Women with opioid and other substance use disorders (SUDs) have an unmet need effective contraceptive methods and high rates of unintended pregnancy. These women often avoid traditional health care settings because of previous poor treatment by providers and fear of criminal justice or child welfare repercussions. This scholarly project seeks to address the clinical problem ...Read more >

Young adult women have higher rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI), unintended pregnancy, and abortion then their older counterparts. This age group also disproportionately experiences cost-related barriers to care. Confidentiality concerns related to insurer practices may obstruct insurance use for sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services by women covered as dependents under a parent’s insurance ...Read more >

Young women, those of lower socioeconomic status, women of color, as well as women living in Southern states continue to bear the highest burdens of unintended pregnancy in the US. Existing literature indicates that these same populations also have lower rates of contraceptive use, with lower rates often attributed to unequal access to family planning ...Read more >

Abortion has long been a contentious political issue in the US. While larger societal and political factors increasingly impede abortion access, the political rhetoric on abortion primarily focuses on the “right to choose” and therefore on individual women, as the primary, autonomous decision-makers for abortion. Rather than conceptualizing choice as an individual process, my project ...Read more >

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) events pose a significant health risk for women who use combined oral contraceptives (COCs). COCs are composed of an estrogen (most commonly ethinyl estradiol) and a synthetic progestogen (progestin). The dose-dependent relationship between estrogen exposure and VTE risk is well studied, and is due to changes in hepatic globulins mediated by activity ...Read more >

Dr. Sealy-Jefferson is the Principal Investigator of the Social Epidemiology to Eliminate Disparities (SEED) Lab, whose mission is to conduct high quality epidemiologic research, framed by reproductive justice, to find solutions to the disproportionate burden of infant mortality among African Americans, with a focus on measuring and intervening upon systems of oppression. Her vision includes ...Read more >

Dr. Rafie is a Pharmacist Specialist and Assistant Clinical Professor at UC San Diego. She was one of the first pharmacists in California to be licensed as an Advanced Practice Pharmacist. Dr. Rafie’s research and advocacy efforts focus on advancing pharmacist practice, particularly in family planning. The Birth Control Pharmacist project was created to provide ...Read more >

Dr. Rice is a public health researcher passionate about advancing equity in family planning outcomes, care, and scholarship through community-centered production and translation of scientific evidence, and mentorship and inclusion of diverse trainees. Her research broadly examines the implications of social and systems-level factors (e.g., stigma and policy) for abortion and other sexual and reproductive ...Read more >

Dr. Odum is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash. Dr. Odum is studying the barrier of patient-physician mistrust in the reproductive lives of African American women seeking abortion care and contraceptive services. Significant gaps in the literature continue to exist related to understanding the barriers that African American women ...Read more >

Dr. Cassondra Marshall is an Assistant Professor in Residence in the Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health program at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley, Dr. Marshall was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research and received training in delivery science research. Dr. Marshall ...Read more >