About Us
Dr. Anu Manchikanti Gómez, PhD, MSc (CV)
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Director, Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity (SHARE) Program
Associate Professor, Berkeley Social Welfare
For nearly 20 years, Dr. Gómez has worked as a health equity researcher with a focus on reproduction and sexuality throughout the life course. She has conducted research both in the US and globally on diverse topics, including contraceptive use, abortion, HIV prevention, gender equity, transgender health, and violence against women and children. Dr. Gómez's current research focuses on three areas: (1) the measurement and meaning of pregnancy planning; (2) understanding contraceptive
decision-making within social, relational and structural contexts; and (3) evaluatingthe impact of and evidence base for policies related to reproductive health. She also serves as a co-PI on SOLARS, a prospective, longitudinal cohort study funded by UCSF's Preterm Birth Initiative. SOLARS aims to describe the relationship between psychosocial stress and preterm birth in Black and Hispanic/Latina women in Oakland and Fresno, California. She currently collaborates with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco; the Guttmacher Institute; Planned Parenthood Northern California; and California Latinas for Reproductive Justice. Dr. Gómez's work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Society for Family Planning Research Fund, the Berkeley Population Center, the Institute for Research on Labor and Education at UCB, and the Resource Allocation Program of UCSF.
Dr. Gómez earned her PhD in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2010. She also received an MSc in Health, Population and Society from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from New York University.
Many of Dr. Gómez's full-text publications can be found on the University of California's eScholarship platform. Click here to view her CV.
Dr. Cassondra Marshall, DrPH, MPH
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Affiliated Faculty, SHARE
Assistant Professor, Berkeley School of Public Health
Dr. Marshall is an Assistant Professor in the Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health program at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, Dr. Marshall was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research and received training in delivery science research. Dr. Marshall also previously worked as a research fellow in the Division of Reproductive Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She has expertise in patient-centered contraceptive care and has conducted studies on
women’s contraceptive attribute preferences and method choice, contraceptive decision support tools, and cost sharing and contraceptive adherence. The goal of her research program is to promote reproductive and maternal health equity by developing and implementing patient-centered interventions and care delivery models that meet the needs of and improve the health of underserved women. Dr. Marshall’s current research focuses on health care delivery strategies to improve contraceptive and preconception care to women of reproductive age with diabetes and other chronic medical conditions.
Jennet Arcara, PhD, MPH, MPP
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Research Data Analyst
Jennet Arcara is a multi-method reproductive health researcher whose research focuses on structural inequities and reproductive health, including the roles of gender, autonomy, and power in reproductive and maternal health decision-making, access, and experiences. At SHARE, she collaborates on several mixed methods projects. Currently, she focuses on a process and outcome evaluation of the SisterWeb San Francisco Community Doula Network and a project to develop a person-centered measure of contraceptive need that can be used to track contraceptive access and help re-envision contraceptive access initiatives.
She has also worked on a project assessing the implementation of pharmacist-prescribed contraception in California’s Central Valley, the SOLARS project, and SHARE’s projects to develop new measures of pregnancy intention and test their relationship to contraceptive use, relational factors, and structural inequities.
Jennet received her PhD in Maternal and Child Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also received an MPH in Global Health with a concentration in Reproductive Health and Population Studies from Emory University; an MPP with a concentration in Gender and International Development from the University of Minnesota; and a BA in Anthropology and Foreign Languages from Syracuse University
Stephanie Arteaga, MPH
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Research Associate
Stephanie Arteaga is a qualitative researcher on the Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity (SHARE) team at the School of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley. For nearly ten years, Stephanie has worked in health research with a focus on reproductive justice, health equity, and improving health outcomes for communities of color. Stephanie has experience in a wide array of research processes, including research project coordination, participant recruitment, qualitative interviewing and analysis, and manuscript preparation.
Her interests include the impacts of structural racism on the health of Black, Indigenous, and people of color throughout their lifetime, as well as interventions to address inequitable health outcomes. Currently, Stephanie is focusing on the evaluation of the Abundant Birth Project, an unconditional income supplement pilot program for pregnant people at risk for preterm birth in California.
Stephanie earned an MPH in Maternal and Child Health at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health in 2016, and a BA in Sociology from San Francisco State University in 2013. In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys baking and reading.
Ariana Bennett, DrPH, MPH
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Postdoctoral Scholar
Ariana Bennett earned her DrPH at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Sexuality and Health from the Mailman School of Public Health and her BA from the University of California, Berkeley. Before returning to school, Ariana conducted mixed methods research with family doctors working to integrate abortion and contraception into primary care through the Fellowship in Family Planning in Family Medicine. Her research interests include abortion access, sexual and reproductive health and health care, and reproductive justice.
