Deborah
L. Billings, PhD, Sociology. 
Deborah has worked on issues related to sexual and reproductive rights
since her teen years.   In working with Guatemalan refugee
women in the early 1990s in Chiapas, Mexico, issues related to safe
pregnancy, birthing, maternity, abortion and gender-based violence featured
prominently in the lives of women.  From 1995-2008, she worked
as an Associate in research and evaluation with Ipas, focusing on interventions with public
sector health systems, women’s organizations, and media in countries
throughout the world to develop research and training on abortion, post
abortion care, gender-based violence, sexual violence, and sexual and
reproductive health and rights of young people.  She served as the Coordinator
of Research and Evaluation for Ipas Mexico from 2000- 2006 where she
developed a program that focused on intervention and action research. 
At the same time, she managed a Small Grants Program, which funded initiatives
that facilitated women’s access to reproductive health services, collaborated
with the Alliance for the Right to Decide and helped to coordinate a
Mexican radio show, InterSEXiones, which fomented discussions about
sexual and reproductive health between youth and their peers and parents. Ongoing
projects include incorporating human rights content into medical school
curricula in Mexico and Central America and healthcare-based services
for sexual violence victims/survivors in Central America.  Currently,
she is an independent consultant and continues to serve as an Adjunct
Associate Professor, University of North Carolina School of Public Health,
Maternal and Child Health and provides technical guidance to Masters
and PhD students at the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) in
Cuernavaca, Mexico.