Alison Comfort, PhD
Assistant Professor
Ob/Gyn, Reproductive Sciences
School of Medicine

She has evaluated the role of social networks related to health knowledge and behaviors including infant HIV testing, anti-retroviral therapy adherence, contraceptive decision-making, COVID-19 vaccine uptake, and antenatal care-seeking. Ultimately, her research aims to inform the design of social network-informed interventions to ensure access to reproductive health care and HIV treatment and prevention especially in low-resource settings.

• "She should support me, she's my doctor:" Patient perceptions of agency in contraceptive decision-making in the clinical encounter in Northern California.
  Perspectives on sexual and reproductive health 2023 Rao L, Rocca CH, Muñoz I, Chambers BD, Devaskar S, Asiodu IV, Stern L, Blum M, Comfort AB, Harper CC
• Perceived norms about male circumcision and personal circumcision status: a cross-sectional, population-based study in rural Uganda.
  medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences 2023 Perkins JM, Kakuhikire B, Baguma C, Jeon S, Walker SF, Dongre R, Kyokunda V, Juliet M, Satinsky EN, Comfort AB, Siedner M, Ashaba S, Tsai AC
• The role of informational support from women's social networks on antenatal care initiation: qualitative evidence from pregnant women in Uganda.
  BMC pregnancy and childbirth 2022 Comfort AB, El Ayadi AM, Camlin CS, Tsai AC, Nalubwama H, Byamugisha J, Walker DM, Moody J, Roberts T, Senoga U, Krezanoski PJ, Harper CC
• Telehealth for Contraceptive Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Provider Perspectives.
  Women's health issues : official publication of the Jacobs Institute of Women's Health 2022 Rao L, Comfort AB, Dojiri SS, Goodman S, Yarger J, Shah N, Folse C, Blum M, Hankin J, Harper CC
• Assessing differences in contraceptive provision through telemedicine among reproductive health providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
  Reproductive health 2022 Comfort AB, Rao L, Goodman S, Raine-Bennett T, Barney A, Mengesha B, Harper CC
• Social and provider networks and women's contraceptive use: Evidence from Madagascar.
  Contraception 2021 Comfort AB, Harper CC, Tsai AC, Moody J, Perkins JM, Rasolofomana JR, Alperin C, Ranjalahy AN, Heriniaina R, Krezanoski PJ
• Mental health among outpatient reproductive health care providers during the US COVID-19 epidemic.
  Reproductive health 2021 Comfort AB, Krezanoski PJ, Rao L, El Ayadi A, Tsai AC, Goodman S, Harper CC
• The association between men's family planning networks and contraceptive use among their female partners: an egocentric network study in Madagascar.
  BMC public health 2021 Comfort AB, Harper CC, Tsai AC, Perkins JM, Moody J, Rasolofomana JR, Alperin C, Schultz M, Ranjalahy AN, Heriniaina R, Krezanoski PJ
• Implementation science: Scaling a training intervention to include IUDs and implants in contraceptive services in primary care.
  Preventive medicine 2020 Harper CC, Comfort AB, Blum M, Rocca CH, McCulloch CE, Rao L, Shah N, Oquendo Del Toro H, Goodman S
• Improving Capacity at School-based Health Centers to Offer Adolescents Counseling and Access to Comprehensive Contraceptive Services.
  Journal of pediatric and adolescent gynecology 2020 Comfort AB, Rao L, Goodman S, Barney A, Glymph A, Schroeder R, McCulloch C, Harper CC
• The impact of pill counting on resource-limited health facilities: a thematic qualitative analysis in eSwatini.
  Health policy and planning 2020 Krezanoski JD, Matshotyana K, Nxumalo N, Comfort AB, Khumalo P, Krezanoski PJ
• Comparison of traditional methods versus SAFEcount for filling prescriptions: A pilot study of an innovative pill counting solution in eSwatini.
  PloS one 2019 Krezanoski PJ, Krezanoski JD, Nxumalo N, Gabert R, Comfort AB, Khumalo P, Matshotyana K
• Do home pregnancy tests bring women to community health workers for antenatal care counselling? A randomized controlled trial in Madagascar.
  Health policy and planning 2019 Comfort AB, Juras RC, Bradley SEK, Ranjalahy Rasolofomanana J, Noeliarivelo Ranjalahy A, Harper CC
• Extending health insurance coverage to the informal sector: Lessons from a private micro health insurance scheme in Lagos, Nigeria.
  The International journal of health planning and management 2018 Peterson L, Comfort A, Hatt L, van Bastelaer T
• Cost-effectiveness analysis and mortality impact estimation of scaling-up pregnancy test kits in Madagascar, Ethiopia and Malawi.
  Health policy and planning 2017 Kolesar RJ, Audibert M, Comfort AB
• The effect of price on demand for and use of bednets: evidence from a randomized experiment in Madagascar.
  Health policy and planning 2017 Comfort AB, Krezanoski PJ
• Exploring the use of routinely-available, retrospective data to study the association between malaria control scale-up and micro-economic outcomes in Zambia.
  Malaria journal 2017 Comfort A, Leegwater A, Nakhimovsky S, Kansembe H, Hamainza B, Bwalya B, Alilio M, Johns B, Olsho L
• Providing free pregnancy test kits to community health workers increases distribution of contraceptives: results from an impact evaluation in Madagascar.
  Contraception 2015 Comfort AB, Chankova S, Juras R, Hsi CN, Peterson LA, Hathi P
• A false dichotomy: RCTs and their contributions to evidence-based public health.
  Global health, science and practice 2015 Hatt LE, Chatterji M, Miles L, Comfort AB, Bellows BW, Okello FO
• Association between malaria control and paediatric blood transfusions in rural Zambia: an interrupted time-series analysis.
  Malaria journal 2014 Comfort AB, van Dijk JH, Mharakurwa S, Stillman K, Johns B, Hathi P, Korde S, Craig AS, Nachbar N, Derriennic Y, Gabert R, Thuma PE
• Household malaria knowledge and its association with bednet ownership in settings without large-scale distribution programs: Evidence from rural Madagascar.
  Journal of global health 2014 Krezanoski PJ, Tsai AC, Hamer DH, Comfort AB, Bangsberg DR
• Households with young children and use of freely distributed bednets in rural Madagascar.
  International health 2013 Krezanoski PJ, Comfort AB, Tsai AC, Bangsberg DR
• Effect of health insurance on the use and provision of maternal health services and maternal and neonatal health outcomes: a systematic review.
  Journal of health, population, and nutrition 2013 Comfort AB, Peterson LA, Hatt LE
• Financial incentives and maternal health: where do we go from here?
  Journal of health, population, and nutrition 2013 Morgan L, Stanton ME, Higgs ES, Balster RL, Bellows BW, Brandes N, Comfort AB, Eichler R, Glassman A, Hatt LE, Conlon CM, Koblinsky M
• Hospitalizations and costs incurred at the facility level after scale-up of malaria control: pre-post comparisons from two hospitals in Zambia.
  The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene 2013 Comfort AB, van Dijk JH, Mharakurwa S, Stillman K, Gabert R, Korde S, Nachbar N, Derriennic Y, Musau S, Hamazakaza P, Zyambo KD, Zyongwe NM, Hamainza B, Thuma PE
• Effect of incentives on insecticide-treated bed net use in sub-Saharan Africa: a cluster randomized trial in Madagascar.
  Malaria journal 2010 Krezanoski PJ, Comfort AB, Hamer DH