Mara Decker is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She oversees a portfolio of applied research projects and evaluations focusing on sexual and reproductive health both domestically and globally.

She is the Principal Investigator of a randomized control trial that combines in-person health education with digital technology and was designed with youth. In addition, she directs the evaluation of California’s sexual health education programs and a bi-national qualitative study of pregnant and parenting adolescents. Her research interests include the intersection between health and other developmental issues including policies, human rights, social ecology, and empowerment. Most of her work involves mixed qualitative and quantitative methods and is dedicated to identifying and reducing health disparities.

She teaches "Women's Health and Empowerment" in the Master of Science in Global Health program at UCSF and "Evaluation of Health and Social Programs" at UC Berkeley. She also is on the Data and Evaluation Committee of California’s Adolescent Sexual Health Work Group, is a member of the UC Center of Expertise on Women’s Health and Empowerment, and is an advisor to the UNFPA’s adolescent health efforts.