Subasri Narasimhan

Dr. Subasri Narasimhan is an Assistant Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health, where she specializes in sexual and reproductive health, maternal and child health, and intimate partner violence. Her research spans Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and the Southeastern United States, with a focus on policy restrictions on abortion and contraceptives, crisis pregnancy centers, and reproductive health equity.

Dr. Narasimhan completed her PhD in Community Health Sciences at the University of California Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health, where she was a Bixby Doctoral Fellow, Child and Family Health Trainee, and a Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD Pre-Doctoral Trainee. She then completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast (RISE) at Emory University. She also holds an MPH from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Her research interests encompass maternal and child health, intimate partner violence, policy restrictions on abortion and contraceptives, crisis pregnancy centers, and reproductive health equity across diverse populations. She employs mixed and multi-level methodology to study the impact of policy restrictions on abortion provision and contraceptive use on the health and wellbeing of people capable of pregnancy, with particular attention to how these policies affect marginalized communities.

Analysis of Dr. Narasimhan's recent publications reveals a strong focus on reproductive justice, abortion policy, intimate partner violence during the pandemic, and health disparities. Her work frequently examines legislative debates around abortion restrictions, the impact of policy changes on access to care, and the experiences of diverse populations navigating reproductive healthcare systems. She has increasingly focused on the intersection of race, gender, and reproductive health, particularly examining how systemic racism affects birth experiences and abortion access.

• 2019 Society of Family Planning Emerging Scholar Award

Dr. Narasimhan serves as Co-Principal Investigator on several significant studies including the Abortion Bans Project (which studies state-level legislative debate on six-week abortion bans), PROVIDA (which examines provision of medication abortion implementation via telehealth), and a pilot study focused on the impact of COVID-19 on experiences of prenatal care, birth support, and delivery for first time parents. She has secured research funding for projects examining reproductive health policy, intimate partner violence, and abortion access in restrictive environments.

She is actively involved with the Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast and the Maternal and Child Health Center of Excellence at Emory University, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams to advance reproductive health research and policy. Her work often involves community-engaged research approaches, particularly in examining doula care and birth support for diverse populations in Georgia.