ANSIRH faculty and staff

Faculty and Researchers

Tracy Weitz, PhD, MPA, ANSIRH Director. Tracy Weitz is a lifetime advocate of women’s health and reproductive rights. Dr. Weitz’s passion is for those aspects of women’s health that are marginalized either for ideological reasons or because the populations affected lack the means or mechanisms to have their concerns raised. Dr. Weitz’s current research focuses on innovative strategies to expand abortion provision in the U.S. Dr. Weitz also serves as the Associate Director for Public Policy at the UCSF National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, and was its founding executive director over a decade ago. In 2006, Dr. Weitz was appointed by Governor Schwarznegger to the Women’s Health Council, an advisory body to the California Departments of Health Care Service and Public Health. She is a current board member of the ACLU of Northern California. In 1999, she received the UCSF Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women. At UCSF, she serves on the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women. She has an MA degree in public administration with an emphasis in health care and a PhD in medical sociology from the University of California, San Francisco. Phone: 510-986-8939.

Diana Greene-Foster, PhD, ANSIRH Director of Research; Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Diana Greene Foster, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Director of Research at ANSIRH. Diana Greene Foster, PhD, is a demographer who uses quantitative models and analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of family planning policies and the effect of unintended pregnancy on women’s lives. Dr. Foster has worked on the evaluation of the California State family planning program, Family PACT. This work demonstrated the effectiveness of the program in reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy. Dr. Foster created a new methodology for estimating pregnancies averted based on a Markov model and a microsimulation to identify the cost-effectiveness of advance provision of emergency contraception. She is currently leading a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of the health and well-being of women who seek abortion including both women who do and do not receive the abortion. Dr. Foster received her undergraduate degree in Political Economy of Natural Resources from UC Berkeley, her MA in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, and her PhD in Demography and Public Policy from Princeton University. Phone: 510-986-8940.

Lori Freedman, PhD, Bixby Visiting Scholar Lori Freedman, PhD, Medical Sociologist. For the past decade, Lori Freedman, PhD has researched the ways in which reproductive health care is shaped by our social structure and medical culture. Her recent book, Willing and Unable: Doctors’ Constraints in Abortion Care,is based upon 40 in-depth physician interviews and examines how abortion politics affect medical practice, focusing on the challenges to integrating abortion into physician practice. Unexpected findings from the interviews led her to research and write about the intersection of religion and health care, especially in the case of Catholic-owned hospitals. This research experience has spawned her interest in how physician employers use conscience clauses in medical practice at individual and institutional levels. Dr. Freedman’s interest in reproductive health care research was born at San Francisco General Hospital (1998) when she worked as a research assistant for several contraception-related studies. Dr. Freedman is currently embarking on a two new studies: The first focused on the bedside bioethics of religiously affiliated health care institutions and their employees and a second focused on the experiences of newly abortion trained nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives, and physician assistants. Dr. Freedman received her BA at the University of Oregon and her PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Davis. Phone: 510-986-8948.

Carole Joffe, PhD, Professor emeritus of sociology at UC Davis; professor of obstetrics and gynecology at ANSIRH. Carole Joffe is a professor at ANSIRH and a professor of sociology emerita at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the social dimensions of reproductive health, with a particular interest in abortion provision. In January 2010, Dr. Joffe’s book, Dispatches from the Abortion Wars: The Costs of Fanaticism to Doctors, Patients and the Rest of Us, was published by Beacon Press. Besides writing for an academic audience, she also writes frequently for the general public on the topics of reproductive health and reproductive politics. In 2006, Dr. Joffe was awarded the Public Service Award by the Academic Senate of the University of California, Davis. Some recent publications are “Abortion and Medicine: A Sociopolitical History,” in M. Paul, ed., The Management of Abnormal and Unintended Pregnancy and “The Religious Right and the Reshaping of Sexual Policy: An Examination of Reproductive Rights and Sexuality Education,” in Sexual Research and Social Policy, Winter 2007 (with Diane di Mauro). She is the author of Doctors of Conscience: The Struggle to Provide Abortion Before and after Roe v. Wade (Beacon Press) and The Regulation of Sexuality: Experiences of Family Planning Workers (Temple University Press 1986). Dr. Joffe received her BA from Brandeis University and her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Phone: 510-986-8947.

