Cynthia Harper, PhD

Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences

Email: harperc@obgyn.ucsf.edu

Biosketch:

Cynthia C. Harper, PhD, is a faculty member 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 completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania.  Her research aims to improve family planning policies and clinical service delivery through streamlined access to care.  She has worked to remove unnecessary procedures and exams in contraceptive care, including the pelvic examination for hormonal contraception and cumbersome protocols for the provision of long-acting contraceptives.  Her research has supported expanded roles of the nursing and pharmacy professions in the delivery of contraceptives, as well as over-the-counter access. She has conducted a series of studies on emergency contraception, and measured the impact of increased access on sexual risk-taking, STIs and pregnancy.  These studies represent translational research, from a pharmacokinetics and tolerability studies in young adolescents, to a large-scale randomized trial on service delivery that informed policy in the U.S. and other countries. The data were evaluated by the FDA in its approval of over-the-counter status of levonorgestrel emergency contraception, and in the subsequent removal of the age restriction.  Dr. Harper is leading provider training and patient education initiatives on the copper IUD for emergency contraception.  She recently completed a national cluster randomized trial in 40 Planned Parenthood clinics to evaluate the impact of provider training on increased access to long-acting reversible contraceptives, and is holding trainings in a variety of clinic settings across the U.S., including primary care settings. 

Dr. Harper has worked in close collaboration with organizations and investigators in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, including a multi-center NIH study in Southern Africa.  She designed national probability surveys that assessed the capacity of nurses and physicians to integrate new contraceptive and HIV prevention technologies into their clinical practices.  Results showed high interest in training in long-acting reversible contraceptives, as well as in the development of female-controlled methods, including microbicides.  She has conducted research in developing regions on the impact of unsafe abortion on maternal morbidity and mortality, and has evaluated the impact of policy changes on the safety, availability and quality 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 contraceptive services
  • Provider practices
  • Emergency contraception
  • Adolescent contraception
  • Long-acting reversible contraception
  • Intrauterine contraception
  • HIV/STI prevention among women


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


Updated December 2013

Citations:

  • Raine TR, Foster-Rosales A, Upadhyay UD, Boyer CB, Brown BA, Sokoloff A, Harper CC. One-year contraceptive continuation and pregnancy in adolescent girls and women initiating hormonal contraceptives. Obstet Gynecol. 2011:117(2 Pt 1):363-71.
  • Harper CC, Speidel JJ, Drey EA, Trussell J, Blum M, Darney PD. Copper intrauterine device for emergency contraception: clinical practice among contraceptive providers. Obstet Gynecol. 2012:119(2 Pt 1):220-6.
  • Harper CC, Henderson JT, Raine TR, Goodman S, Darney PD, Thompson KM, Dehlendorf C, Speidel JJ. Evidence-based IUD practice: family physicians and obstetrician-gynecologists. Fam Med. 2012:44(9):637-45.
  • Raine TR, Ricciotti N, Sokoloff A, Brown BA, Hummel A, Harper CC. An over-the-counter simulation study of a single-tablet emergency contraceptive in young females. Obstet Gynecol. 2012:119(4):772-9.
  • Morse J, Chipato T, Blanchard K, Nhemachena T, Ramjee G, McCulloch C, Blum M, Saleeby E, Harper CC. Provision of long-acting reversible contraception in HIV-prevalent countries: results from nationally representative surveys in southern Africa. BJOG. 2013:120(11):1386-94.
  • Harper CC, Stratton L, Raine TR, Thompson K, Henderson JT, Blum M, Postlethwaite D, Speidel JJ. Counseling and provision of long-acting reversible contraception in the US: National survey of nurse practitioners. Prev Med. 2013:57(6):883-8.
  • Thompson KMJ, Stern L, Gelt M, Speidel JJ, Harper CC. Counseling for IUDs and Implants: Are Health Educators And Clinicians on the Same Page? Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2013:.
  • Speidel JJ, Rocca CH, Thompson KM, Harper CC. Pregnancy: not a disease but still a health risk. Contraception. 2013:88(4):481-4.
  • Holt K, Blanchard K, Chipato T, Nhemachena T, Blum M, Stratton L, Morar N, Ramjee G, Harper CC. A nationally representative survey of healthcare provider counselling and provision of the female condom in South Africa and Zimbabwe. BMJ Open. 2013:18;3(3):.
  • Becker D, Díaz Olavarrieta C, Garcia SG, Harper CC. Women's reports on postabortion family-planning services provided by the public-sector legal abortion program in Mexico City. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2013:121(2):149-53.
  • Rocca CH, Harper CC, Raine-Bennett TR. Young women's perceptions of the benefits of childbearing: associations with contraceptive use and pregnancy. Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2013:45(1):23-32.
  • Rocca CH, Harper CC. Do racial and ethnic differences in contraceptive attitudes and knowledge explain disparities in method use? Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2012:44(3):150-8.
  • 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.
  • Rafie S, Haycock M, Yen S, Harper CC. Direct pharmacy access to hormonal contraception: California physician and advanced practice clinician views. Contraception. 2012:86(6):687-93.
  • Henderson JT, Sawaya GF, Blum M, Stratton L, Harper CC . Pelvic examinations and access to oral hormonal contraception. Obstet Gynecol. 2010:116(6):1257-64.
  • Harper CC, Blanchard K, Grossman D, Henderson JT, Darney PD. Reducing maternal mortality due to elective abortion: Potential impact of misoprostol in low-resource settings. International Journal of Gynaecology & Obstetrics . 2007:98(1):66-69.
  • Henderson JT, Puri M, Blum M, Rana A, Malla, K, Harper CC, Gurung G, Pradhan N, Sharma S, Satyal I, Bajracharya L, Regmi K, Acharya S, Grossman D, Lamichhane P, Darney PD. Effects of abortion legalization in Nepal, 2001-2010. PLoS ONE . 2013:8(5):e64775.
  • Henderson JT, Hwang A, Harper CC, Stewart F. Safety of mifepristone abortions in clinical use. Contraception. 2005:72(3):175-8.
  • Henderson JT, Harper CC, Gutin S, Saraiya M, Chapman J, Sawaya GF. Routine bimanual pelvic examinations: practices and beliefs of US obstetrician-gynecologists. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2013:208(2):109.e1-7.
  • Rocca CH, Puri M, Dulal B, Bajracharya L, Harper CC, Blum M, Henderson JT. Unsafe abortion after legalisation in Nepal: a cross-sectional study of women presenting to hospitals. BJOG. 2013:120(9):1075-83.
  • Puri M, Lamichhane P, Harken T, Blum M, Harper CC, Darney PD, Henderson JT. . ‘Sometimes they used to whisper in our ears’: Health care workers’ perceptions of the effects of abortion legalization in Nepal. BMC Public Health . 2012:12(1):29.
  • Morse J, Freedman L, Speidel JJ, Thompson KM, Stratton L, Harper CC. Postabortion contraception: qualitative interviews on counseling and provision of long-acting reversible contraceptive methods. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2012:44(2):100-6.
  • Harper CC, Blum M, Thiel de Bocanegra H, Darney P, Speidel J, Policar M, Drey E. Challenges in Translating Evidence to Practice: The Provision of Intrauterine Contraception. Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2008:6(111):1359-69.