Patricia Janssen

Dr. Patricia Janssen is a professor and co-lead of the Maternal Child Health Theme at the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia. She is a former director of the MPH, PhD, and MSc programs. She is funded as a senior scholar at the Child and Family Research Institute. She leads Optimal Birth BC, a consortium of clinician-scientists and public health practitioners who undertake both institutional quality improvement initiatives and the development of information resources for childbearing families in BC.

Janssen is the founder of SmartMom and SmartParent, prenatal and parenting education programs delivered by text messaging. She leads a UBC Centre of Excellence entitled “Advancing the Science of Physiologic Birth.” Her research interests include prediction and prevention of cesarean birth among healthy women, diagnosis and management of dystocia, management of early labour, and outcomes and costs associated with differing models of maternity care delivery. She has developed a number of predictive and assessment tools for use in pregnancy including race/ethnicity-specific standards for intrauterine growth.

In 2020, she was named one of the 50 top Changemakers of Public Health at the University of Washington School of Public Health. Changemakers were chosen among 10,000 alumni worldwide who are addressing some of the most pressing population health issues of our time. More info.