Katrina Kimport, PhD, Qualitative Sociologist. Katrina Kimport is a qualitative sociologist whose research focuses on gender, sexuality, and social movements. Dr. Kimport's current research engages two central themes: an examination and critique of heteronormativity, including analysis of its effect in the social experience of abortion; and an investigation of claims-making around abortion. Other recent work by Dr. Kimport has examined the relationship between heteronormativity and same-sex marriage, aiming to understand why same-sex couples choose to marry and to analyze the impact of their marriages both for participants and for broader social processes, and has investigated the use of the internet for protest. Dr. Kimport's work has been published in the American Sociological Review, Sociological Theory, and Mobilization, and she has a forthcoming book with Dr. Jennifer Earl from MIT Press entitled Digitally Enabled Social Change. Dr. Kimport received her BA from Yale University and her PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Phone: 510-986-8929.

Amy Levi, CNM, WHNP-BC, PhD, FACNM, Clinical Education Consultant, HWPP. Amy Levi is the clinical education consultant for the HWPP project. In addition, she is an Associate Clinical Professor and Co-director of the INMEP Nurse-Midwifery Program at UCSF. Her research and professional interests encompass safe motherhood, clinical data sets, antenatal care, and midwifery education. Dr. Levi has extensive experience with Distance Education modalities, and launched the Distance Education option in the fall of 2005. She also works with students in the antepartum and intrapartum clinical areas, and collaborates with other researchers at UCSF. Her current research focus is on women’s decision making in perinatal care. Dr. Levi received her undergraduate degree in Nursing from Widener University in Pennsylvania and completed her MS and PhD in Nursing and Certificate in Nurse-Midwifery at the University of Pennsylvania. Phone: 510-986-8944.

Diana Taylor, RN, MS, PhD, Director of Research and Evaluation, Primary Care Initiative. Diana Taylor is a nurse practitioner, educator and researcher, and is Professor Emerita at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing. She has served as Director of UCSF’s Women’s Health NP Program, as well as the co-Director of the UCSF Center for Collaborative Primary Care to advance interprofessional collaboration and innovation related to primary care education, practice and research. Dr. Taylor has been a leader in policy-shaping activities for multiple professional groups on regional, national level and international levels. She has participated in the development of innovative women’s health care delivery models, interdisciplinary education programs, practice standards, and evidence-based practice guidelines. She has served on national boards and committees of the Health Professions Division of the US Public Health Service, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Nurses Association, the National Organization of NP Faculties, the Association of Women’s Health Nurses, as well as state and local nursing practice and education committees. Dr. Taylor has more than 100 scientific articles, books and publications in the area of women’s health. Some recent publications include “When politics trumps evidence: Legislative or regulatory exclusion of abortion from advanced practice clinician scope of practice” published with Barbara Safriet and Tracy Weitz in the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health (2009; 54: 4-7) and Providing Abortion Care: A professional toolkit for nurse-midwives, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants (UCSF ANSIRH, 2009). Currently, Dr. Taylor is also an active board member of the Reproductive Options Education Consortium in Nursing (Abortion Access Project); a board member of Clinicians for Choice (NAF); and Board chair (as well as a practicing clinician) of the San Francisco Women’s Community Clinic. Dr. Taylor received her BSN from the University of Oregon, her MS from UCSF and PhD from the University of Washington. Phone: 510-986-8945.

Ushma Upadhyay, MPH, PhD, Research Specialist Ushma Upadhyay, PhD, MPH. Ushma Upadhyay is a Research Associate at ANSIRH, working on an analysis of evidence-based counseling models for abortion. Her research interests include unintended pregnancy, sexual relationship power, and barriers to access of contraception and abortion. Dr. Upadhyay joined ANSIRH from the New York City Department of Health, where she conducted epidemiological research using complex survey data on the health of New Yorkers. Previously she was at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as Associate Editor for Population Reports, an international journal for health care providers. She is co-author of Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers, a Johns Hopkins/WHO publication providing evidence-based guidance on the provision of contraceptive methods in low resource settings. Her previous research examined the determinants of age at first sex among a cohort of over 2,000 adolescents in Cebu, the Philippines, followed since they were born in 1980. Dr. Upadhyay has a BA in Communications and International Studies from American University, an MPH from Columbia University School of Public Health, and a PhD from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Phone: 510-986-8946.

Staff

Patricia Anderson, MPH, Director, Primary Care Initiative. Pat Anderson has spent most of her career in various positions within the field of reproductive health and rights. Most recently, she served as the Director of the Society of Family Planning and before that as the Program Manager for the California Program on Access to Care with the University of California, Office of the President. She was the founding director of Medical Students for Choice and served as Membership Director and Interim Executive Director at the National Abortion Federation, while spearheading a special initiative on the shortage of abortion providers. Ms. Anderson received her BA and MPH from the University of California, Berkeley. Phone: 510-986-8938.

