Pere DeRoy (she/they) is a Caribbean-North American scholar. She is a doctoral student in the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) program at the University of Kansas with specialization in Public Policy & Administration and Caribbean Studies. She holds an MA in Development Studies from York University, Canada; an MA in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies from the University of Kansas; a postgraduate diploma in International Studies, and a BSS in Sociology from the University of Guyana. She conducts research on health disparities and equity in reproductive health outcomes, anti-trafficking public policy interventions, immigrant livelihoods and the global political economy, race, sexuality and gender hate crimes and inequalities, Gender-Based Violence, LGBTQI human rights, and sexual and reproductive health & rights particularly for queer and trans BIPOC populations transnationally and has an epistemological interest in creole language and decoloniality. She has over a decade of civic- engagement and experience working with development-oriented organizations ranging from non- governmental, intergovernmental, and state agencies in areas of program management, community consultation and resource mobilization focused on education, mental and reproductive health, women’s, and youth’s advocacy. Pere’s work constantly challenges/expands ideas of freedom and self-determination through the frameworks of Decolonial feminism, Transnational feminism and Reproductive Justice.   
Pere’s doctoral research working title is ‘Reframing global patterns of maternal deaths: Georgetown, Guyana as a case study’. My doctoral research/dissertation research studies reproductive policy responses to maternal mortality by examining pregnancy and birthing experiences and stories of causation that underpin policy-responses to pregnancy-related deaths and injuries in relation to healthcare systems – both formal state sanctioned and informal traditional systems – in Georgetown, Guyana. This research utilizes an ethnographic qualitative design using the methods of interview and focus group/discussions with groups to collect birthing-related stories, beliefs, debates, politics, and interpretations of pregnancy-related deaths of Guyanese of diverse gender, sexuality, racial, ethnic, (non)-religious, and spiritual leanings in relation to the social structures and institutions that shape these human experiences. My research seeks to shed light on gaps, contradictions and disconnections that exist between the reproductive policy goal of reducing maternal mortality and the lived experiences and practices of Guyanese, and offer through a policy memo to policy-makers on sexual and reproductive health, healthcare practitioners and organizations working on the subject of Sexual and Reproductive Health in Guyana, with a focus on Georgetown. After producing my first public scholarship on the subject in 2019, entitled “Pattern of maternal deaths is a result of unaddressed issues of gender-inequality and the poverty of women”, and receiving positive responses that calls for action, I started to focus my doctoral studies and expertise areas on Policy Analysis and Reproductive Policy in Guyana, United States and England, with the latter 2 countries having shaped reproductive healthcare in Guyana. Over the past 5 years, I have dedicated my interdisciplinary qualitative policy analysis research to Obstetric care evaluation with help from local NGOs, the University of Guyana’s Institute of Gender Studies, and through the US Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship.    
Through the “seal of approval” financial support from the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship, I have been able to conduct interviews, discussions and the necessary archival research for understanding the context within which maternal mortality/pregnancy-related deaths or maternal deaths occur in Georgetown, Guyana. I hope that my research process gives “birth” to useful information that different audiences can engage with, reflect and learn from, and move to action whether at a micro or macro level of institutions.