Dr Chelsea Morroni
Director, Botswana Sexual and Reproductive Health Research Initiative, Senior Research Associate, Botswana Harvard Health Partnership, Chair in Global Sexual and Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, NIHR Global Health Research Professor
MBChB, DFSRH, DTM&H, MPH, MPhil, PhD
Chelsea is an internationally recognised expert in sexual and reproductive health (SRH), particularly in contraceptive care in African settings. She is an SRH medical doctor and a reproductive health epidemiologist, with 25 years’ experience living and working in Africa.
Her work combines mixed-methods research with clinical care, teaching and training, policy work and advocacy, with a focus on women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), particularly the prevention of unintended pregnancy, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
Chelsea holds a permanent personal Chair in Global Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Edinburgh in the Centre for Reproductive Health, where she is a Full Professor.
She is an NIHR Global Health Research Professor, a Senior Researcher at Botswana Harvard Health Partnership, an Honorary Professor of Women’s Health at the University of Cape Town, and a research associate at Harvard School of Public Health. In 2015, Chelsea founded the Botswana Sexual and Reproductive Health Initiative (BSRHI), a clinical and implementation research and training programme that works across Southern Africa.
She holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard University in Social Anthropology, a Master of Public Health and medical degree from the University of Cape Town, a Diploma in Tropical Medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and an MPhil and PhD in Epidemiology from Columbia University.
She was recently awarded lifetime Honorary Fellowship of the College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare for ‘extraordinary dedication, commitment and achievement in SRH – the highest honour the College can bestow, awarded to those individuals who are held to have delivered exceptional service to sexual and reproductive healthcare’.
She has worked in advisory positions for African Ministries of Health, in consultant roles with the WHO, UNFPA, International AIDS Society, College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare, and industry, and is on the board of trustees of The International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research and The Margaret Pyke Trust. Until recently, Chelsea had served for many years as Co-Director of the UK College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare’s Clinical Effectiveness Unit, leading evidence-based contraceptive guideline development for the UK and globally, including work on the UK and the WHO Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use (MEC). Chelsea is clinically active as an SRH doctor, providing patient care and training.
Over the course of her career, Chelsea has worked in all aspects of sexual and reproductive health (policy, programming, clinical, research and advocacy) in Southern and Eastern Africa, the UK and the US.
She is committed to and passionate about training, mentoring and inspiring the next generation of healthcare providers, researchers, innovators and advocates in the field of SRHR and contraceptive care.