Sara Holtz, DrPH, MPH

Dr. Holtz has over twenty years of experience in global health including maternal newborn and child health, HIV/AIDS, family planning, reproductive health, malaria, nutrition, diarrhea, and water & sanitation (WASH) with a particular focus on cross-cutting issues such as community-based health, health equity, learning, knowledge management, and communications. She worked at various international organizations, nonprofits, and minority/woman owned businesses to implement USAID-funded global health projects. Dr Holtz  has a particular interest in prevention of maternal mortality and increased access to health services for people in remote, low access, and low-income areas. Her overseas experience includes Peace Corps/Togo, USAID/Senegal, USAID/West Africa and shorter term consultancies in Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. 

Dr. Holtz obtained a BA in French and international relations at The College of William and Mary, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo in a safe motherhood and child survival project, received an MPH from North Carolina, and earned a DrPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She wrote her doctoral dissertation about socioeconomic disparities in access to cesarean delivery in low-income countries.

Research Interests

• Global health
• Maternal and newborn health
• Social determinants of health 
• Disparities in access to healthcare
• Knowledge management

Select Publications

• Ronsmans C, Holtz S, Stanton C. Socioeconomic differentials in caesarean rates in developing countries: a retrospective analysis. 
  Lancet. 2006 Oct 28;368(9546):1516-23. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69639-6. PMID: 17071285
• Stanton CK, Holtz SA. Levels and trends in cesarean birth in the developing world. Stud Fam Plann. 2006 Mar;37(1):41-8. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2006.00082.x. PMID: 16570729
• Holtz SA, Stanton CK. Assessing the quality of cesarean birth data in the Demographic and Health Surveys. Stud Fam Plann. 2007 Mar;38(1):47-54. doi: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2007.00115.x. PMID: 17385382
• Stanton C, Holtz SA, Ahmed S. Challenges in measuring obstetric fistula. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2007 Nov;99 Suppl 1:S4-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2007.06.010. Epub 2007 Aug 31. PMID: 17765240
• Ahmed S, Holtz SA. Social and economic consequences of obstetric fistula: life changed forever? Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2007 Nov;99 Suppl 1:S10-5. doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2007.06.011. Epub 2007 Aug 28. PMID: 17727854
• Stanton C, Ronsmans C; Baltimore Group on Cesarean. Recommendations for routine reporting on indications for cesarean delivery in developing countries. Birth. 2008 Sep;35(3):204-11. doi: 10.1111/j.1523-536X.2008.00241.x. PMID: 18844646
• Holtz SA, Thetard R, Konopka SN, Albertini J, Amzel A, Fogg KP. A Systematic Review of Interventions to Reduce Maternal Mortality among HIV-Infected Pregnant and Postpartum Women. Int J MCH AIDS. 2015;4(2):11-24. PMID: 27622004

Professional Affiliations

• American Public Health Association

Degrees

• DrPH, Population, Family and Reproductive Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 
• MPH, Maternal and Child Health, University of North Carolina School of Public Health 
• BA, French and International Studies, College of William and Mary