Rate My Professor Sian Curtis

Sian Curtis is a Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health and a Faculty Fellow at the Carolina Population Center. She earned her PhD in Social Statistics from the University of Southampton, UK, in 1992, an MSc in Statistics with Applications in Medicine in 1989, and a BSc in Mathematics in 1987 from the same university. A statistical demographer, her research interests encompass contraceptive use dynamics, international reproductive and maternal health, monitoring and evaluation methods for population and health programs, multilevel models, and statistical demography. She teaches courses including MHCH 716: International Family Planning and Reproductive Health and MHCH 724: Abortion Care and Policy.

Curtis's career highlights include Research Professor in Maternal and Child Health since 2022 (previously Research Associate Professor, 2002-2022), MEASURE Program Director at the Carolina Population Center since 2021, and Director of the MEASURE Evaluation Project from 2002 to 2012, leading over 150 monitoring and evaluation activities in more than 30 countries. Earlier roles were Senior Evaluation Analyst (1999-2002) and Analyst (1993-1999) at ORC Macro for MEASURE Evaluation and Demographic and Health Surveys projects, and Lecturer in the Department of Social Statistics at the University of Southampton (1992-1993). Her work has advanced global health through pioneering contraceptive use dynamics analyses using DHS data, equity assessments in Bangladesh maternal services, TB program evaluations in Ukraine showing benefits of social support and HIV-TB integration, and methodological studies on verbal autopsy for maternal mortality and obstetric fistula validation.

Key publications include the book chapter “Global Maternal and Child Health” (2012), “Contraceptive behavior dynamics and pregnancy in the United States: A latent transition analysis” (Demography, 2023), “Obstetric fistula in Bangladesh: Estimates from a national survey with clinical validation correction” (Lancet Global Health, 2022), and “Stagnation of maternal mortality decline in Bangladesh between 2010 and 2016 in spite of an increase in health services utilization” (Journal of Global Health, 2024). As Principal Investigator, she leads major USAID grants such as Global Health Program Evaluation, Analysis, Research and Learning ($90 million, 2023-present) and Data for Impact ($60 million, 2018-present). Awards comprise the International AIDS Society TB/HIV research award (2018), Delta Omega Public Health Honor Society (2018), and President’s Award for Excellence, Macro International (1995). She directs the Maternal and Child Health doctoral program (2022-present) and co-chairs the Gillings School Conflict of Interest Committee (2019-present).