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Sarah Roberts 2021 Headshot

Sarah Roberts, DrPH

Professor

 

Sarah Roberts, DrPH, is a Professor and Legal Epidemiologist at ANSIRH, at the University of California, San Francisco. She studies the ways that policies and the health care system punish, rather than support, structurally vulnerable pregnant people, including pregnant people who use alcohol and drugs and pregnant people seeking abortion. Dr. Roberts' current research focuses on evaluating impacts of state-level pregnancy-specific alcohol and drug policies and understanding health care provider reporting practices in the contexts of self-managed abortion and of birthing people’s use of alcohol and drugs. Previously, Dr. Roberts has led research about public health approaches to abortion, the impacts of state-level restrictive abortion policies, COVID-related impacts on abortion providers and patients, and changes in alcohol and drug use subsequent to receiving versus being denied an abortion. Dr. Roberts has published more than 90-peer reviewed manuscripts and has received grant funding from multiple private foundations as well as the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies. Dr. Roberts co-led the Social Scientists’ Amicus Brief for the Supreme Court Case June v. Russo. Dr. Roberts received her undergraduate degree in history from Columbia University, her MPH and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Michigan, and her DrPH from the University of California, Berkeley. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Alcohol Epidemiology at the Alcohol Research Group.

For a full list of Dr. Roberts' publications, awards, and presentations, click here.

The latest research

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September 20, 2023

Associations between state-level general population alcohol policies and drinking outcomes among women of reproductive age: Results from 1984 to 2020 National Alcohol Surveys

Subbaraman MS, Sesline K, Kerr W, Roberts SCM. Associations between state-level general population alcohol policies and drinking outcomes among women of reproductive age: Results from 1984 to 2020 National Alcohol Surveys. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. September 2023; https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.15156.