Ashley Nguyen, MPH
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Research Coordinator
Ashley Nguyen is a research coordinator for SHARE’s community doula research projects. Through public health and journalism, Ashley has focused on coverage of doula services through Medicaid, employer benefits, and private insurance. She was a 2020-2021 fellow with the O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism program at Marquette University and a former multiplatform editor at The Washington Post. From 2012 to 2014, she was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Kyrgyz Republic. Ashley has a master’s degree in public health from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple University.
Kennedy Schaffer
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Research Assistant
Kennedy Schaffer is currently a UC Berkeley graduate who earned a B.A. in Public Health and a minor in Disability Studies in 2022. Throughout her academic career, she has pursued opportunities that allow her to actively improve marginalized communities’ health. She is serving as a volunteer for the nonprofit California Black Women’s Health Project and as a research assistant at the Gaw Laboratory- a UCSF Reproductive Lab focused on COVID-19 and its efficacy during pregnancy. Motivated by her upbringing, she is particularly interested in procuring health equity for women of color, with an emphasis in maternal health and adolescent development. She strives to incorporate organization and servitude in everything she does. Her long-term goals include advocating and achieving reproductive justice while also pursuing a M.D.
Monica De La Cruz, MPH
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Doctoral Student Researcher
Monica De La Cruz, MPH is a doctoral student in the School of Social Welfare. She received her Master of Public Health from the University of San Francisco and her BS from San Francisco State University. Prior to beginning the doctorate program, Monica worked as a social science researcher at the Pediatric Advocacy Program at the Stanford School of Medicine. Monica has experience developing, implementing, and evaluating community-based programs and conducting qualitative research studies. Her current research interests broadly include identifying and implementing interventions and policies that ameliorate family poverty.
Reiley Reed, MPH, MSW
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Doctoral Student Researcher
Reiley Reed is a doctoral student at the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley. Before starting her PhD, she worked at the Person-Centered Reproductive Health Program at UC San Francisco. She has experience managing research projects focused on patient-centered contraceptive counseling, contraceptive care quality measurement, and the development of reproductive health care provider trainings. Her current research interests include criminalization of pregnancy and power dynamics in health care. Reiley received her Master of Public Health and Master of Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and her BA in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara.
Alex Schulte
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Doctoral Student Researcher
Alex Schulte is currently a Health Policy PhD student in the school of Public Health at UC Berkeley, where she studies the role of social and organizational networks in improving equitable access to reproductive healthcare. Prior to starting the doctoral program, Alex led sexual and reproductive health programming at the Deloitte Health Equity Institute in New York City. She was also a research data analyst at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and George Mason University. Alex has expertise in data analysis, research management, and program evaluation. She holds a BSPH in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Mariah Jiles
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Graduate Student Researcher
Mariah Jiles is a Master of Public Health student at UC Berkeley, concentrating in Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health. Prior to coming to UC Berkeley, she served as a research assistant on a NIH-funded project examining the history of eugenic sterilization abuse within the United States. Her current research interests center around the health of birthing people from minoritized communities, enabling ease of access to the support of community birth workers and stimulating systems-level change in women’s health infrastructure.
Mariah holds a BA in Global Studies from the University of Illinois. Outside of her academic interests, Mariah enjoys practicing yoga and is currently enrolled in a yoga teacher training program. She hopes to utilize her training in this borrowed practice to make wellness more accessible to BIPOC communities.
Riha Prasad
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Riha Prasad is an undergraduate student in the College of Letters and Science at UC Berkeley. Her focus is on Integrative Biology, with an emphasis on Human Biology, and a minor in South Asian studies. She is also currently working on nanostructure-based devices that have applications in monitoring human health such as in-situ detection of multiple biomarkers at UC Berkeley. She is currently focusing on the public health and policy portion of these technologies. Her interest lies in orthopedics and reproductive health, more so focusing on minority communities such as Pacific Islanders and African Americans. She hopes to
further her interest and work in combing her passion for these communities and healthcare by pursuing medical school.
Amber Randall
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Undergraduate Student Researcher
Amber Randall is an undergraduate student in the College of Letters and Science at UC Berkeley. She is studying Applied Mathematics with a focus on economics and plans to minor in Computer Science. Amber is community driven and volunteers weekly to support elderly citizens in Vallejo access and understand daily technologies. Outside of academics, Amber enjoys crocheting and spending time outdoors with family and friends.
CONTACT US
Let's connect!
Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity Program
University of California, Berkeley
Sexual Health and Reproductive Equity Program
University of California, Berkeley
UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare
113B Haviland Hall, MC 7400
Berkeley, CA 94720-7400
If you are interested in our research or want to collaborate with our program, please send us a message in the box below. We are not currently seeking volunteers or research assistants. If you would like your resume kept on file, please send it to share@berkeley.edu and include information about your research skills and interests in your message.
