Halina Yee, MD is currently the first year Complex Fmaily Planning Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She obtained her undergraduate degree from UCLA in Physiological Sciences, and obtained her medical degree from the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. She completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology from the Milton S. Hershey Penn State Medical Center.

As glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 agonists become more prevalent, our goal is to study the effects of these drugs on the reproductive tract and their intersection with contraceptive use and abortion care. To eventually study the effects of GLP-1 agonists on the endometrium, we plan to obtain preliminary data on their effects in the endometrium of normally-cycling, obese patients. In this study, we will obtain endometrial biopsies prior to initiation, and then again following 6 months of GLP-1 agonist exposure. In order to delineate direct drug effects from changes due to weight loss, we will also recruit individuals undergoing bariatric surgery as a comparator arm. We will use daily bleeding diaries and pictorial blood assessment charts (PBAC) to phenotypically profile participants and a combination of single cell RNA sequencing to define transcriptomic changes in endometrial gene expression and immunohistochemistry to evaluate histological changes. This observational prospective cohort study fills a major knowledge gap by helping us understand the cell specific changes that occur with GLP-1 agonist usage in the endometrium and provides a foundational data set by which future family planning focused studies can build on for reference.