James Trussell

Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Faculty Associate of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University.  He is the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific publications, primarily in the areas of reproductive health and demographic methodology.   His recent research has been focused in three areas: emergency contraception, contraceptive failure, and the cost-effectiveness of contraception. He has actively promoted making emergency contraception more widely available as an important step in helping women reduce their risk of unintended pregnancy; in addition to his research on this topic, he maintains an emergency contraception website (not-2-late.com) and designed and launched a toll-free emergency contraception hotline (1-888-NOT-2-LATE).   

Dr. Trussell received his B.S. degree in mathematics from Davidson College in 1971, a B.Phil. in economics from Oxford University in 1973, and a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University in 1975. He is a senior fellow at the Guttmacher Institute, a member of the National Medical Committee of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and a member of the board of directors of the NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation and the Society of Family Planning.  He serves on the editorial advisory committees of Contraception and Contraceptive Technology Update.  Recent publications include:

Contraceptive Technology: Twentieth Revised Edition, with Robert A. Hatcher, Anita L. Nelson, Willard Cates, Deborah Kowal, and Michael Policar.  Ardent Media: New York, NY, 2011.

Family Planning as a cost-saving preventative health service, with Kelly Cleland, Carolyn Westoff, Jeffrey F. Peipert, and Scott Spear.  New England Journal of Medicine 364(18):e37, May 5, 2011.

Ectopic pregnancy and emergency contraception a systematic review, with Kelly Cleland, Elizabeth Raymond, Linan Cheng, and Zhu Haoping.  Obstetrics and Gynecology 115(6):1263-1266, June 2010.

Rates of serious infection after changes in regimens for medical abortion, with Mary Fjerstad, Irving Sivin, E. Steve Lichtenberg, and Vanessa Cullins. New England Journal of Medicine 361(2):145-151, July 9, 2009.

Cost-effectiveness of contraceptives in the United States, with Anjana M. Lalla, Quan V. Doan, Eileen Reyes, Lionel Pinto, Joseph Gricar. Contraception 79(1):5-14, January 2009.

Much ado about little: obesity, combined hormonal contraceptive use, and venous thrombosis, with Katherine A. Guthrie and Eleanor Bimla Schwarz. Contraception 77(3):143-146, March 2008.

Estimates of contraceptive failure from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, with Kathryn Kost, Singh, Barbara Vaughan, and Akinrinola Bankole. Contraception 77(1):10-21, January 2008. 

Contraceptive Technology: Nineteenth Revised Edition, with Robert A Hatcher, Anita L. Nelson, Willard Cates, Felicia Stewart, and Deborah Kowal. Ardent Media: New York NY, 2007. 

Population effect of increased access to emergency contraceptive pills: a systematic review, with Elizabeth G. Raymond and Chelsea Polis.  Obstetrics and Gynecology 109(1):181-188, January 2007. 

Plan B and the politics of doubt, with Frank Davidoff. Journal of the American Medical Association 296(14):1775-1778, October 11, 2006.

A complete list of publications is available here.