Changemakers in Family Planning: Nisha Verma
Abortion
Awarded 2022
Changemakers in Family Planning
Nisha Verma, MD, MPH
Emory University
$60,000

Dr. Nisha Verma is an obstetrician-gynecologist, complex family planning specialist, and clinician researcher committed to improving access to abortion care in the U.S. Southeast, which is her home. She was born in North Carolina to Indian immigrant parents, and received her Bachelor’s in Biology and Anthropology and her medical degree from the University of North Carolina. She graduated from OB/GYN residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and completed her Complex Family Planning Fellowship and Master’s in Public Health degree at Emory University. She is currently serving as the Darney/Landy Fellow at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, where she is actively involved in abortion-related policy and advocacy work. Dr. Verma currently provides abortion care at Planned Parenthoods in the Delaware area, and is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University. She is excited to return to Emory University as full-time faculty in the Division of Family Planning this Fall.

Dr. Verma has expertise in conducting qualitative abortion-related research in restrictive areas and working at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and research. Moving forward, she is particularly interested in leading research focused on exploring the impacts of the changing legal landscape around abortion on people in the U.S. Southeast, especially communities already marginalized from care, and on better understanding how clinicians can support people who are self-managing their abortions. Her vision is to produce data that can be used to push for policy change and improve access to abortion in the U.S. Southeast.