Patience Afulani, PhD, MD, MPH

My research focuses on the social and health system factors underlying inequities in reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health (RMNCH) globally. I am particularly interested in how RMNCH outcomes are shaped by the quality of care in health facilities as well as by social determinants. I also have an interest in the well-being and motivation of the health workforce.

My research in Ghana, Kenya, and the United States has included examining sources of disparities in the use and quality of maternal health services, designing tools to measure person-centered maternal and reproductive health care, examining health workforce well-being, and developing and evaluating interventions to improve maternal and neonatal health. I led the development of the person-centered maternity care (PCMC) scale that is now used across the globe.

I am currently the Principal Investigator of the Person-Centered Equity Lab at UCSF, where I lead several projects, including the “Caring for Providers to Improve Patient Experience (CPIPE)” cluster-randomized control trial in Ghana and Kenya, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. CPIPE is an intervention to improve PCMC with a focus on provider burnout and bias which was initially developed and piloted in Kenya

Other recent projects have included developing the person-centered antenatal and postnatal care scales for LMICs; examining drivers of poor PCMC in Ghana; assessing person-centered care in Ghana, developing the US PCMC prenatal care scales focusing on the experiences of Black women and other people of color in California; and examining healthcare workers' well-being and perceived preparedness for COVID-19 and associated factors in Ghana and Kenya. I have also conducted research on the health and reproductive behavior of migrants from Africa, and on the consequences of food insecurity in the United States.

I obtained my Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB) from the University of Ghana Medical School, and an MPH with a certificate in Global Health and a PhD in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles. I also completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the Preterm Birth Initiative at UCSF.