Corinne Rocca, PhD, MPH

Corinne Rocca is an epidemiologist whose work brings rigorous scientific evidence to the improvement of policies and clinical practice around contraception and abortion in the US and globally. Her research focuses on investigating how social and attitudinal factors contribute to pregnancy decision-making and reproductive well-being within the context of people’s relationships and lives. She employs advanced psychometric techniques, including item response modeling, to improve the measurement of latent social and attitudinal variables to better understand how they shape contraceptive and pregnancy decisions. For instance, her work is advancing how researchers conceptualize and measure pregnancy preferences and desires, allowing for ambivalence and uncertainty. Dr. Rocca is leading the ADAPT Study, a longitudinal study examining pregnancy decision-making and care seeking, and the consequences of less desired pregnancy for women’s well-being. Other areas of research include individuals’ emotions after undesired pregnancy and access to medication abortion in Nepal. She has an MPH from Columbia University and a PhD from UC Berkeley and is a former NICHD Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) scholar.