Dr. JaNelle M. Ricks is a public health behavioral scientist and health equity advocate with additional training and expertise in health communication and policy. Dr. Ricks is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Behavior and Health Promotion in the College of Public Health at the Ohio State University. She uses mixed-methods, with an emphasis on qualitative methodology, to develop and test interventions to improve the sexual and reproductive health of adolescent and adult historically minoritized racial, sexual and gender populations. She earned her DrPH in Behavioral Health from the University of Kentucky, and her MPA in Health Policy from Ohio University.

Through the Changemakers in Family Planning award, Dr. Ricks seeks to undertake training and mentorship to expand her expertise in sexual and gender minority health research by focusing on contraception and abortion care access and equity for these communities. The resultant body of research that she endeavors to develop will include: 1) examination of health disparities and access to care; 2) understanding and facilitation of contraception and abortion care decision-making; and 3) evaluation of the role of trauma in the utilization of reproductive healthcare. Similar to her existing work, these proposed lines of inquiry will intentionally include an intersectional focus on the health of those who also endorse other marginalized identities (eg, racially minoritized, low-resourced).