Learning from Experts and Community

Beyond the Pill seeks a broad range of expertise and perspectives from professionals and community members to guide its training, education, and research activities.


Training Advisory Board

Kristyn Brandi, MD, MPH (she/her/ella)

Dr. Kristyn Brandi is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School, where she completed her medical school and residency. She completed a Family Planning Fellowship at Boston University where she also earned her Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights. Her research is on reproductive decision making, contraceptive coercion, and racism in reproductive health care. She serves as the Board Chair of Physicians for Reproductive Health, sits on several sub-committees for the Society of Family Planning and is a founding member of Centering Equity, Racial and Cultural Literacy in Family Planning (CERCL-FP). She proudly identifies as a Latina bisexual abortion provider and her pronouns are she/her/ella.

Liza Fuentes, DPH, MPH (she/her)

Liza Fuentes joined the Guttmacher Institute as a Senior Research Scientist in 2016. Before joining Guttmacher, she was Senior Project Manager at Ibis Reproductive Health, where she worked on research regarding miscarriage management, self-induced abortion, and the evaluation of restrictive abortion laws. She serves on the board of directors of Forward Together and Taller Salud, and is a former member of the boards of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, the National Network of Abortion Funds, the New York Abortion Access Fund and the DC Abortion Fund.

Nia Mitchell, MPH (she/her)

Ms. Mitchell, MPH is a Birth Equity Research Scholar with the National Birth Equity Collaborative. As an evaluator and researcher, she is committed to centering on Black women and birthing people’s lived experiences, models of care, scholarship, and activism in her work. Ms. Mitchell received a B.A. in Anthropology from Georgia State University, a Master of Public Health from Morehouse School of Medicine, and is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methodologies from the University of Georgia. Throughout her career, she has implemented and evaluated the effectiveness of education, health, and civic engagement programs serving diverse families and communities.

Nishant Shah, MD, MPH (he/him), Advisory Board Chair

Dr. Shah is a family medicine and public health physician with experience working in family medicine, reproductive health, and community public health. In California, Dr. Shah spent 10 years working as a full-spectrum family medicine physician as well as an abortion provider and trainer, working with the TEACH program, and as a provider at Planned Parenthood and independent abortion clinics. After moving to Baltimore in 2015, Dr. Shah joined the Beyond the Pill team as a trainer. He has worked with the Beyond the Pill team to develop the Advanced Counseling Training. In addition, Dr. Shah works as an abortion and vasectomy provider at Planned Parenthood of Maryland. He is an Associate Clinical Professor at University of Maryland, Department of Family Medicine, supporting residents seeking reproductive health training through the RHEDI program. Finally, Dr. Shah maintains a clinical practice in addiction medicine as the medical director at REACH Health Services.

Andrea Shore, MPH (she/her)

Andrea Shore, MPH, is Chief Program Officer for the School-Based Health Alliance. She has worked in the public health field since 1997, leading child and adolescent health and youth development programs, many of which focused on the intersection of health and education. Her professional experience spans the local and national levels, leading teams in designing, implementing, and improving health programs for children and youth. Andrea joined SBHA in 2015, where she currently leads their programs and consulting teams, telehealth work, and the development of new partnerships. Andrea has a Bachelor of Arts in child development from Tufts University and a Master of Public Health from Emory University.

Lisa Stern, MSN, NP (she/her)

Lisa Stern is a nurse practitioner whose career is dedicated to advancing sexual and reproductive health equity through healthcare delivery, research, teaching, and advocacy. Lisa is currently Deputy Director at the Coalition to Expand Contraceptive Access (CECA), where she focuses on interdisciplinary collaborations to advance evidence-based policy. Lisa also consults to organizations throughout the U.S. to improve the delivery of patient-centered sexual and reproductive health care. Lisa teaches nursing and medical students at UCSF, where she received a Master’s Degree in the History of Health Sciences.