UCSF family-medicine leader recognized for advancing equitable, evidence-based reproductive health and national quality measures
Christine Dehlendorf, MD, MS, Professor and Vice Chair for Research in the UCSF Department of Family & Community Medicine, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)—one of the highest honors in health and science.
Election to NAM recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to medical science, health care, and public health. Fewer than 100 new members are elected each year, chosen by their peers for work that improves health outcomes and informs national policy.
Dr. Dehlendorf’s election honors her pioneering leadership to transform reproductive health systems toward care that honors patients’ values and choices, and her role as founder and director of the Person-Centered Reproductive Health Program (PCRHP). The program generates evidence, tools, and narratives that ensure reproductive health care prioritizes people’s autonomy, dignity, and lived experiences both nationally and internationally.
Her influence includes the development of a model of shared decision making that is now considered the gold standard in contraceptive care and the development of a person-centered contraceptive care framework to address the range of factors influencing equitable access to high-quality, person-centered contraceptive care.
Her reach extends far beyond UCSF. Dr. Dehlendorf served as a trusted advisor to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Office of Population Affairs (OPA), and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Her research was cited in the National Academies’ report The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the U.S.
“I’ve always believed that the quality of care is defined not just by outcomes, but by how people feel in the process,” she said. “When patients leave a visit feeling respected, heard, and supported—that’s when we’re truly delivering excellent care.”
National recognition for patient-centered measures
In 2025, the Partnership for Quality Measurement (PQM) endorsed contraceptive care measures led by Dr. Dehlendorf and the PCRHP team: the Contraceptive Use eCQMs for Nonpostpartum and Postpartum populations, and the Person-Centered Contraceptive Counseling Retrospective Survey (PCCC-RS), which captures patient experience at the population level. These approvals followed PQM’s 2024 endorsement of the Contraceptive Care Screening eCQM (SINC measure). Together, these measures establish the first comprehensive framework for assessing contraceptive care quality, including attention to patient experience.
“These measures validate the importance of assessing not only whether care is provided, but whether it meets patients’ preferences and goals,” Dr. Dehlendorf said.
Developed with support from OPA, these tools are now being used across health systems and public programs, including Title X, to ensure reproductive care reflects patients’ own values.
A career shaped by UCSF Family & Community Medicine (FCM)
Dr. Dehlendorf completed her residency and chief residency at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital before joining the UCSF faculty in 2008. She later directed the Family Medicine Family Planning Fellowship and now serves as FCM Vice Chair for Research, with joint appointments in Obstetrics & Gynecology and Epidemiology & Biostatistics. Dr. Dehlendorf is also affiliated with the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.
Her NAM proposers described her as “a powerful force shaping the nation’s response to glaring inequities in reproductive health and threats to reproductive autonomy.”
Dr. Dehlendorf and the other members of the NAM Class of 2025 will be formally inducted at the Academy’s 2026 Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.