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Celia
Karp
,
PhD

Assistant Professor

Celia Karp, PhD '20, studies psychosocial determinants of sexual and reproductive health and the ways services support or inhibit individuals in achieving their contraceptive and fertility goals.

Contact Info

Research Interests

Sexual and reproductive health; Women’s health; Contraception; Family planning; Empowerment; Quality of care; Health services; Measurement; Epidemiology; Survey research; Mixed-methods

Experiences & Accomplishments
Education
PhD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2020
BS
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
2014
Overview

Dr. Celia Karp's is a social and behavioral scientist whose work encompasses two overarching areas: psychosocial determinants of reproductive health, including pregnancy preferences, reproductive empowerment, and decision-making related to childbearing, contraception and abortion, and systems shaping women's health and well-being, including access to high-quality reproductive health services. She is dedicated to research, teaching, and mentorship in the field of women’s sexual and reproductive health across the lifecourse. 

Dr. Karp’s research focuses on the intersection of women’s reproductive health preferences, services, and outcomes in low-resource settings. Through her work, Dr. Karp aims to enhance understanding, measurement, and mitigation of factors contributing to adverse sexual and reproductive health outcomes and inequities.

As a co-investigator with Performance Monitoring and Accountability (PMA), PMA-Ethiopia, and the Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) Dr. Karp leads research on reproductive empowerment, quality of care, and availability and use of reproductive health services. A large part of her role on these projects includes capacity strengthening efforts, mentoring students and junior faculty at Johns Hopkins and collaborating institutions to hone critical research skills. Her mentoring focuses on enhancing data use and dissemination to help close the data-to-policy gap and improve health systems and services—and ultimately the health of populations. 

Dr. Karp received her PhD from the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology and maternal and reproductive health.

Honors & Awards

2018, 2019 – Endowed Fellowship in Family Planning and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins University

2017 – Caroline Cochran Award, Johns Hopkins University

2016 – Kahn Trowbridge Fellowship Award, Johns Hopkins University

2014 – Fulbright Program, US Student Research Fellowship to Ecuador

2010-2014 – Levine Scholarship Program Recipient, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Select Publications

Select recent publications:

  • Karp C, Williams K, Wood SN, et al. Family planning service disruptions in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from health facilities in seven low- and middle-income countries. PLOS Glob Public Health. 2024;4(1):e0002435. Published 2024 Jan 5. doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0002435

  • Karp C, Moreau C, Sheehy G, Anjur-Dietrich S, Mbushi F, Muluve E, Mwanga D, Nzioki M, Pinchoff J, Austrian K. Youth Relationships in the era of COVID-19: A mixed-methods study among adolescent girls and young women in Kenya. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Aug. doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.07.017

  • Karp C, Wood SN, Guiella G, Gichangi P, Bell SO, Anglewicz P, Larson E, Zimmerman L, Moreau C. Contraceptive dynamics during COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa: longitudinal evidence from Burkina Faso and Kenya. BMJ Sex Reprod Health. 2021 Feb 12:bmjsrh-2020-200944. doi: 10.1136/bmjsrh-2020-200944.

  • Magalona S, Karp C, Shiferaw S, et al. Contraceptive Intentions and Use throughout the Extended Postpartum Period: A Panel Study in Ethiopia. Stud Fam Plann. 2023;54(4):543-562. doi:10.1111/sifp.12252

  • Karp C, Wood SN, Galadanci H, et al. 'I am the master key that opens and locks': Presentation and application of a conceptual framework for women's and girls' empowerment in reproductive health. Soc Sci Med. 2020;258:113086. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113086

  • Moreau C, Karp C, Wood SN, et al. Reconceptualizing Women's and Girls' Empowerment: A Cross-Cultural Index for Measuring Progress Toward Improved Sexual and Reproductive Health. Int Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2020;46:187-198. Published 2020 Oct 5. doi:10.1363/46e9920

Projects
Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA)
PMA Ethiopia
The Global Early Adolescent Study