Claire Brindis, DrPH

Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
Director, Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies
Director Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health
Co-Director, Adolescent and Young Adult Health National Resource Center
Adjunct Professor, UC Hastings School of Law

Incorporating a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as community participatory research, Dr. Brindis’ research focuses on program evaluation and the translation of research into policy at the local, state, and national levels. As a bilingual, bi-cultural researcher, Dr. Brindis’ research and personal commitment focuses on ameliorating the impact of social, health, and economic disparities among ethnic/racial populations, with a particular focus on women, young adults, and adolescents and reproductive health. For example, Dr. Brindis co-led a multidisciplinary  team evaluating California’s Office of Family Planning’s Family PACT program, a Federal 1115 Medicaid waiver. Evaluation findings indicated that this program successfully served nearly 1.3 million women and men annually, helping to avert approximately 300,000 pregnancies each year. For every dollar spent on the program, an estimated savings of $5.83 in medical and social costs was realized through the prevention of unintended pregnancies up to five years after birth.

Dr. Brindis’ policy research focuses on how disparities impact health outcomes, including access to quality care and health insurance coverage. Additional research focuses on examining the impact of migration and acculturation, as well as social determinants of health, on Latinx people. Dr. Brindis also conducts research on consumer engagement in health care system redesign, tracking the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on adolescents, young adults, and women, including barriers encountered in enrolling these and other marginalized populations. The aim of this research is to assure the delivery of confidential care in an era of electronic health care records, effective substance abuse treatment strategies, with a special lens on women’s health.  Other research includes:

• the health and mental health needs of Dreamers (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA),
• an evaluation of the state of California’s comprehensive teenage pregnancy prevention programs,
• an evaluation of the UCSF Pre-term Birth Initiative,
• an evaluation of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism’s Health Disparities Media Fellowship Program
• the effectiveness of water policies in California schools.

Throughout these and other projects, Dr. Brindis is committed to the translation of research into action. She pursues strategies for closing the gap between evidence-based innovation and its application to policies and programs. As a result, Dr. Brindis is often called upon to help a variety of community groups, international entities, and local, state, and the federal governments to help translate research findings into policy planning and  program intervention development. As an advisor to policymakers and private foundations, she has used her research to shape state and federal initiatives, including the implementation of the first school-based health center in California, the development of a statewide adolescent pregnancy prevention initiative, the development of the first California strategic plan for adolescent health. She also helped create the mandate for essential health benefits for women’s preventive care at the federal level.