Scholarship and Biography
Dr. Monika Mitra is the Nancy Lurie Marks Professor of Disability Policy and Director of the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University. Her research focuses on the health care experiences and health outcomes of people with disabilities, with particular attention to the sexual and reproductive health of women with disabilities. She currently co-leads the National Research Center for Parents with Disabilities, which addresses knowledge gaps regarding the needs of parents with diverse disabilities, and the National Center for Disability and Pregnancy Research, which works to improve disabled people’s pregnancy experiences and outcomes through research, training, and education. Her research has informed policy and practice at the intersection of disability, health care, and reproductive justice. Her work is supported by multiple federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Dr. Mitra is co-editor-in-chief of the Disability and Health Journal. In 2025, she was appointed Commissioner to the Lancet Commission on Disability and Health. She is the 2021 recipient of the Peg Nosek Award and the 2017 recipient of the Allan Meyers Award from the American Public Health Association, Disability Section. Before joining Brandeis, Dr. Mitra was Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She received her PhD and MA from Boston University and her MS from Calcutta University, Kolkata, India.