Danielle DeCosta is a Senior Manager at AcademyHealth where she is responsible for managing projects to enhance the impact and relevance of health services research, applying the tools of human-centered design to drive innovation in the research enterprise and supporting a number of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grantmaking initiatives. In this role, her responsibilities include project management and strategy, qualitative research and analysis, proposal review, and impact evaluation. Her past projects have also included a workshop to explore states’ usage of disadvantage indices to advance health equity in their COVID-19 vaccination efforts, the development of rapid-cycle research priorities to inform health systems in their pandemic response, and qualitative analysis of state-based maternal health data infrastructure needs.

Prior to joining AcademyHealth, Danielle worked for the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health, providing communications, policy advocacy, and other technical assistance to the foundation's grantmaking program to improve the system of care for children with special health care needs. Danielle also previously supported a program that aims to expand contraceptive access in metropolitan hubs in Asia and Africa through the Bill & Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health, consulted on a USAID community-building initiative in Jamaica, and interned with the Alameda County Public Health Department. Danielle holds an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with a concentration in health systems and policy and a B.S. in biology from Stanford University.

Authored by Danielle DeCosta, M.P.H.

Blog Post

A Mindset & Innovative Tools for Integrating Health and Equity into Policymaking Across Sectors

Health in All Policies is an approach to fostering cross-sector collaboration and promoting policies to improve population health that is spreading across U.S. jurisdictions. A May 2024 convening in Washington, D.C. explored tools and approaches that have been developed and refined to center health and equity in policymaking.
Posted By Danielle DeCosta, M.P.H.
Topics Public & Population Health Health Equity Using Health Data
Publication

Documenting the Ripple Effects of Dobbs on Health, Equity, and Health Services Research

The aftershocks of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion continue to reverberate through the U.S. health care system. This brief and accompanying research agenda highlight priority research topics, methods, and recommendations for health services research to examine these wide-ranging implications on reproductive health care, health equity, and beyond.
Posted
Topics HSR Resources & Methods Using Health Data Health Equity Public & Population Health Access to Care
Publication

Documenting the Ripple Effects of Dobbs on Health, Equity, and Health Services Research: Executive Summary

The aftershocks of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion continue to reverberate through the U.S. health care system. This brief and accompanying research agenda highlight priority research topics, methods, and recommendations for health services research to examine these wide-ranging implications on reproductive health care, health equity, and beyond.
Posted
Topics HSR Resources & Methods Using Health Data Health Equity Public & Population Health Access to Care
Blog Post

Reproductive Health and Health Services Research Partnerships Are Critical to Understand the Full Impact of the Dobbs Decision

HSR can play an important role in uncovering the impacts of the Dobbs decision on the health care system and health equity, and will be most effective in partnership with community voices and reproductive health researchers. A new brief shares an initial research agenda and an upcoming webinar provides an opportunity for further reflection and discussion.
Posted By Danielle DeCosta, M.P.H.
Topics HSR Resources & Methods Using Health Data