FIRST HILLMAN SCHOLAR AT UNC – CHAPEL HILL, DR. LAURA BRITTON, GRADUATES

Dr. Laura Britton ’18 defended her final dissertation, “Sociodemographic, Cognitive, and Affective Antecedents to Pregnancy Planning Among Women with Diabetes” at UNC – Chapel Hill in December 2018.  She received a Pre-Doctoral F31 Traineeship Award to fund this research, which addressed the demographic and attitudinal antecedents to pregnancy planning and contraception use among women with diabetes.  This lends towards her long-term goal of improving reproductive health outcomes for women with chronic illnesses, especially those who are under served.

In addition to this grand achievement, Dr. Britton has had three dissertation manuscripts published: 1) “Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Diabetes Diagnosis and Glycemic Control Among Women of Reproductive Age,” in the Journal of Women’s Health, 2) “Contraceptive Use Among Women with Prediabetes and Diabetes in a US National Sample,” in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health; and 3) “Comorbid Hypertension and Diabetes among U.S. Women of Reproductive Age: Prevalence and Disparities,” to be published in the Journal of Diabetes and Its Complications.

Dr. Britton is a member of the Society of Family Planning, the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, and Sigma Theta Tau. She is now at Columbia University School of Nursing in New York pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship.