She has a background in social and quantitative psychology, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive health. Before coming to Maryland, she was a faculty in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research is at the intersection of psychology and reproductive health, and has focused on unintended pregnancy and mental health. Much of her research has sought to understand the relationship between abortion and subsequent mental health, in part for the policy implications. More recently, she has turned to investigating the role of mental health in unintended pregnancy. Her research is supported by NIH and private foundation grants.