Diana Greene Foster, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and 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


Publications on PubMed


Updated January 2009