Megan Barry
Megan Barry
Program Initiated: 2015
Primary Advisor: Carolyn Halpern, PhD
Minor: Population Studies
Research Interests: Biomarkers and health metrics; the effects of chronic disease on morbidity, mortality, pregnancy, and childbearing; adolescent health; and resilience among black men who have sex with men.
Dissertation Research:
Honors/Awards: Carolina Population Center Predoctoral Traineeship (2015 to present), Maternal and Child Health Bureau Training Grant (2015-2016); Edem Effiong Memorial Scholarship for Student Travel (2016)
Bio: Prior to starting the MSPH-to-PhD program in the Maternal and Child Health department at UNC, Megan spent 6 years in the Reproductive Health and Family Formation research area at Child Trends in Washington, DC. There, Megan developed web content, data sheets, communications, and served as a project manager on a website and communication contract with the Office of Adolescent Health (OAH). In addition, Megan worked on contracts providing training and technical assistance to OAH grantees working on teen pregnancy prevention and serving pregnant and parenting teens. Megan also worked on implementation evaluations of Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy and Power Through Choices (as part of the federal Evaluation of Pregnancy Prevention Approaches), and the American Heart Association’s Healthy Way to Grow Program. Megan also gained qualitative research experience on studies on natural family planning and family planning service delivery improvement through the Office of Population Affairs. Her work at Child Trends also included conducting child assessments as part of an evaluation of the DC Public Schools pre-kindergarten program, and data analysis of National Survey of Family Growth data to produce a brief on the health of women served by Title X clinics. Prior to her time at Child Trends, Megan attended Macalester College, where she double majored in Economics and Educational Studies.
Megan enjoys cooking, spending time outdoors, biking, attending gym classes, travelling, and spending quality time with friends and family.
