Betsy Costenbader

Social Scientist

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Elizabeth (Betsy) Costenbader is a Social Scientist and Social Network Analyst in the Behavioral, Epidemiological and Clinical Sciences Department at FHI 360. She has collaborated on and led research and intervention projects among populations at-risk for sexual and reproductive health outcomes for more than a decade with a primary focus on understanding the social context of risk; particularly, the role of social norms and networks.

Throughout all of her projects, Costenbader has maintained an interest in assessment of the performance of empirical data and improvements in data collection and measurement techniques. Examples of this include her work on a recently concluded NIH-funded RO1 examining the impact of sampling techniques on the structure of networks in at-risk populations in Atlanta, Georgia, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and her current work on both the USAID-funded Passages project and the Gates-funded Learning Collaborative to Advance Research and Practice on Normative Change for Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Well-being. Both projects are focused on building the evidence base and promoting practices at scale that improve the health and well-being of adolescents and young people through social norm transformation; and on both of these projects Costenbader leads the measurement groups.

Costenbader holds a MSc from the Harvard School of Public Health and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.