About Us

Who We Are

Beyond the Pill is administered by an outstanding team of physicians, experts in public health and research, and reproductive health advocates.

The Beyond the Pill team includes:

Faculty and Investigators

Research and Training Team

Research Collaborators

  • Alison El Ayadi, ScD, MPH, Assistant Professor - Departments of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences and Epidemiology & Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco
  • Kristine Hopkins, PhD, Project Lead - UT Austin College Health Study, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
  • Jennifer Robinson, MS, WHNP-BC, CNM, Director of Clinical Training - LARC Mentoring Program, University of New Mexico, School of Medicine, Division of Adolescent Medicine
  • Corinne Rocca, PhD, MPH, Professor and Epidemiologist - Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences, University of California, San Francisco
  • Irene Rossetto, PhD, Project Manager - UT Austin College Health Study, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin

Interns

 

Faculty and Investigators

Cynthia Harper

Cynthia Harper, PhD, Professor and Director

Cynthia C. Harper, PhD, is a Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences and a faculty of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She received her master’s in international and public affairs from Columbia University, doctorate in demography and public policy from Princeton University, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research aims to improve family planning policies and service delivery through streamlined access to care. She has worked to remove unnecessary procedures in contraceptive care, including the pelvic examination for hormonal contraception and lengthy protocols for long-acting contraceptives. Her research has supported expanded roles of nursing and pharmacy professions in contraceptive delivery, including over-the-counter access. She has conducted research in emergency contraception that helped to transform clinical practice and policy, and led to the FDA approval of over-the-counter status of levonorgestrel emergency contraception and the removal of the age restriction. Dr. Harper completed a national cluster randomized trial on long-acting contraceptives in 40 Planned Parenthood health centers demonstrating the effectiveness of the UCSF Bixby Beyond the Pill Program's provider training curriculum in reducing unintended pregnancy among family planning clients. Her research team is conducting implementation science with provider training and patient education initiatives in a variety of clinic settings in addition to Planned Parenthoods, including departments of health, hospitals, and primary care. She also heads an initiative to bring contraceptive training and education to community colleges.

Dr. Harper has worked together with investigators in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, including a multi-center NIH study on physicians’ and nurses’ attitudes and clinical practices in HIV prevention and contraception. She has measured the impact of unsafe abortion on maternal morbidity and mortality in developing regions, and has evaluated the impact of policy changes on the safety of services. Dr. Harper is the 2013 recipient of Guttmacher Institute’s Darroch Award in Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research.

Areas of Interest: access to contraception, long-acting reversible contraception, provider training and clinical practices, emergency contraception, adolescent contraception, adolescent contraception, family planning policies, HIV/STI prevention. 

Alison B. Comfort, PhD, Health Economist

Alison B. Comfort, PhD, is a health economist who received her doctorate in Health Policy (Economics concentration) from Harvard University and her BA in Economics and Spanish from Amherst College. Her research has focused on evaluating interventions to improve reproductive, maternal and child health, both in the United States and in developing countries. She has worked on several randomized controlled trials, including an impact evaluation to assess the effect of providing community health workers with free pregnancy tests for distribution to improve provision of hormonal contraceptives and uptake of antenatal care counseling in Madagascar. She has also evaluated the long-term effects of in-utero conditions on maternal survival later in a woman’s life using secondary data from several African countries and conducted several studies related to malaria, including an impact evaluation assessing the effect of price on demand for anti-malarial bednets. In the United States, she is conducting implementation science research on provider training and patient education in clinic settings to increase contraceptive provision, including through school based health centers. She speaks French, Spanish and Malagasy and previously served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Madagascar.

Suzan Goodman, MD, MPH, National Training Director

Dr. Goodman serves as National Training Director for the UCSF Bixby Beyond the Pill Program. She has worked to streamline and remove unnecessary procedures in contraceptive care. She has implemented training programs for thousands of reproductive and primary health care providers within clinics, public health agencies, colleges, and hospitals. Additionally, she serves as an Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine, and provides reproductive health care and emergency medicine. Dr. Goodman was a Co-Founder, Curriculum and Program Director of the TEACH Program which cultivates the next generation of reproductive health champions through training, curriculum, advocacy, and leadership development. She served on the Planned Parenthood National Medical Committee (2010-2016), and has provided technical assistance and consulting for Ipas, PPFA, ARMS, ARHP, DOW, IMC, and Center for International Reproductive Health Training in domestic and international settings.

Jennifer Yarger

Jennifer Yarger, PhD, Assistant Researcher

Jennifer Yarger, PhD, is an Associate Researcher in Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Reproductive Sciences. She received a doctorate in public policy and sociology (social demography concentration) from the University of Michigan, and a BA in Political Science from Wellesley College. Her work focuses on improving access to sexual and reproductive health information and services and reducing disparities in reproductive health outcomes, particularly among adolescents and young adults in the United States. Dr. Yarger has published papers examining racial, socioeconomic, and geographic disparities in the use of family planning services and related attitudes. In her work with Dr. Harper and Beyond the Pill, she is conducting a cluster randomized trial to test an intervention to increase awareness of and access to contraception among students aged 18-25 in community colleges. She is also engaged in developing and testing new youth-friendly, digital materials to educate youth about the full range of contraceptive methods available to them. Other areas of interest include health insurance and access to care, confidentiality in the provision of family planning services, and the evaluation of state family planning and teen pregnancy prevention programs.

