Research Overview:

Catherine Freeland is the Associate Director of Public Health Research at the Hepatitis B Foundation. Catherine received her Ph.D. at Thomas Jefferson University, College of Population Health with a concentration in Health Behavior Science and a dissertation on addressing low hepatitis B birth dose uptake in Nigeria. She led the effort to incorporate values and preferences for people with lived experience within the updated 2024 World Health Organization Guidelines and continues to focus on addressing barriers and facilitators to hepatitis B elimination globally.

Research Projects:

• Values and Preferences Assessment to inform World Health Organization Hepatitis B Guidelines
• Hepatitis B Micro Elimination Plan Philadelphia Metro Region
• Implementation and Evaluation of Hepatitis B Project ECHO
• Hepatitis B Anti-Discrimination Registry and Assessment
• SPEARHEAD – Understanding Prevalence of Hepatitis B and Delta within Persons Who Inject Drugs in Greater Philadelphia
• Understanding Barriers and Facilitators to Hepatitis B Birth Dose in Nigeria
• Hepatitis B Screening During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Follow up assessment of those with HBV in Greater Philadelphia from Community Based Screenings 2008-2020
• Qualitative Assessment of HBV Patients
• Assessment of Viral Hepatitis A, B, C and D in Persons Who Inject Drugs. Collaborative Research
• Effort with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, Prevention Point Philadelphia, and Hepatitis B Foundation
• Screening for liver cancer risk among African immigrant and refugee communities in Greater Philadelphia
• Evaluation of the #justB storytelling campaign: A patient storytelling campaign to improve awareness for hepatitis B
• Social media for hepatitis B awareness, pilot study
• Hepatitis B Screening for At-risk Communities in Philadelphia
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