Our Team

2026 PROGRESS Fellow: Abby Chesshire 

Abby Chesshire is the 2026 PROGRESS Fellow.  Abby is currently pursuing her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology & Biostatistics at the Boston University School of Public Health. Her interests center around health policy, chronic disease epidemiology, and social determinants of health. She is particularly interested in how policy and population-level interventions can improve health equity, especially in women’s and reproductive health. Abby is enthusiastic to continue building her experience in interdisciplinary women’s health and policy research with the PROGRESS Initiative!

Epidemiology Department, BUSPH

  •         Samantha Parker Keller (Associate Professor)
  •         Amelia Wesselink (Research Assistant Professor)
  •         Collette Ncube (Assistant Professor)
  •         Eric Rubenstein (Assistant Professor)
  •         Mary Willis (Assistant Professor)
  •         Ann Aschengrau (Professor)
  •         Martha Werler (Professor)
  •         Bernard Harlow (Professor)
  •         Kenneth Rothman (Professor)
  •         Lauren Wise (Professor)
  •         Matthew Fox (Professor)
  •         Yvette Cozier (Dean for DEIJ and Associate Professor)
  •         David Savitz (Adjunct Professor)
  •         Samantha Schildroth (Post-Doctoral Associate)

Department of Community Health Sciences, BUSPH

  •         Lois McCloskey (Professor)
  •         Eugene Declercq (Professor)
  •         Candice Belanoff (Associate Professor)
  •         Allegra Gordon (Assistant Professor)
  •         Kimberly Nelson (Associate Professor)
  •         Julia Bond (Post-Doctoral Associate)

Department of Environmental Health, BUSPH

  •         Birgit Claus Henn (Associate Professor)
  •         Kipruto Kirwa (Assistant Professor)
  •         Patricia Fabian (Associate Professor)
  •         Gregory Wellenius (Professor)
  •         Kevin Lane (Associate Professor)

Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management (HLPM), BUSPH

  •         Sarah Gordon (Assistant Professor)
  •         Michael Ulrich (Associate Professor)
  •         Nicole Huberfeld (Edward R Utley Professor of HLPM and Co-Director of the BU Program on Reproductive Justice)
  •         Megan Cole (Associate Professor)

Departments of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maternal-Fetal-Medicine, and Psychiatry at BUSM:

  •         Renee Boynton-Jarrett (Associate Professor, Pediatrics)
  •         Elisha Wachman (Professor, Pediatrics)
  •         Wendy Kuohung (Associate Professor, Ob/Gyn, Division Director of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility)
  •         Nyia Noel (Assistant Professor and Director of the Fibroid Center, Ob/Gyn)
  •         Elizabeth Woodhams (Assistant Professor, Division Director of Family Planning; Program Director for Fellowship in Complex Family Planning, Ob/Gyn)
  •         Naima Joseph (Assistant Professor, Maternal-Fetal-Medicine)
  •         Yael Nillni (Associate Professor, Psychiatry)
  •         Elijah Paintsil (Professor and Chair, Pediatrics)
  •         Katharine White (Professor and Chair, Ob/Gyn)
  •         Glenn Markenson (Professor, Maternal-Fetal-Medicine)

Additional expertise and effort are provided by several doctoral candidates (e.g., Ema Mujic, Rashida Smith-Webb) and Masters-level graduate students (e.g., Eliza Pentz) across BUSPH with strong connections within the epidemiology department and across many of the departments within BUSPH and BUSM (e.g., Andrea Kuriyama was a former Research Assistant with Dr. Boynton-Jarrett and is now co-mentored by Dr. Boynton-Jarrett on research pertaining to adverse childhood experiences and risk of miscarriage). The department also boasts a successful 10-year T32 focused on training in Reproductive, Perinatal, and Pediatric Epidemiology (BURPPE) led by Dr. Werler, and have made valiant efforts to resurrect and revitalize this training program with a newly-submitted T32 in May of 2024 (received a score of 33 at NIH study section in the Fall of 2024; will be resubmitted in May of 2025), with MPIs of Samantha Parker Kelleher, Martha Werler, and Lauren Wise.

In terms of breadth and depth of expertise among BU faculty, staff, and students engaged in this space, BUSPH stands at the forefront of research and translation efforts on gynecologic, repro­ductive, perinatal, and pediatric health. As described below, the proposed initiative would provide a common platform with additional resources to help individual investigators achieve their best work, foster enhanced collaborations among members of a strong and growing community of researchers, and increase the internal and external visibility of BUSPH’s activities in this area. The vision and focus of the proposed initiative are well aligned with the priorities of BU (e.g., greater research on social determinants of health, women’s health, maternal morbidity and mortality, early pregnancy loss, and male reproductive health). The proposed initiative is also closely aligned with the goals of the National Science Foundation and various foundations (e.g., the Hood Foundation, Gates Foundation, and Thrasher Foundation). Thus, the proposed initiative supports the strategic aims of a wide network of potential partners and funding sources and positions BUSPH to capitalize on existing opportunities in this space.