Kelly Blanchard
President

Kelly Blanchard holds both a Master of Science in Population and International Health and a Bachelor's degree in social studies from Harvard. Ms. Blanchard held a Fulbright Scholarship in Ghana. Prior to joining Ibis, Ms. Blanchard worked at the Population Council as a Program Associate, where she managed a growing program on reproductive health in South Africa and the Southern Africa region. Her most recent research has focused on contraception, medical and surgical abortion, microbicides, and cervical barriers for HIV/STI prevention. Ms. Blanchard has authored or co-authored over forty articles on reproductive health topics in developed and developing countries. In 2006 Ms. Blanchard won the Outstanding Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association's Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Section.

 

 

Danielle Bessett
Fellow
Danielle Bessett received her PhD and Master’s in Sociology from New York University. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College. Before being named an Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Bessett taught Sociology at Williams College, Mount Holyoke College, and New York University. She has published articles on music audiences and qualitative methodology in peer-reviewed journals, among other publications. Her current research focuses on inequality and the construction of normalcy in pregnancy; how women’s reproductive careers affect subsequent pregnancies; and the ways in which reproduction (specifically pregnancy) is represented in the media.

Amanda Dennis
Senior Project Manager

Amanda Dennis joined Ibis in 2007. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College and her Master’s of Bioethics from the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Dennis is presently pursuing her Doctorate in Public Health at Boston University, focusing on social and behavioral aspects of health care. Prior to joining Ibis, she worked as a counselor at an ambulatory surgery center specializing in second-trimester abortion care and as a counselor at a domestic violence shelter. Currently, she manages Ibis’s research on the Hyde Amendment and US federal abortion funding bans, as well as several projects focused on contraceptive access in the US. Other research interests include disability rights and health care disparities.

Angel Foster
Senior Associate

Angel M. Foster joined Ibis Reproductive Health in 2002. She received her DPhil (PhD) in Middle Eastern studies from Oxford University, attending as a Rhodes Scholar, and her MD from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Foster also holds both a Master's degree in international policy studies and a Bachelor's degree in international relations and biology from Stanford University. Dr. Foster has conducted both qualitative and quantitative research in the US, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, and Egypt and has authored and co-authored over thirty articles, book chapters, and reports dedicated to reproductive health issues in both the Middle East and the US. She has previously served on the board of directors of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, on the American Academy of Family Physician’s Public Health Commission, and as the 2003-2004 President of the Board of Directors of Medical Students for Choice. Dr. Foster currently serves on the advisory committee of the Global Network of Researchers on HIV/AIDS in the MENA region, the steering committee of International Consortium for Emergency Contraception, and the advisory board of Nursing Students for Choice and in 2004 was named one of Choice USA’s “30 Under-30 Activists for Reproductive Freedom.”

Ulla Larsen
Fellowship Director

Ulla Larsen joined Ibis Reproductive Health in November 2008. She received her PhD in Sociology and Demography from Princeton University and she did her post doctoral training at the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining Ibis, she worked at a number of academic institutions, including the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Maryland at College Park. Ulla has published more than 75 papers in peer reviewed journals, and her work has been funded by the NIH and the NSF, among others. Reproductive health is her main focus of interest and her research work has been focused on infertility in developing countries. In 2008, she finished a project on infertility in northern Tanzania and a study of the cultural context of infertility in southern Nigeria.

Laurel Morrison
Director of Finance and Administration

Laurel Morrison is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining Ibis, Ms. Morrison served as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Administration at Charles River Associates. Ms. Morrison has extensive experience in financial and operational oversight.

Kelsey Otis
Project Manager

Kelsey Otis holds a Master of Arts degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biological Anthropology with a minor in Spanish from Northwestern University. Prior to joining Ibis Reproductive Health, she worked as a Project Manager for Socios en Salud in Lima, Peru, managing an income-generation project for low-income, recovered Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis patients. She has also worked as an Evaluation Research Analyst for the Center for Research in the Health and Behavioral Sciences, evaluating STI/HIV physician training courses offered through the CDC’s Prevention Training Centers, as a meeting leader for the Kaiser Permanente Viva Bien project for Latina women with diabetes, and as a limited English proficiency Project Coordinator for the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern University. Her most recent research focuses on women’s access to reproductive health care services at the time of birth in rural Bolivia.

