Ibis Reproductive Health

2006–2008

Courtney B. Jackson
Davida Becker
Joanna Z. Mishtal
Farzana Kapadia
Jessica D. Gipson

Fellow based at Ibis Reproductive Health
Courtney B. Jackson received a Ph.D. in sociology and a graduate certificate in women’s studies from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in women’s studies from Colorado College. Her dissertation research addressed the increase in births attended by nurse-midwives from less than 1% in 1975 to over 8% in 2002. Drawing upon sociological theories of the professions, she analyzed factors that explain state differences in supply, use, and regulation of nurse-midwifery. More recently, she started a project on the declining rate of Vaginal Births after Cesarean Sections (VBACs). Her fellowship projects will address access to abortion services, focusing on the provision of abortion services by nurse-midwives. In addition, she plans to study perceptions of Ob/Gyn residents to better understand why new doctors plan to include or exclude abortion services from their practice. Prior to the fellowship, she served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Bowdoin College where she taught Introductory Sociology, Statistics, and Women and Work. She also taught Sociology at the University of Southern Maine, including a course on Gender and Reproduction. Dr. Jackson has over 10 years experience conducting applied research in the areas of public health and community development. Most recently she conducted a needs assessment for Maine’s HIV Prevention Program.

Fellow based at Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Davida Becker received a PhD in public health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a MS from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a BA from the University of California at Berkeley. Her research interests relate to the accessibility and quality of reproductive health services. For her dissertation, she studied US women’s perceptions of the quality of family planning care and explored racial, ethnic, and language group differences in clients’ service experiences, using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. She also has reproductive health research experience in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, where she spent two years working as a Regional Project Coordinator at the Population Council’s Mexico City office, on topics such as emergency contraception, abortion public opinion, and sexually transmitted infections. During her fellowship, Dr. Becker would like to continue to study the quality and accessibility of reproductive health services, expanding her focus to include abortion services. She is interested in learning more about clients’ abortion service experiences and their expectations surrounding care, and how these may vary by factors such as race/ethnicity, immigration status, generational status, and socio-economic status.

Fellow based at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University
Joanna Z. Mishtal has a Ph.D. and M.A. in anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a cultural anthropologist focusing on reproductive rights and policies in Eastern Europe and the European Union. Specifically, her dissertation research investigates the nature of the current democratization process in Poland, examining how the Catholic Church and the postsocialist state impact women’s body autonomy, and specifically women’s ability to determine (or not) their access to reproductive health services, their role in the family, and their access to employment. While the church in Poland has gained significant political power in the years following the fall of the Berlin wall, a number of feminist and human rights NGOs have also matured during this time. These institutions and organizations are vying for influence over reproductive health policies and debating a number of critical issues, especially the current law prohibiting abortion as well as limitations on access to contraception and sex education. Dr. Mishtal’s analysis situates local Polish policies on reproduction and sexuality in the broader context of Eastern European postsocialist politics. Her dissertation was funded by the Fulbright Scholarship, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Devaney Fellowship. In addition to her research and dissertation work, Dr. Mishtal has been teaching graduate seminars on global women’s health and international health organizations at the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, as well as undergraduate courses on gender, power, and politics at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her future reproductive health research and advocacy work will spotlight the role of the international public health policies of the European Union in promoting reproductive rights and health in the new Eastern European member states.

Fellow based at the Guttmacher Institute
Farzana Kapadia earned her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University; she also holds a M.P.H. in community health education from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in biology and history from SUNY-Binghamton. While completing her M.P.H., she spent time in South Africa studying the impact of a social marketing campaign geared toward increasing sales of condoms in local taverns across South African townships. Her recent research has focused on testing cognitive behavioral interventions developed to reduce risky sexual and drug using practices associated with HIV and STI transmission among adolescents and young injection drug users. She also conducts research on individual, interpersonal, and social factors influencing condom use and HIV risk among various groups, including young heterosexual men and HIV positive women. In addition to her research, Dr. Kapadia has taught courses in research methods in public health, social determinants of health, and introductory epidemiology at both the graduate and undergraduate levels at New York University. She has also co-authored a review of the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act, which fully legalized provision of abortion services in South Africa during the post-apartheid period. Her fellowship projects will address reasons women seek abortions, with a specific focus on the extent to which partner-related factors influence a woman’s decision to have an abortion. In addition, she plans on reviewing the impact of state-specific abortion restrictions on access to abortion services and how these restrictions relate to outcomes.

Fellow based at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University
Jessica D. Gipson earned her Ph.D. in public health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, her M.P.H. at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and her bachelor’s degree in anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her dissertation research incorporated quantitative data analysis and qualitative fieldwork to better understand the formation, negotiation, and realization of childbearing preferences among couples in rural Bangladesh. Her broader research interests include: investigating how gender norms and cultural context influence couples’ communication and reproductive decision-making, and integrating qualitative and quantitative research methods to better understand and measure ‘pregnancy intention’ and the health impacts of unintended pregnancy for women and families, particularly in resource-constrained settings. In addition to her academic pursuits, Dr. Gipson has public health work experience in a variety of settings, including community outreach with a non-profit, reproductive health clinic, involvement in a research project to increase breast cancer screening within minority populations, and time spent as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps, Dominican Republic. During the fellowship she has continued to focus on international reproductive health, co-instructing a course on maternal health in developing countries and initiating a research project in Cebu, Philippines to investigate pregnancy intention and abortion decision-making among young adults.