Norma at Boston Globe Book Fair, ca 1977. Photographer unknown.
Norma Meras Swenson, M.P.H.
Norma Meras Swenson is a founding member of Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS), also known as The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, Inc. She has worked with colleagues throughout the United States and globally to help define and create the field known as Women and Health. She is the co-author and/or co-editor of most editions of “Our Bodies, Ourselves” and was a contributing author to the popular guide “Ourselves Growing Older,” produced in collaboration with OBOS.
A senior OBOS staff member and the organization’s first Director of International Programs until 1998, Norma also served for several years as OBOS president. She is an internationally recognized leader and expert in reproductive and sexual health and rights, and in maternal and child health. An early leader in the maternity care reform movement, Norma is a past president of both the International Childbirth Education Association and the Boston Association for Childbirth Education.
A graduate of Tufts University, Norma earned her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and studied medical sociology at Tufts, and later at Brandeis University. She taught Women, Health and Development from a global perspective at the Harvard School of Public Health, the first and longest-running Women and Health course at Harvard University. Currently she gives guest lectures and works with students on independent study projects and consults with non-profits, community groups and university programs. In fall 2014, Norma co-taught an interdisciplinary course, Gender, Health, and Marginalization, at MIT’s Graduate Consortium of Women’s Studies.
Presently Norma gives guest lectures, works with students on independent study projects and
continues consulting with non-profits, community groups and university programs in the US and
abroad. At Our Bodies, Ourselves, she is supporting the ongoing coordination of Translations
and Adaptations of Our Bodies, Ourselves books into languages other than English, currently the
3 -volume Portuguese Brazilian edition in progress: Nossos Corpos por Nós Mesmas, launched in
2021 by the Coletivo Feminista Sexualidade e Saúde in Sâo Paulo.
A senior OBOS staff member and the organization’s first Director of International Programs until 1998, Norma also served for several years as OBOS president. She is an internationally recognized leader and expert in reproductive and sexual health and rights, and in maternal and child health. An early leader in the maternity care reform movement, Norma is a past president of both the International Childbirth Education Association and the Boston Association for Childbirth Education.
A graduate of Tufts University, Norma earned her MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health and studied medical sociology at Tufts, and later at Brandeis University. She taught Women, Health and Development from a global perspective at the Harvard School of Public Health, the first and longest-running Women and Health course at Harvard University. Currently she gives guest lectures and works with students on independent study projects and consults with non-profits, community groups and university programs. In fall 2014, Norma co-taught an interdisciplinary course, Gender, Health, and Marginalization, at MIT’s Graduate Consortium of Women’s Studies.
Presently Norma gives guest lectures, works with students on independent study projects and
continues consulting with non-profits, community groups and university programs in the US and
abroad. At Our Bodies, Ourselves, she is supporting the ongoing coordination of Translations
and Adaptations of Our Bodies, Ourselves books into languages other than English, currently the
3 -volume Portuguese Brazilian edition in progress: Nossos Corpos por Nós Mesmas, launched in
2021 by the Coletivo Feminista Sexualidade e Saúde in Sâo Paulo.
Working Travel: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Czech Republic, China, Colombia, Costa Rica,
Croatia, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Thailand, and
Uganda. Also: Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Western Europe -- Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark,
England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, & Switzerland.
Croatia, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Thailand, and
Uganda. Also: Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Western Europe -- Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark,
England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, & Switzerland.