While subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) was designed for self-administration, the FDA approved it in the US for provider administration and insurance often covers only the clinic-administered intramuscular (IM) formulation. Despite evidence about patients’ interest in, as well as the efficacy of, DMPA-SC for user-administration, it remains an under-utilized contraceptive option for reasons hypothesized to ...Read more >

Recommendations regarding contraceptive counseling and reproductive health differ amongst transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youth compared to cis-gender youth. TGD youth face unique health disparities including increased risk of sexually transmitted infections, sexual abuse and violence, and unwanted pregnancies. TGD youth also face inequities within the healthcare system including lack of access to providers and ...Read more >

Survey data provide evidence that US patients report interest in self-administration of DMPA-SC, with current DMPA users exhibiting greater interest than past- or never-users. Feasibility studies show family planning patients, including adolescents, can successfully self-inject DMPA-SC after being trained and that self-injecting patients report similar levels of satisfaction to patients receiving provider-administered injections. Given this ...Read more >

Natalie Stokes is a cardiovascular disease fellow planning to specialize in women’s cardiovascular health, and specifically cardio-obstetrics. As such, she is particularly passionate about addressing the high rates of maternal cardiovascular morbidity and mortality through early, effective family planning care, including assessment of reproductive goals, and education and access to safe contraception and abortion. Prior ...Read more >

As a public health doctorate student at East Tennessee State University (ETSU), Kristen Surles is pursuing her goal of improving equitable access to care for teens to improve their overall well-being. Before returning to school, she worked as a counselor in underserved middle and high schools. It was here that her drive to improve access ...Read more >

Ortal is a PhD Candidate at the Silver School of Social Work at New York University and holds an MSW from the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Through both practice and research, she is committed to promoting reproductive justice and equitable access to family planning ...Read more >

Dr. Rachel Shin is a rising third-year resident at Cleveland Clinic’s Obstetrics & Gynecology Residency Program. She completed her MD at Virginia Commonwealth University, and first became interested in public health as a Duke Global Health Fellow in Geneva. Dr. Shin completed a Master of Public Health Degree at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public ...Read more >

Izidora (Izzie) Skračić is a PhD candidate in Maternal and Child Health, whose research focuses on reproductive health. As a member of the evaluation team of Delaware Contraceptive Access Now, her dissertation explores various facets of access to contraception. Additionally, Izidora teaches a 300-level course, “Unequal Families: Health, Wealth, Race, and Place in the U.S.,” ...Read more >

Connie Lu is a current resident OBGYN physician at Northwestern Memorial Hopsital and John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County in Chicago, Illinois. She started her education at Indiana University, where she obtained a dual degree in both Neuroscience and Gender Studies. There, she completed an honors thesis in Gender Studies titled, “Faking it: ...Read more >

Laurenia Mangum is a doctoral candidate in the School of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh. Family planning is an effective way of preventing unplanned pregnancies among birthing people, while providing autonomy and freedom of choice of how to grow one’s family and options for contraception use or terminating unplanned pregnancies. There is a ...Read more >