Rana E. Barar, MPH, Project Director, Turnaway Study. Rana E. Barar, MPH, is Project Director for the Turnaway Study. Prior to joining ANSIRH, Rana managed the Teen-to-Teen Sexuality Education Project and served as Interim Director at Answer, a leading national organization dedicated to providing and promoting comprehensive sexuality education based at Rutgers University. In that capacity, Rana oversaw publication of Answer's teen publications - Sex, Etc. magazine and Sexetc.org. Rana began her public health career working in several health and human rights projects at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and received her MPH in population and family health in 2006. She was Senior Program Officer for the Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) Program, charged with overall administrative management of the AMDD Program, including strategic planning and launching AMDD's new look and Web site. She has a strong background in international relations as well, which has been enhanced by her substantial experience in Europe, Russia and Africa. Phone: 510-986-8937.

Molly Battistelli, Director, Health Workforce Pilot Project (HWPP). Molly Battistelli directs the HWPP Project, a core component of ANSIRH’s Primary Care Initiative, which aims to demonstrate and evaluate the role of advanced practice clinicians in providing first-trimester aspiration abortions as part of comprehensive early pregnancy care. Ms. Battistelli is responsible for this multi-year statewide project with the overarching focus of improving access to heath care. She is an active member of the reproductive health care community and has a range of experience centered on strengthening care delivery and best practices, clinic systems improvement, and reproductive health research and analysis. Prior to joining ANSIRH, she worked as a Program Manager for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America focused on operations research and clinic innovation. Ms. Battistelli received her BA from Connecticut College. Phone: 510-986-8935.

Kate Cosby, MPH Kate Cosby Cockrill, MPH, Research Analyst and Project Manager. Kate Cosby Cockrill is currently directing the Social and Emotional Aspects of Abortion Program. She is leading the Measuring Abortion Stigma team, which is developing and testing an abortion stigma scale to measure stigma experienced by women who have abortions. She is also developing a framework for understanding abortion stigma that connects lived experiences of abortion to stigma theory. Ms. Cockrill has a MPH from UC Berkeley and has 10 years of experience in the field of abortion care and women’s health. Prior to graduate school she worked at the Feminist Women’s Health Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the Fayetteville Women’s Clinic in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the National Abortion Federation in Washington, DC. Phone: 510-986-8931.

Undine Darney, Interviewer, Turnaway Study. Undine Darney is an Interviewer for the Turnaway Study. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native who has worked in both clinical and research settings in the field of reproductive health. Her experience with San Francisco General Hospital’s Women’s Options Center and assisting with the initiation of a midwifery training research project in Mexico led her to a post-bachelor pre-med program, which she is now taking a break from to work with the Turnaway Study at ANSIRH. Ms. Darney received her BA in History from Occidental College. Phone: 510-986-8970.

Michaela Ferrari, BA, Project Coordinator, Turnaway Study. Michaela Ferrari is the Project Coordinator for ANSIRH’s Turnaway Study. Prior to working for ANSIRH, she was a Youth Educator for the National Council on Alcoholism and other Drug Addictions in the Bay Area, teaching comprehensive drug and alcohol education to students in grades 4 through 8. She is extremely happy to be working on the Turnaway Study, and intends to eventually continue on in the field of reproductive health. Ms. Ferrari graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Religion and Gender & Women’s Studies. Phone: 510-986-8952.

Heather Gould, MPH, Research Coordinator, Turnaway Study. Heather Gould currently serves as the research coordinator for the Turnaway Study. Ms. Gould has been involved with the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health since it was founded and has worked on many center research and policy projects over the years. She has extensive experience designing and implementing qualitative and quantitative research studies, managing reproductive health programs, and writing grants. Ms. Gould has worked in several reproductive health clinics as a manager or health specialist, including New Generation Health Center, Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, and the Marin County Women’s Health Services. In addition, she has served as a consultant to several organizations, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America-International (PPFA-I), the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP), and Population Services International (PSI). Her particular areas of interest include access to abortion and family planning, quality of reproductive health care, social determinants of health, and policies that support reproductive justice more broadly. Ms. Gould received her MPH from the University of California, Berkeley. Phone: 510-986-8936.

