Dr. Deborah Billings

Dr. Deborah Billings served as a panelist on Palmetto Perspectives: Saving Moms Part 2.

Deborah Billings (PhD) is a Senior Research Associate with the Institute for Families in Society, University of South Carolina, where since 2020 she has led the VOICES/VOCES initiative, qualitative research to bring the voices of women using Medicaid for pregnancy, birthing, and postpartum care to processes to address pregnancy and birth inequities in South Carolina. 

Currently she is the Principal Investigator for a two-year initiative to use VOICES/VOCES to support perinatal health care providers to strengthen their delivery of Respectful Maternity Care, funded by the Institute for Families in Society and the USC-School of Medicine’s Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare (CRPH).  

Dr. Billings is an Adjunct Associate Professor in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health and Faculty Affiliate of USC’s Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. Through the Arnold School, she is Research Associate and Faculty Mentor for the South Carolina Maternal and Child Health, Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (MCH LEAP) program. 

She also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health in the Gillings School of Global Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

For over 30 years, Dr. Billings has worked locally, nationally, and globally to use participatory research approaches to improve health outcomes and health services for people with limited access to health care.