Leslie Kantor, MPH, is vice president of education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the largest provider of sex education in the United States. Planned Parenthood reaches more than 1.2 million people each year with over six million educational workshops, and counts more than 24 million annual visits to its online and mobile sites. Ms. Kantor leads the organization’s efforts to promote public policy, national discussion, and program interventions that will empower women, men, and teens to lead sexually healthy lives.

Ms. Kantor is a widely respected leader in the field of sexual and reproductive health, with over two decades of experience in sex education. She is a widely sought-after keynote speaker and workshop leader and has appeared frequently in the media on such programs as ABC World News, CBS Evening News, NBC’s TODAY show, Hannity & Colmes, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and many others.

She has extensive experience as a professional educator and trainer as well as expertise in working directly with children, adolescents, young adults, and parents throughout the United States. In addition, she is a member of the faculty at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, where she is responsible for teaching “Pedagogy of Sexuality Education” and “Program Planning for Sexual & Reproductive Health and other Public Health Programs.”

Ms. Kantor has served on the boards of several of the major organizations in the field of sexual health including the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unintended Pregnancy and Answer. She has received two prestigious awards from the American Public Health Association — the Early Career Award for Excellence and the Jay S. Drotman Memorial Award for a public health professional who has “challenged public health practice in a creative and positive manner.” Her articles have appeared in scholarly journals such as Sexuality Research and Social Policy and the Journal of the American Women’s Association and in a variety of books including the upcoming Emans, Laufer, and Goldstein’s Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Sixth Edition, and Epidemiology of Women’s Health.

Ms. Kantor holds a BA magna cum laude from Barnard College, a master’s in public health (MPH) from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and is a PhD candidate at the Columbia University School of Social Work. She is also the mother of a preteen son.