Primary Investigators
Martha Tesfalul, MD
Maternal Fetal Medicine & PTBi Postdoctoral Transdisciplinary Research Fellow, UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Dr. Martha Tesfalul is an OB/GYN doing advanced training in high risk pregnancy care and perinatal health equity research at UCSF. Her clinical interests are in preeclampsia and preterm birth, which is what lead to her to design the PRAXIS Study. She also has a longstanding interest in global health and aspires to engage in clinical and research collaborations in Eritrea, the country from which both of her parents emigrated. Dr. Tesfalul received her BA in Sociology and Health Policy from Harvard University and MD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She looks forward to transitioning into an Assistant Professor position at UCSF in the fall of 2021 and continuing to work with the UCSF California PTBi.
Brittany D. Chambers, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Dr. Brittany Chambers' work focuses on understanding sexual and reproductive health inequities through examining the impact of individual and structural discrimination across multiple life domains. She obtained an MPH in health promotion from Fresno State University and a PhD in community health education from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She first joined UCSF for the PTBi postdoctoral fellowship and now has a Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCHWH) award through which she is developing and will pilot a racial equity training for prenatal care providers.
Andrea Jackson, MD, MAS
Associate Professor, UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Dr. Andrea Jackson is an OB/GYN who specializes in family planning. She has a particular focus on caring for women who have chronic illnesses and want contraception. In research, Jackson is interested in how health care providers can impact racial and ethnic disparities and improve reproductive outcomes for African American women. Dr. Jackson earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering at Cornell University before earning her medical degree from Harvard University. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, followed by a fellowship in family planning at UCSF. She also has a master of advanced study degree in clinical research from UCSF.
Community Advisors
Loretta Scruggs-Leach, RN
Former Community Advisory Board Member (Fresno), UCSF California PTBi
Loretta Scruggs-Leach is a grandma of a 34-week preterm grandson and a retired public health nurse who served over 29 years with the Health Department in various departments. Among her case management assignments were with Black Infant Health program, pregnant and parenting teens (AFLN), as well as pregnant and parenting women in recovery. Some of the organizations Loretta has worked with include Central Valley Black Nurses Association (CVBNA), and National Black Nurses Association. Loretta is called to reproductive justice because she believes women who do get care often have to be cautious about what they say, how they say it and to whom, so as not to compromise what services they receive and from whom. She believes no one should ever have to be subjected to this kind of stress in order to receive medical care.
Jennifer Braddock, CNM, MS
Community Advisory Board Member (Oakland), UCSF California PTBi
Jennifer Braddock is a certified nurse-midwife who works at Highland Hospital in Oakland, California. The profundity and spirituality of pregnancy and childbirth has always intrigued her, even as a young child. As she matured, so did her love for the entirety of women’s health. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Spelman College in 1999, completed her nursing education at NYU in 2002, and her graduate study in midwifery at UCSF in 2006. Jennifer believes that her work is not merely a job, but rather a true calling. She is humbled and honored to have welcomed over 300 babies into the world and is forever in awe of the miracle of new life and the hope it brings.
Haleemat Fa-Yusuf, MSc
Community Advisory Board Member (San Francisco), UCSF California PTBi
Haleemat Fa-Yusuf was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and has called the San Francisco Bay Area home for about a decade. Haleemat is privileged to marry her love for service and use of sound data to impact the delivery of economic support and self-sufficiency programs in San Francisco through her work in the Human Services Agency. She also enjoys making paper collage art and flipping through picture books with her three young kids. She speaks Yoruba (a West-African dialect) fluently.
Key Study Personnel
Arthurine Zakama, MD
OB/GYN Resident, UCSF Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
Dr. Arthurine Zakama is a fourth-year resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the UC-San Francisco. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Medicine, Health and Society. She received her Doctor of Medicine from Duke University School of Medicine in 2017. Her academic interests include applying reproductive justice ideals into clinical care and research, health equity, global maternal health, and mentorship.
Shakkaura Kemet, MPH
4th Year Medical Student, UCSF School of Medicine
Shakkaura Kemet is a graduating medical student and will begin her residency in OB/GYN in fall 2021. She received her bachelor's degree in stem cell biology from Harvard University in 2015, followed by a master's of public health from Yale university in 2017 where she focused on women's health disparities. Her research passion is improving the health of Black birthing people.
India Perez-Urbano
3rd Year Medical Student, UCSF School of Medicine
India Perez-Urbano was born and raised in New York by a Dominican-Trinidadian family, later graduating from Harvard University where she studied Sociology and Global Health. After graduation, she returned to her hometown of Rockland County, NY to launch a harm reduction organization focused on expanding services and resources for people who use drugs. As a medical student, she is a passionate advocate for the rights and health of people who use drugs and leads efforts to expand support for students of color. India is excited to continue thinking of ways to reimagine health justice through the purview of medicine and community partnership.
Corinne Conn
3rd Year Medical Student, UCSF School of Medicine
Corinne April Iolanda Conn was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and grew up in a multicultural household in Alexandria, Virginia. They studied Global Development at the University of Virginia, where they completed their Masters in Public Health, before working within the Health Disparities Unit at the National Human Genome Research Institute. The majority of their work as a physician-researcher explores the connection between physical and mental health, particularly within historically marginalized and resilient populations.