The Guttmacher Institute is pleased to announce that Kelly Blanchard, M.Sc., president of Ibis Reproductive Health, is the 2009 recipient of the Darroch Award for Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research. Ms. Blanchard has initiated pioneering research aimed at removing policy and programmatic barriers to sexual and reproductive health information and services. She has published extensively on a broad range of topics, including clinical trials of microbicides, medication abortion, safe abortion services, emergency contraception and methods to prevent sexually transmitted infections.

Since assuming the presidency of Ibis five years ago, Ms. Blanchard has furthered the organization’s reputation as a dynamic research and policy institution. The organization has grown and been a proving ground for social scientists and researchers, including those in its highly regarded Ellertson social science fellowship on abortion.

"Kelly Blanchard is a rising star in our field. She has already made enormous contributions to sexual and reproductive health and rights," said Sharon L. Camp, Ph.D., Guttmacher’s president and CEO.

The Darroch Award was established in 2005 to recognize excellence among sexual and reproductive health researchers who are in the early or middle years of their career. It is named for Jacqueline E. Darroch, Ph.D., former senior vice president for science at Guttmacher and currently a senior fellow at the Institute, whose three decades at Guttmacher exemplified rigorous and innovative work on sexual and reproductive health issues and commitment to the practical application of research to policy and programs. The award is presented biennially. The first recipient was Elizabeth G. Raymond, M.D., M.P.H., a researcher at Family Health International and a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist. The second recipient was Sandra G. García, Sc.D., director of reproductive health for Latin America and the Caribbean at the Population Council.

For more information about the award, click here.