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.

Recent projects have included developing an intervention to improve PCMC in Kenya with a focus on provider stress and unconscious bias; examining drivers of poor PCMC in Ghana; adaptation of the PCMC scale for women of color in California; and examining healthcare workers' 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 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” cluster-randomized control trial in Ghana and Kenya, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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.