Carole Joffe

Carole Joffe, PhD is a Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) affiliated with Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital's Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences. Her academic career spans over five decades with significant contributions to reproductive health research and advocacy.

Dr. Joffe earned her BA in Sociology from Brandeis University (1967), followed by an MA (1970) and PhD (1974) in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research focuses on women's health, reproductive health services (particularly abortion provision), sociology of medicine, sociology of gender, and qualitative research methods.

Her scholarly work demonstrates consistent engagement with evolving reproductive health policy landscapes, from examining abortion provider morality in 2006 to analyzing the impact of the Dobbs decision in 2025. Her research often addresses the intersection of healthcare policy, social justice, and clinical practice, with recent work focusing on pandemic adaptations in abortion care and the implications of restrictive abortion laws.

Dr. Joffe has received numerous prestigious awards including the Feminist Activist Award from Sociologists for Women in Society (2004), the Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award from the Academic Senate at UC Davis (2006), and Lifetime Achievement awards from both the Society for Family Planning (2013) and the Abortion Care Network (2015).

Her scholarly contributions represent a sustained commitment to understanding and improving reproductive healthcare access and quality, particularly for vulnerable populations, through rigorous sociological inquiry and policy analysis.