The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability is a collaboration of students, faculty, researchers, and staff working to improve maternal and reproductive health and address the impact of population on global public health and the environment. The Bixby Center works closely with leaders of U.S. and international-based organizations, as well as government officials throughout Africa and Asia. It is dedicated to developing innovations to improve reproductive health in resource-poor settings, including reliable health information systems, local access to essential technologies and guidelines for prioritizing interventions to maximize health impact. The Bixby Center supports the implementation of family planning and maternal health programs and seeks to improve the health outcomes of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable women and their families.
Core Research
The Bixby Center conducts research in countries and regions with persistently high birth rates and constrained access to contraceptive methods. The Bixby Center works to produce reliable information for policy decision-making including barriers to fertility regulation, ease of access to contraception, safe motherhood including misoprostol for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage, and the management and financing of family planning and reproductive health in resource scarce regions.
Special Programs and Initiatives
In addition to core research, the Bixby Center also has special programs and initiatives that address complex multifactorial population issues and development challenges.
Opportunities
The Bixby Center provides a variety of opportunities for those interested in the work we do. The Bixby Center funds UC Berkeley graduate student summer internships and dissertation research in the areas of family planning and population. One goal of the Bixby Center is to help prepare the next generation of public health researchers and professionals, providing mentoring and fellowships to students. Students interested in the work of the Bixby Center are welcome to join our bi-weekly team meetings. Here you will learn more about the field of global maternal and reproductive health in general, as well as about the work we do and our specific projects. Students have a chance to see how our research is applied to real life situations and the impact our programs have in the field. There are also opportunities to volunteer with the Bixby Center, dependent on ongoing needs of projects and staff.
Teaching
The faculty of the Bixby Center teach classes at UC Berkeley that feature the topics of population, sustainability, family planning, maternal health, and human sexuality.
Collaborations
The Bixby Center works in partnership with local NGOs, health organizations, Ministries of Health, and international health and research organizations.