Carol S. Weisman, PhD, Principal Investigator
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
Distinguished Professor of Public Health Sciences, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Health Policy and Administration
Penn State College of Medicine
Dr. Weisman is a sociologist and health services researcher with a principal interest in women’s health care and policy. She received her BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Wellesley College and her PhD in Social Relations from Johns Hopkins University. Before coming to Penn State, she was Professor of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and Professor and Associate Chair of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Her research focuses on access to primary and preventive care, organizational models for primary care delivery, and quality of health care for women. She has a particular interest in women’s access to contraception and other reproductive health services and in the impact of the Affordable Care Act on women’s insurance coverage and receipt of recommended preventive services. Completed projects include the Central Pennsylvania Women’s Health Study; evaluation of the quality of primary care in the DHHS-designated National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health; and development of the Primary Care Satisfaction Survey for Women.
Dr. Weisman is Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Women’s Health Issues, having served as Editor-in-Chief from 2003 to 2006. She served on the Institute of Medicine Committee on Preventive Services for Women (2010-2011). She was Chair of the Board of Directors of AcademyHealth in 2007, recipient of the Leader in the Field Award from the Family Health Council of Central Pennsylvania in 2008, and the 2012 Distinguished Professor in Women’s Health for the Society of General Internal Medicine. She is a Fellow of the Society of Family Planning. Dr. Weisman is the author of over 150 publications, including Women’s Health Care: Activist Traditions and Institutional Change (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).
Cynthia Chuang, MD, MSc, Research Director
Professor of Medicine and Public Health Sciences
Chief, Division of General Internal Medicine
Penn State College of Medicine
Dr. Chuang is a general internist, primary care provider, and health services researcher with a principal research interest in unintended pregnancy and contraceptive decision-making in adult women. Dr. Chuang completed her medical degree at NYU School of Medicine, Internal Medicine residency and chief residency at Temple University Hospital, and General Internal Medicine fellowship and Preventive Medicine residency at Boston University School of Medicine. She received a Master’s of Science in Epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health, and has been on faculty at the Penn State College of Medicine since 2004.
Dr. Chuang is Principal Investigator of a PCORI-funded project to study reproductive life planning and contraceptive action planning interventions in adult women (CD–1304–6117), and she is the Penn State site PI for the PCORNet PaTH Clinical Data Research Network, supported by PCORI. She is the author of over 50 publications and received the Dean’s Award for Innovation in Team Science in 2014, the Department of Medicine Excellence in Mentoring Award in 2014 and Junior Faculty Award for Excellence in Research in 2008. She has also received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2010 and 2014, and the Special Recognition for Education Leadership and Service Award on 2005.