
Departmental Affiliations
Suzanne Bell, PhD ’18, MPH, studies patterns of contraceptive use and abortion, particularly in the context of population-based surveys.
Research Interests
Contraception; Abortion; Fertility; Family planning; Survey research; Measurement; Demography; Epidemiology
Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2018
MPH
University of California, Berkeley
2011
BA
University of California, Los Angeles
2007
Overview
Dr. Suzanne Bell has a PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus in demography and a Master's in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She studies patterns of contraceptive use and abortion, particularly in the context of population-based surveys. Dr. Bell leads Performance Monitoring for Action's (PMA's) abortion work and provides programmatic and technical support for PMA at large. Through this work, Dr. Bell seeks to advance understanding of the role of abortion in women’s reproductive lives through improved measurement of abortion incidence and safety in low-resource settings. Additionally, her research assesses structural factors that contribute to disparities in reproductive health behaviors and outcomes and quantifies inequities in access to and quality of contraceptive and abortion services in the United States and internationally.
Honors & Awards
2017 – Laurie Schwab Zabin Award
2017 – Edward J. Dehne Award in Population Dynamics
2015, 2016 – Endowed Fellowship in Family Planning and Reproductive Health
2015 – Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health Travel Scholarship
2015 – JHSPH Center for Global Public Health Research Scholarship
2014, 2015 – Robertson Scholarship
2010 – UC Berkeley Bixby Center for Population Health and Sustainability Practicum Fellowship
2009, 2010 – US Department of Education Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
2017 – Edward J. Dehne Award in Population Dynamics
2015, 2016 – Endowed Fellowship in Family Planning and Reproductive Health
2015 – Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health Travel Scholarship
2015 – JHSPH Center for Global Public Health Research Scholarship
2014, 2015 – Robertson Scholarship
2010 – UC Berkeley Bixby Center for Population Health and Sustainability Practicum Fellowship
2009, 2010 – US Department of Education Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship
Select Publications
Select publications from last three years:
- Bell SO, Guiella G, Byrne ME, Bazie F, Onadja Y, Thomas H, Moreau C. (2022). Induced abortion incidence and safety in Burkina Faso in 2020: Results from a population-based survey using direct and social network-based estimation approaches. Plos One. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278168.
- Bell SO, Larson B, Wood S, PMA PI Author Group (2022). Let’s Talk About Sex: Improving Measurement of Contraceptive Use by Accounting for Sexual Activity. Global Health Science and Practice. 10(2):e2100597 doi.org/10.9745/GHSP-D-21-00597
- Bell SO, Shankar M, OlaOlorun F, Hyacinthe A, Omoluabi E, Guiella G, Ahmed S, Moreau C. (2021). Postabortion Care Facility Readiness and Access in Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire. Health Policy and Planning 36(7): 1077-1089. doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czab068.
- Bell SO, OlaOlorun F, Shankar M, Ahmed D, Guiella G, Omoluabi E, Khanna A, Hyacinthe A, Moreau C. (2019). Measurement of Abortion Safety Using Community-Based Surveys: Findings from Three Countries. PLoS ONE 14(11): e0223146. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223146.
- Bell S, Bishai D (2019). Can a list experiment improve validity of abortion measurement? Studies in Family Planning. doi.org/10.1111/sifp.12082.
Projects
PMA Abortion
Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA)