Faculty Profile

Ruth Simmons

Ruth Simmons, PhD

  • Professor Emerita, Health Behavior and Health Equity

    Dr. Simmons' research interests include the organization and improvement of public sector family planning and related reproductive health services with special emphasis on the interface between users and programs and quality of care. Of particular interest is the scaling up of successfully tested innovative demonstration projects to regional and national policy and programmatic levels.

    • PhD, Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, 1971
    • MA, Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, 1966
    • BA, Political Science, University of California at Berkeley, 1964
    • Diploma, University of Heidelberg, 1963

    Dr. Simmons was awarded, together with the World Health Organization Department of Reproductive Health and Research, a three-year grant from the MacArthur Foundation to be the Secretariat of an international network of public health professionals seeking to advance the science and practice of scaling up health innovations (https://expandnet.net/).

    Scaling-up Reproductive Health Service Innovations: A Framework for Action. In R.
    Simmons, P. Fajans, and L. Ghiron (Ed.) Scaling-Up Health Service Delivery: From Pilot Innovations to Policies and Programmes.. Geneva, World Health Organization

    Fajans, P., Simmons, R., and Ghiron, L. (March 2006). Helping Public Sector Health Systems Innovate: The Strategic Approach for Strengthening Reproductive Policies and Programs. American Journal of Public Health 435-440.

    Simmons, R., Brown, J. W., Diaz, M. (2002). Facilitating Large-Scale Transitions to Quality of Care: An Idea Whose Time Has Come. Studies in Family Planning 61-75.

    Pentaedo, L. G., Cabral, F., Diaz, M., Diaz, J., Ghiron, L., Simmons, R. (2001). Organizing a Public-sector Vasectomy Program in Brazil. Studies in Family Planning 315-328.

    Diaz, M., Simmons, R., Diaz, J., Gonzalez, C., Makuch, M. Y., Bossemeyer, D. (1999). Expanding Contraceptive Choice: Findings from an Action Research Project in Brazil. Studies in Family Planning 1-16.

    Simmons, R. and Fajans, P. (1999). Contraceptive Introduction Reconsidered: A New Methodology for Policy and Program Development. Journal of Women's Health 163-173.