Ana Langer was a panelist for Forum’s discussions on Saving Lives that Give Life, Putting Mothers and Babies First, Deaths from Pregnancy and Childbirth and Heart and Brain Disease in Women.
Dr. Langer is the Director of the Women and Health Initiative at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and is a Professor of the Practice of Public Health in its Department of Global Health and Population. She is a physician specialized in pediatrics and neonatology, as well as a reproductive health expert, public health researcher, and advocate for women’s reproductive health and rights. Prior to this, Dr. Langer was the President and CEO of EngenderHealth from 2005-2010. During her tenure, EngenderHealth experienced significant growth and expanded its programmatic portfolio that now includes maternal health and unsafe abortion, in addition to family planning, gender and HIV/AIDS. Before joining EngenderHealth, Dr. Langer served as the Population Council’s Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) from 1994-2005 as well as Acting Director of the Population Council’s Global Reproductive Health Program from January 2003 to September 2004. Previously, she was the chair of the Department of Research in Women and Children’s Health at the National Institute of Public Health, Mexico where – in addition to leading several clinical trials and other research projects – she established and directed the Master’s Program in Reproductive Health.
For more than 25 years, Dr. Langer has been a leading advocate for the improvement of women’s health through the introduction of evidence-based practices. She has conducted extensive research on maternal mortality, the psychosocial factors that affect pregnancy, delivery and postpartum outcomes, the quality of maternal health care, emergency contraception and unsafe abortion. She is the co-chair of International Planned Parenthood Federation’s International Medical Advisory Panel and serves on other specialist boards, such as the WHO Advisory Commission on Health Research, the Scientific Oversight Group of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, and the International Advisory Panel of the Fundacion CARSO in Mexico. She also sits on a number of editorial boards such as The Lancet International Advisory Board, the Editorial Board of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, the WHO Reproductive Health Library, and the Journal of Reproductive Health. Dr. Langer is respected worldwide as a leader in the application of research findings to influence policy and clinical norms for the improvement of maternal health care and the overall quality of women’s and family health. Originally from Argentina, she is fluent in Spanish, French, and English.
