Caitlin R. Williams

Caitlin R. Williams is a PhD candidate and Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She also serves as a Research Consultant with the Instituto de Efectividad Clínica y Sanitaria in Buenos Aires, Argentina and a Research Collaborator with the Black Mamas Matter Alliance in the United States. Caitlin is particularly interested in how populist nationalist leaders and movements interact with health and health-related rights: curtailing access for some populations while expanding rights for others. Grounded in the sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice movements, Caitlin’s research, teaching, and praxis apply learnings from that arena to other areas of health including COVID-19. 

Previously, Caitlin taught at Elon University and worked at Rabin Martin, a global health consulting firm, where she supported Merck for Mothers, a ten-year, $500-million initiative to reduce maternal mortality and Saving Mothers, Giving Life, a public-private partnership to dramatically reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Caitlin has served as a member of the American Journal of Public Health‘s 2019 Student Think Tank, the CDC’s National Preconception Health and Health Care Initiative Consumer Workgroup, and the Advisory Committee to the National Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development Center. She has contributed her expertise to amicus briefs for cases in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, a memo to the US Office of Civil Rights, and a statement to the Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives. 

Caitlin holds an MSPH in Maternal and Child Health and a BA in Global Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a Royster Fellow and Robertson Scholar.