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| Columbia University
The Fellowship at Columbia University in New York City combines a strong academic experience with a broad clinical component. The Fellowship is well-established; eight fellows have graduated since the first fellow began in 1997. Fellows may choose between a one-year clinical training track or a two-year clinical and research track which includes coursework towards a Masters Degree in Public Health (MPH) or a Masters of Science (MSc) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. International experiences in family planning and abortion are available.
The clinical setting at Columbia provides an urban, diverse, challenging training environment. Fellows learn to provide both comprehensive contraception and abortion services. This includes serving as supervising physician at our Title X funded Family Planning Clinic which is staffed by a team of nurse practitioners and provides over 20,000 patient visits per year. The large volume of our clinic provides fellows with the opportunity to consult on complex contraception cases. Fellows work closely with attendings as an integral part of a hospital-based abortion service. Fellows learn to provide medical abortion and early surgical abortion with manual and electric vacuum aspiration in an office setting. Second trimester abortion is provided in an operating room setting. Fellows work closely with the Maternal Fetal Medicine Service to provide surgical termination of pregnancy for medically complicated in-patients. Fellows also staff the gynecologic surgery service for three weeks of their first year. No obstetrical duties are expected.
The Family Planning Division at Columbia actively conducts numerous research projects and has a full-time staff dedicated to clinical research. Projects are supported by numerous sources, including the NIH, foundations and industry. This active part of the Division provides Fellows numerous opportunities to conduct their research. With close mentorship, all Fellows initiate and complete a project, which may involve conduct of a clinical trial or analysis of data from another Divisional project. Fellowship research has included analysis of bleeding patterns after medical and surgical abortion, the utility of Rh immune Globulin after early pregnancy termination, timing of misoprostol after mifepristone for medical abortion, and an evidence review of the effects of oral contraceptives on weight. The Fellowship Director, Dr. Westhoff, and the Assistant Fellowship director, Dr. Davis, are available for close supervision, mentoring and support throughout the research process including developing a manuscript for publication
Dr. Westhoff and Dr. Davis, the Fellowship Directors, provide mentorship throughout the Fellowship. This includes meetings in the process of planning and conducting research. All attendings in the Division mentor Fellows in their clinical learning. Both during and after Fellowship, the Directors provide guidance in other areas of professional development such as grant writing, obtaining research funding, publication and promotion. Weekly division meetings give fellows the opportunity to work with other division faculty, research staff, and graduate students. Fellows are encouraged to pursue their interests in international reproductive health. Dr. Westhoff will work with individual Fellows to develop a placement based on a Fellow’s particular interests. The Mailman School of Public Health and NYC based agencies support a wide array of faculty involved with extensive international research and provide a starting point for planning an international experience.
Carolyn Westhoff, MD, MSc, the Division director, is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and also Professor of Epidemiology and Professor of Population and Family Health in the Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Westhoff serves as an associate editor of the journal Contraception, and is the co-chair of PPFA’s National Medical Committee. She is a Principal Investigator of NICHD's Contraceptive Clinical Trials Network, and serves on the DSMBs of several other NIH-sponsored clinical trials. Dr. Westhoff is a board member of ARHP, the SFP and the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and also serves on the Obstetrics and Gynecology RRC. Outside of the reproductive health arena, Dr. Westhoff serves on Good Housekeeping Magazine's selection committee for their Women in Government Award, and on the Fitness Magazine Advisory Board. Anne Davis, MD, MPH, FACOG is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. She completed her residency at the University of Washington in Seattle. She was the first Family Planning Fellow at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Following Fellowship, she completed a Masters Degree in Public Health at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. Her NIH-funded research includes the treatment of dysmenorrhea using oral contraceptives in adolescent girls, the effects of carbamazepine and St. John’s Wort on steroid hormone metabolism, and the medical management of miscarriage. She serves on the Board of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health.
Research and Clinical Interests of the Directors
Current Faculty Research Projects
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