Carol Powers
Bookkeeper/Office Assistant

Carol Powers received her Bachelor’s degree in Russian Studies and Political Science from Vassar College, and continues as a part-time student.  Before joining Ibis in March of 2009, she worked in financial and administrative support positions. She also taught English in Finland, Costa Rica, and Hungary.

Jessica Stone
Office Manager

Jessica Stone holds a Bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to joining Ibis in May 2008, she worked as a staff assistant at Women Work!, a Washington, DC-based organization advocating for women’s economic security, where she collaborated on communications and advocacy projects.

Britt Wahlin
Director of Development and Communications

Britt Wahlin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Modern Thought and Literature and a Master’s degree in Humanities from Stanford University.  Before joining Ibis in January 2007, she was a consultant specializing in philanthropy and social-issue media. She spearheaded film-based public awareness campaigns for the nonprofit media organization, Active Voice, as well as helped secure foundation funding and new business for Active Voice campaigns on topics ranging from immigration and political asylum to gender equity in science. For Greater Boston Funders for Women and Girls, she planned events and led outreach and communications efforts to educate private foundations about the benefits of funding women- and girl-serving organizations. Previously, she was a program officer at The Women’s Foundation in San Francisco (now the Women’s Foundation of California), where she made grants to women’s and girls’ advocacy organizations, ran a program that taught leadership and philanthropy skills to young women, and directed a mentorship program for welfare recipients transitioning into the workforce. She has served on the boards of the Girls After School Academy in San Francisco, Sojourner Feminist Institute, and Women in Film & Video/New England, and has published articles in film, nonprofit, and feminist publications. 

Dan Grossman
Senior Associate

Dan Grossman received his Bachelor’s in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and an M.D. from Stanford University. He completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to joining Ibis in 2005, he held the position of Health Specialist at the Population Council in Mexico City. While at the Council, his work included qualitative research on women’s experiences with misoprostol abortion, developing an acceptability trial of female-controlled barrier methods, designing training materials on emergency contraception, and training on medication abortion. His current work focuses on improving access to contraception and safe abortion in both the US and Latin America, as well as on barrier methods for HIV prevention. Dr. Grossman also works as a clinician part-time at St. Luke’s Women’s Center in San Francisco and has a clinical faculty appointment at UCSF in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

Kate Grindlay
Project Manager
Kate Grindlay holds a Master of Science degree in Global Health and Population from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining Ibis Reproductive Health, she worked at UCSF’s Women’s Global Health Imperative as a Site Leader and Data Manager Assistant on the MIRA trial to evaluate the diaphragm as a possible method of female-controlled HIV and STI prevention. She has also worked on qualitative research projects in South Asia, including assessing the impact of microfinance on women’s leadership and community development in India, and analyzing reasons for discontinuation among community health workers in Bangladesh. Her current work focuses on expanding the availability and accessibility of abortion and contraception services in the US and internationally.

Diana Lara-Pineda
Project Manager
Diana Lara-Pineda is based at Ibis’s San Francisco office and is active in Ibis’s work in the Latin America and Caribbean region, where she has eight years of experience in conducting research. Dr. Lara-Pineda was an Associate in the Reproductive Health Program at the Population Council’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean based in Mexico City from 2000 to 2006. She has been in charge of designing, supervising, and conducting studies, collaborating in proposal writing, conducting quantitative and qualitative analysis, publishing papers in peer-reviewed journals, and presenting studies in national and international conferences. Currently, Dr. Lara-Pineda also works as a consultant for the Population Council Mexico office. She is a physician and received a Master’s in Population and Health from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana in Mexico City.

Naomi Lince
Senior Associate

Naomi Lince holds a Master’s of Public Health and Master's of International Affairs from Columbia University as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and International Affairs from Macalester College. Prior to joining Ibis, Ms. Lince worked in Uganda, Brazil, and the US on projects including economic development and microfinance, welfare reform, and family planning knowledge and preferences. Her research interests include STI and HIV/AIDS prevention, abortion rights, and regulatory and economic barriers to the introduction of new technologies.

Adila Hargey
Project Manager
Adila Hargey joins Ibis with a human rights background focusing on gender. She holds a Bachelors/Honors Degree in Gender and Transformation from the University of Cape Town and is currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Education for Sustainable Development with the London South Bank University. Her previous work, at the South African Human Rights Commission, includes research, policy analysis, and training on gender and socioeconomic rights as well as gender equality.