Signe Judd, MPH, ANSIRH Research Fellow Signy Judd, MPH, Research Fellow. Signy Judd is a doctoral student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at UCSF, and a research fellow at ANSIRH. Her broad interest is in the intersection of globalization, migration, gender and reproductive health. She is currently investigating how abortifacient medicines, technologies and services are learned about, procured, and trafficked across the US/Mexico border, and used by people on both sides. Before this fellowship, Signy held research and program management positions at Ibis Reproductive Health, the UCSF Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy, CARE International and Planned Parenthood. She has lived and worked in Spain, Ecuador, and throughout Central America, always focusing on reproductive health and rights. Ms. Judd received a BA from Occidental College, and MPH from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Phone: 510-986-8963.

Deb Karasek, MPH, Research Analyst and Project Manager. Deb Karasek is a Research Analyst and Director of the Abortion as Healthcare program. She manages mixed-methods studies investigating the impact of regulation and policy on abortion providers and patients. Her graduate research focused on international family planning service delivery and the social determinants of health behavior. Prior to graduate school, she worked for the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology at San Francisco General Hospital. Ms. Karasek received her BA at Stanford in Human Biology and her MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley. Phone: 510-986-8930.

Rebecca Kriz, RN. Rebecca Kriz is a research assistant with ANSIRH’s Primary Care Initiative. Rebecca recently completed her nursing pre-licensure year as part of the MEPN program at UCSF, and is currently a Masters candidate in Health Policy through the UCSF School of Nursing. Previously she worked at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health as the Program Manager for the Fellowship in Family Planning and the Vietnam Course in Curriculum Reform and Reproductive Health. Her research interests include increasing access to care and reproductive health, specifically as related to unintended pregnancy and health disparities. Ms. Kriz received her BA in Economic Theory from The American University. Phone: 510-986-8966.

Shauna Nyborg, Project Assistant, Health Workforce Pilot Project. Shauna Nyborg works as a project assistant on the Primary Care Initiative’s HWPP Project. Though her degree is in geology and environmental studies (and she is very proud of her 3.4 billion year old gneiss), Shauna’s interest in health began with a college job at the student health center. Prior to working at ANSIRH, she managed a women’s sports store for two years where she encouraged women to empower themselves mentally and physically through fitness activities. Now working with the HWPP team, she aims to continue to support women and their family planning options and is toying with the idea of returning to the classroom to add additional letters after her name. Ms. Nyborg graduated from Whitman College. Phone: 510-986-8953.

Aura Orozco-Fuentes, Office Manager. Aura Orozco-Fuentes began her employment with the University of California in 1992. She currently serves as the Office Manager for ANSIRH. Prior to joining ANSIRH, Ms. Orozco-Fuentes worked at the Center for the Health Professions with the School of Dentistry as a Program Coordinator for the Pew Programs in the Biomedical Sciences where she provided administrative and grant management support to over 120 grantees established at various academic institutions in the continental United States, in addition to organizing the group’s annual scientific conference. Ms. Orozco-Fuentes also worked for the Medical Center’s Department of General Internal Medicine at Mt. Zion and Parnassus as a Supervisor and Program Coordinator for the residency program. Ms. Orozco-Fuentes received a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Communication with an emphasis in Design from San Francisco State University. Phone: 510-986-8923.

Claire Schreiber, Research Analyst, Turnaway Study. Claire Schreiber is an Interviewer with the Turnaway Study. Prior to joining ANSIRH, she worked in Patient Services at the National Brain Tumor Society. She also worked on a program to address domestic violence among migrant women in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her experience as an interpreter at Planned Parenthood and with MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan’s political team inspired her to continue on in the field of reproductive health. Claire received her BA in Spanish and History from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Phone: 510-986-8972.

Danielle Sinkford, Research Analyst, Turnaway Study. Danielle Sinkford is an Interviewer for the Turnaway Study. She recently returned from the Peace Corps in Nicaragua where she worked as Community Health Educator. She worked with adolescents, women's groups and men on all facets of sexual and reproductive health. She has experience in project development, grant writing and monitoring and evaluation of reproductive health programs in Latin America. Ms. Sinkford received her B.A. in International Development and Spanish/Latin American Area Studies from American University. Phone: 510-986-8971.

Erin Cassard Schultz, J.D., Law and Policy Analyst. Erin Cassard Schultz is the Law and Policy Analyst for ANSIRH. In 2008-2009, Ms. Schutz was a fellow in the WPI. Ms. Schultz was a legal intern at ANSIRH and Law Students for Reproductive Justice (LSRJ). She also worked as a law clerk in the Health Law unit at the East Bay Community Law Center. Ms. Schultz is licensed to practice law in California. She received her BA and JD from the University of Michigan. Phone: 510-986-8934.

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