Jewel Gausman joined the Guttmacher Institute in 2023 as a Senior Research Scientist. Dr. Gausman’s research focuses on the social determinants of sexual and reproductive health and rights across the life course. Throughout her career, she has led work focused on applying unique qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to understand the underlying drivers of disparities in child marriage, sexual and gender-based violence, and contraceptive use and access, as well as improving global measurement and indicator validation in the fields of reproductive health, family planning and maternal health. Prior to joining the Institute, Dr. Gausman led a research portfolio at the Women and Health Initiative in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and spent eight years as a Family Planning Program Research Technical Advisor in the Research, Technology and Utilization Division in the Bureau for Global Health at the US Agency for International Development. Dr. Gausman currently serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health Nursing at the School of Nursing at the University of Jordan in Amman. She has extensive international experience, having lived and worked in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  

Dr. Gausman received an ScD in social epidemiology from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, an MHS in social and behavioral interventions from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and a BA in French and international studies from Hamline University in Minnesota.