Jessica Fehringer

Jessica Fehringer, PhD, serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina. She is Director of the USAID-funded Data for Impact (D4I) Project based at the Carolina Population Center. With 20 years of expertise, she leads global health monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning initiatives focused on family planning, reproductive health, and health system strengthening in low-resource settings.

Her educational background includes a PhD in Population, Family, and Reproductive Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (2010) and an MHS in International Health (2004).

Research interests emphasize gender integration in health programs, qualitative methodologies, capacity strengthening for data collection and analysis, and evidence-based policy development. She has pioneered tools like the Gender Integration Toolkit and Research Capacity Assessment Package, which are widely used in global health programming.

Publications reflect her focus on impact evaluation methodologies, qualitative research training, and gender mainstreaming in health systems. She has contributed to transformative projects such as Rwanda’s health systems strengthening initiatives and USAID-funded capacity building efforts.

Teaching activities include guest lectures on gender dimensions in reproductive health and M&E practices in global health interventions. Her work bridges academic research with practical applications through the Data for Impact Project, which supports evidence-informed decision-making globally.