Diana Greene Foster, PhD

Diana Greene Foster, PhD, is a professor and demographer who uses quantitative models and analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of family planning policies and the effect of unwanted pregnancy on women’s lives. She led the Turnaway Study, 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’s work has demonstrated the effectiveness of the program in reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy and the effect of dispensing a one year supply of contraception. She is the author of over 120 scientific papers as well as the 2020 Scribner book, The Turnaway Study: Ten Years, a Thousand Women and the Consequences of Having – or Being Denied – an Abortion. She is currently collaborating with scientists on a Nepal Turnaway Study. In 2021, she received the Harriet B. Presser Award for sustained research contributions to the study of gender and demography from the Population Association of America. Dr. Foster received her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley, her MA and PhD in Demography and Public Policy from Princeton University.