Nana Mensah, PhD, MPH

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Division of Epidemiologic Research

626-564-7065

Nana.A.Mensah@kp.org

Biography

Dr. Mensah is a maternal/child health epidemiologist and postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Research & Evaluation. Her research seeks to understand how clinical guidelines and practices shape preterm birth outcomes in women at risk for preterm labor. Her research priorities include working with the Kaiser Permanente Southern California Pregnancy Registry.

Before joining Kaiser Permanente in 2021, Dr. Mensah worked in research in a number of roles at the University of Utah to identify substance use trends and uncover factors that affect substance use treatment outcomes for specialized populations. During her doctoral training, Dr. Mensah focused on studies of maternal/child health related to epidemiologic research. She worked with the Utah Department of Health to evaluate the state’s maternal and infant health home visiting program. Her dissertation explored the association between prenatal substance exposures and feeding problems, congenital heart disease, and child welfare system involvement.

Areas of Focus

  • Maternal child health
  • Fetal substance exposures
  • Preterm birth

Education

PhD, Public Health
University of Utah School of Medicine
Salt Lake City, Utah
MPH, Health Promotion
Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah
BS, Biological Sciences
Brigham Young University, Hawaii
Laie, Hawaii

Honors and Awards

  • Best PhD Level Poster, Department of family and Preventive Medicine Poster Summit
  • Jaclyn Leavitt Maternal Child Health Scholarship, University of Utah
  • Schmidt Scholarship, Brigham Young University
  • BYU-H Alumni International Graduate Scholarship
  • Outstanding Ph.D. Student of the Year, Division of Public Health, University of Utah