Dr. Kathryn Andersen leads Ipas’s strategy, integrating technical and programmatic expertise and strategic thinking across our global network. Throughout her almost 20 years at Ipas, her commitment to reproductive justice has helped shape our global work to create a world where all people have the right and ability to determine their own sexuality and reproductive health.
A respected systems thinker, researcher and global health leader, Andersen has played a central role in advancing Ipas’s evolution as a leading, evidence-driven public health organization. She leads multidisciplinary teams that generate critical research, translate evidence into practice, and strengthen efforts to build resilient abortion and contraceptive ecosystems. She also works to ensure the alignment of Ipas’s external relations with our technical expertise and contributions to the sexual and reproductive health field.
Prior to her current role, Andersen managed Ipas’s major research initiatives and provided technical leadership to Ipas researchers and program teams throughout Africa and South Asia. In addition to her work at Ipas, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health and a consulting editor for the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health.