuse. She was a Team Leader of Humanitarian Aid Workers for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Under the guidance and training of UNICEF, CARE International, and NATO, she was a Community Facilitator for increasing awareness against the danger of Mines and Weapons during the War in Kosovo. In addition, she was an interviewer for CARE International during the Emergency Livelihood Assessment (ELSA) of Albanian families hosting Kosovar Refugees.

Her current research interests rest with examining issues concerning global security and transnational organized crime with a focus in East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea).