Claire D. Brindis, Dr. P.H., is Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy, Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Health Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is Director of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies (IHPS) at UCSF (http://healthpolicy.ucsf.edu) and holds the Caldwell B. Esselstyn Chair in Health Policy. Dr. Brindis is also Executive Director of the National Adolescent Health Information and Innovation Center (http://nahic.ucsf.edu) and Associate Director of the Policy Information and Analysis Center for Adolescence, and Young Adults. She is also a Director of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and IHPS, UCSF.

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 level. Dr. Brindis’ specific content expertise is in the areas of: adolescent and child health policy, adolescent pregnancy and pregnancy prevention, reproductive health services for men and women, school-based health services, and analyses of a wide-ranging array of health policies, including health care access for under-served communities. In the area of reproductive health, Dr. Brindis has led a multidisciplinary evaluation team evaluating California’s Office of Family Planning’s Family PACT program, a Federal 1115 Medicaid waiver. Evaluation findings indicate that this program has successfully served over a million women and men, helping to avert approximately 300,000 pregnancies per year annually. For every dollar spent on the program, an estimated savings of $5.83 in medical and social costs is realized through the prevention of unintended pregnancies up to five years after birth. Other research projects include evaluations of the state of California’s comprehensive teenage pregnancy prevention programs, the impact of health care reform on adolescents and young adults’ access to health care, the impact of budgetary reductions in previously funded initiatives on adolescent pregnancy prevention, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism’s Health Disparities Media Fellowship Program, and water policies in California schools.

Dr. Brindis co-authored a statewide comprehensive strategic plan for California, “Investing in Adolescent Health: A Social Imperative for California’s Future” (http://californiateenhealth.org) and a “Guidebook for Evaluating School-Based Health Centers” (http://www.nasbhc.org). She has also co-authored a monograph on implementing the Healthy People 2010 Adolescent Health Objectives, with the CDC and the Federal Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, “Improving Adolescent Health: A Guidebook for States and Communities” (http://nahic.ucsf.edu). Along with the UCSF Center on Social Disparities in Health and the Bixby Center, Dr. Brindis completed research and developed a film aimed at policy makers and communities, entitled, “A Question of Hope: Reducing Latina Teen Childbearing in California” (http://bixbycenter.ucsf.edu). In addition, she co-authored a report “Creating a Health Research and Policy Agenda for Im/migration Between Mexico and California”. http://bixbycenter.ucsf.edu/publications.

Dr. Brindis is past chair of the Population, Family Planning and Reproductive Health Section of the American Public Health Association (2003-2004) and the Board of Directors for Advocates for Youth, Washington D.C. (2003-2005). Dr. Brindis serves on many expert panels, including the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Pediatric Health and Health Care Quality Measures and the Committee on Preventive Services for Women. At UCSF, she is past chair of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on the Status of Women. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the California Department of Health Services with the 2000 Beverlee A. Myers Award for Excellence in Public Health, the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs, Washington, DC, with the annual 2001 John C. MacQueen Lecture Award, the 2005 Federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau Director's Award: “In recognition of Contributions Made to the Health of Infants, Mothers, Children, Adolescents & Children with Special Needs”, the UCSF’s Chancellor’s Award for the Advancement of Women in 2009, election to the IOM in 2010, and selection in 2012 as Alumni Hall of Fame awardee from the UCLA School of Public Health.