Meghan Gallagher, PhD, MPH

  • Lecturer, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health

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Overview

Meghan C. Gallagher, PhD, MPH, is a humanitarian public health leader with 20 years of expertise in global health in fragile and humanitarian settings. Her work spans program management, design, monitoring and evaluation, technical analysis, and locally based research, with topic expertise in family planning, maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH), immunization, adolescent health, nutrition, and communicable disease.

Dr. Gallagher currently serves as the Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning lead at JSI Research & Training Institute for the MOMENTUM Integrated Health Resilience (MIHR) project, where she leads adaptive learning and evidence use across MNCH, nutrition, and immunization programming in 10 countries. Prior to this role, she served as Managing Director of Research, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for Global Health at Save the Children USA, leading a team of researchers and delivering technical support to country programs across sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Academic Appointments

  • Lecturer, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BS, 2002 Foreign Service, Georgetown University Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,
  • MPH, 2007 Forced Migration & Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
  • PhD, 2018 Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Committees, Societies, Councils

  • Executive Committee, Inter-Agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises
  • Co-Chair, Humanitarian Sub-Committee, International Conference on Family Planning
  • Co-Chair, FP2030 Performance Monitoring & Evidence Working Group (2019–2024)
  • Population Association of America
  • American Public Health Association

Honors & Awards

  • Edward J. Dehne Award in Population Dynamics
  • Fellowship in Family Planning and Reproductive Health
  • Population Reference Bureau Policy Communication Fellowship
  • Carl Swan Shultz Fellowship
  • Laurie Schwab Zabin Award for Population and Family Planning

Research

Dr. Gallagher's research focuses on family planning, reproductive health, and maternal and child health in humanitarian and fragile settings. She employs demographic and epidemiological methods, using population-based surveys, health facility assessments, and community-based participatory research, to generate evidence that improves program design, monitoring, and policy in crisis-affected settings.

Research Interests

  • Adolescent Health
  • Maternal and Child Health

Selected Publications

McGowan, C. R., … Gallagher, M. C. (2023). Measuring supply-side service disruption: a systematic review of the methods for measuring disruption in the context of maternal and newborn health services in low and middle-income settings. BMJ Open, 13(12), e077583.

Gallagher, M. C., Morris, C. N., Fatima, A., Daniel, R. W., Shire, A. H., & Sangwa, B. M. M. (2021). Immediate Postpartum Long-Acting Reversible Contraception: A Comparison Across Six Humanitarian Country Contexts. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 2, 10.

Casey, S. E., Gallagher, M. C., Kakesa, J., Kalyanpur, A., Muselemu, J. B., Rafanoharana, R. V., & Spilotros, N. (2020). Contraceptive use among adolescent and young women in North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo: a cross-sectional population-based survey. PLOS Medicine, 17(3), e1003086.

Gallagher, M. C., Vernaelde, J. M., & Casey, S. E. (2020). Operational reality: the Global Gag Rule impacts sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian settings. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 28(3), 68-70.

Gallagher, M. C., Morris, C. N., Aldogani, M., Eldred, C., Hirsi Shire, A., Monaghan, E., Ashraf, S., Meyers, J., Amsalu, R. (2019). Postabortion Care in Humanitarian Emergencies: Improving Treatment and Reducing Recurrence. Global Health: Science and Practice, 7(Supplement 2), S231–S246.

Casey, S. E., Gallagher, M. C., Dumas, E. F., Kakesa, J., Katsongo, J. M., & Muselemu, J. B. (2019). Meeting the demand of women affected by ongoing crisis: Increasing contraceptive prevalence in North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. PLOS ONE, 14(7), e0219990.

Morris, C. N., Lopes, K., Gallagher, M. C., Ashraf, S., & Ibrahim, S. (2019). When political solutions for acute conflict in Yemen seem distant, demand for reproductive health services is immediate: a programme model for resilient family planning and post-abortion care services. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, 27(2), 1610279.

Chukwumalu, K., Gallagher, M. C., Baunach, S., & Cannon, A. (2017). Uptake of postabortion care services and acceptance of postabortion contraception in Puntland, Somalia. Reproductive health matters, 25(51), 48-57.

For a complete list of publications, please visit: Google Scholar Profile

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