 

Research and Training Team

Alejandra Alvarez, MPH, Research Analyst

Alejandra (she/ her) is a Research Analyst for Beyond the Pill. She has a broad background in global health, with experience in data management for clinical trials in Rwanda and Zambia as well as experience with a youth health education program in the Dominican Republic. Before joining the Beyond the Pill team, she was working as a database manager for the San Francisco Department of Public Health with the COVID response Epi Team. She completed her Master’s in Public Health in 2020 in Epidemiology where she focused on global health and infectious diseases

Maya Blum

Maya Blum, MPH, Associate Director

Maya directs and manages operations for Beyond the Pill, including finances, contracts and human resources, and contributes to program policy, strategy and partnerships. She also provides technical direction to research projects and the national training program. Her work focuses on promoting reproductive health through innovation and rigorous research. She has extensive experience implementing high-quality studies in the US and globally, including in Nepal, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Maya received her MPH in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa.

Sarah Elmes, MS, Research Data Manager

Sarah is a Research Data Manager for Beyond the Pill. She received an MS in International and Development Economics from the University of San Francisco and a BA in International Affairs and Human Services from Northeastern University. Sarah has a background in research design and econometric evaluation. She has conducted global health research using geospatial and nutrition data as well as conducted empirical field research in Latin America. She is passionate about using data and research to improve access to health services.

Connie Folse

Connie Folse, MPH, CHES, Training and Education Manager

Connie is a Certified Health Education Specialist and has provided reproductive health education and counseling in diverse settings, including Title X clinics, STD/HIV clinics, school-based health centers, middle and high schools classrooms and on college campuses. Since earning her Master’s in Public Health in 2005, she has been providing direct services as well as training medical providers and allied health professionals to talk with both youth and adults about sexuality and contraceptive decision-making. As the Training and Education Manager for Beyond the Pill, she develops nationally-recognized patient education materials and resources around contraceptive options. Connie leads our team of expert health education trainers and manages the accreditation of our national training curriculum.

Julia Mercer, Program Analyst

Julia is a Program Analyst at Beyond the Pill, focused on providing administrative support to the program’s training and research teams. Previously, she provided direct sexual and reproductive health services for patients at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte as a Health Services Specialist, as well as clinic administrative support as Center Administrative Support Coordinator. Julia received her BA in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, and Environmental Studies from Dickinson College, and is deeply passionate about both reproductive and environmental justice.

Lavanya Rao

Erica Somerson, MSc, Training Coordinator

Erica Somerson is the Training Coordinator for Beyond the Pill, overseeing the implementation of the national training program. Prior to joining BTP, Erica worked in sexual and gender-based violence prevention across spheres of community education, research, and evaluation. She is a mentor to girls and gender expansive youth at Sadie Nash Leadership Project, and an advocate for reproductive justice, queer liberation, and sex workers’ rights. Erica received her master’s in International Social and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and her bachelor’s in Integrated Studies — with foci in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies — from Ball State University.

  

Dani Van Liefde, Research Coordinator

Dani is a Research Coordinator for Beyond the Pill, working on a randomized control trial to increase awareness of and access to contraception among college students. She has a background in global health, previously working in West and Sub-Saharan Africa coordinating malnutrition research with Washington University School of Medicine and non-profit organization Project Peanut Butter. She also has experience working for the CDC’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project at SFDPH. Dani received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

 

Research Collaborators

Jennifer Robinson, MS, WHNP-BC, CNM

Jen Robinson, MS, WHNP-BC, CNM (she/her) serves as the Director of Clinical Training for the University of New Mexico LARC Mentoring Program. Jen has worked in New Mexico for over eleven years as a dual board-certified women’s health NP and nurse midwife. She has specialized in contraceptive care and adolescent gynecology for the past seven years. Jen is also a clinician trainer for the Beyond the Pill program from the University of California-San Francisco Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology Postpartum Contraceptive Access Initiative Program. Jen serves as a clinical preceptor for pediatric residents and medical students, nurse midwife and nurse practitioner students, and community providers. In her spare time, Jen enjoys taking care of her two young children, walking along the arroyos in her neighborhood with her chihuahua, keeping her growing houseplant forest alive, and also loves eating anything smothered in green chile and cheese.

Irene Rossetto, PhD

Irene Rossetto is the UT Austin College Health Project Manager. She is also a Research Associate at the Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies (LLILAS) of UT Austin. Irene holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil. She worked in Brazil for several years as a Researcher at the Laboratory for Ethnic and Race Inequality of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (LAESER-UFRJ) and as Project Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-UN). Her research interests focus on race, racial inequality and public policies.

Interns

Sei Dojiri, Medical Student Intern

Sei (she/her) conducts research and produces visual graphics for Beyond the Pill. She is passionate about contraceptive care, transgender health, and health literacy. Prior to joining Beyond the Pill, she worked at Planned Parenthood providing reproductive health services. Sei is currently a medical student at UCSF and received her BA in Molecular and Cell Biology with a minor in Global Poverty from the University of California, Berkeley.

  

Astrid Quirarte, Undergraduate Research Intern

Astrid A. Quirarte is a student intern through the Undergraduate Research Internship program at UCSF's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Astrid is a rising senior at UC Berkeley and studies Molecular and Cell Biology while focusing on extracurricular activities that promote public health in minoritized communities. While she is new to the field of reproductive health, she is very much aware of the health disparities that exist in communities of Color and has done advocacy work as a health educator to address those disparities. She is currently working on creating educational materials that address contraceptive use and analyzing the effectiveness of such materials in the community.

Annalisa Watson, Graduate Research Intern

Annalisa (she/her) is a Graduate Research Intern at Beyond the Pill focused on analyzing survey data from the community college randomized control trial. She is currently a Master of Public Health student at UC Berkeley in the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health program and received a BS in Psychobiology and a minor in Global Health at UCLA. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at UCSF in the Institute for Health Policy Studies, supporting research in pediatric health services. Annalisa is relatively new to the reproductive health field and is excited to apply her data analysis skills to support contraceptive access research.