José Luis Palma

José Luis has devoted much of his career to sexual and reproductive health issues within academia, the government, and civil society. He began his professional life in the field of demography as a research assistant at El Colegio de México, where he formed a lifelong commitment to access to contraception both as a matter of public health and demography and also as an indispensable means of enabling women’s autonomy.  

Jose Luis has collaborated with key government agencies on reproductive health, including the Ministry of Health, the National Population Council, and the newly formed National Women’s Commission.  In 1999, he founded the Center for Health and Demographic Research SC (INSAD), which he continues to lead to this day. INSAD has supported more than 200 civil society organizations in Mexico and other Latin American countries, particularly in the planning and evaluation of their projects. 

José Luis has been a member of the Assembly of Associates of Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD)/México since 2017 and of the Partnerships and Performance Committee of Fòs Feminista since 2021. He studied Actuarial Science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Public Health at Boston University (BU) and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals, mainly on the subject of abortion.