Dr. Malcolm Potts

1935 - 2025

Dr. Malcolm Potts
01/08/1935 - 04/25/2025
Dr. Malcolm Potts, a pioneering figure in international family planning, reproductive health, and global public health, died in Berkeley, California, at the age of 90.
Through the last century, few advances in medicine have had greater social impact than family planning and prevention of sexually transmitted disease. Few individuals can claim a larger role in creating these benefits than Dr. Malcolm Potts, who remained devoted to improving women's access to contraception and safe childbirth until the final months of his life.
Born on January 8, 1935, in Sunderland, England, Malcolm was the youngest of three brothers. His parents, Ronald Windle Potts and Kathleen A. Cole, raised their family near Newcastle during the industrial and wartime upheavals of the mid-20th century. From an early age, he credited his education - particularly passing a critical entrance exam at age 11 - with setting him on a path toward science, medicine, and international service.
Potts trained as a physician and reproductive scientist at Cambridge University during its golden mid-century years, earning both his medical degree and a PhD in embryology. While still at Cambridge, he founded the first clinic offering contraception to unmarried women. After joining the historic Marie Stopes Clinic in London - where he became its first male physician - he helped expand contraceptive options, including the addition of IUDs and vasectomies. His work with the Abortion Law Reform Association helped secure passage of the landmark 1967 Abortion Act in the UK.
In 1968, he became the founding Medical Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), introducing innovative clinical methods such as uterine manual vacuum aspiration, and leading the global expansion of reproductive health services to dozens of countries. Wherever Malcolm was, there was the spirit of academic England - thoughtful, evidence-driven, and compassionate.
Moving to the United States, Potts served from 1978 to 1990 as President and CEO of Family Health International (FHI), where he led pioneering maternal mortality studies and built the largest AIDS prevention program outside the World Health Organization. He later described these years as transformative in demonstrating how community-based health interventions could save millions of lives.
In 1992, Potts joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health as the inaugural holder of the Fred H. Bixby Endowed Chair in Population and Family Planning. He founded the Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability, and co-founded Venture Strategies for Health and Development. Throughout his tenure, he remained a passionate mentor, inspiring generations of students to link academic research with global action.
Potts worked closely with his wife and collaborator, Dr. Martha Campbell, until her death in 2022. Together, they led international efforts to ensure access to misoprostol for postpartum hemorrhage treatment and safe medical abortion in Africa, saving countless lives. They also co-founded OASIS, a nonprofit organization focused on advancing education and reproductive choice for women and girls in the Sahel region.
More recently, Potts co-founded Cadence Health, a company dedicated to making oral contraceptives available over the counter in the United States, reflecting his lifelong commitment to accessible reproductive care.
Malcolm wrote or co-authored 11 books and over 200 peer reviewed publications, His works ranged from clinical and policy studies (Textbook of Contraceptive Practice) to social history (Ever Since Adam and Eve), evolutionary biology (Sex and War), and royal hemophilia (Queen Victoria's Gene). Among his many public engagements, he famously used two grains of rice on live British television to illustrate the safety of oral contraceptives, a simple but powerful gesture that helped build public trust in the early days of contraception adoption.
Throughout his life, Malcolm Potts remained modest and deeply committed to improving the lives of the most vulnerable. Typically British, he avoided self-promotion and let his work and mentorship speak for itself. His fair consideration of ideas, wry wit, and persistent drive to change the world made him a beacon for young researchers and practitioners - many of whom simply wanted to be, as they put it, "just like Malcolm." He often summed up his approach to life with a simple philosophy borrowed from a young niece: "I happy." It captured his enduring optimism and gratitude even in the face of global challenges.
Dr. Potts was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and, unusually for a physician, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, recognizing his influence in clinical innovation and global health systems design.
Malcolm was married four times. He is survived by four children, three stepchildren, seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
A celebration of his life will be held at a later date. To honor Malcolm's legacy, the family suggests donations to organizations advancing global reproductive health and women's rights.