Diana Greene Foster, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
Director of Research, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH)

Email: greened@obgyn.ucsf.edu

Biosketch:

Diana Greene Foster, Ph.D., is a demographer who uses quantitative models and analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of family planning policies and the effect of unintended pregnancy on women’s lives. She received her undergraduate degree in Political Economy of Natural Resources from UC Berkeley, her M.A. in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University, and her Ph.D. in Demography and Public Policy from Princeton as well.  Dr. Foster designed and carried out the evaluation of access to care under Family PACT, California’s family planning program and estimated the pregnancies averted through this program. This work demonstrated the effectiveness of the program in expanding the number of points of service, improving access to care, particularly among Latinas, and reducing the incidence of unintended pregnancy. Dr. Foster created a new methodology for estimating pregnancies averted based on a Markov model and a microsimulation to identify the cost-effectiveness of advance provision of emergency contraception.  Dr. Foster is currently leading a nationwide longitudinal prospective study of women who seek abortion including both women who do and do not receive the abortion.
 

Areas of Interest:

• Consequences of unintended pregnancy for women’s health and wellbeing
• Cost effectiveness of family planning programs
• Estimation of pregnancies averted through contraceptive use and family planning services provision
• Consequences of poor access to abortion and family planning services
• Women’s contraceptive preferences

For a complete list of publications, please click here: Publications on PubMed


Updated December 2013

Citations:

• Rocca CH, Kimport K, Gould H, Foster DG. Women's emotions one week after receiving or being denied an abortion in the United States. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2013:45(3):122-31.
• Thompson KM, Raine TR, Foster DG, Speidel JJ, Darney PD, Brindis CD, Harper CC. Access to levonorgestrel emergency contraception: science versus federal politics. Womens Health (Lond Engl). 2013:9(2):139-43.
• Foster DG, Hulett D, Bradsberry M, Darney P, Policar M. Number of oral contraceptive pill packages dispensed and subsequent unintended pregnancies. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2011:3(117):566-72.