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| University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Fellowship in Family Planning began in 1991 as the first Fellowship site. Primarily based at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH - the city and county hospital of San Francisco), UCSF’s unique program allows fellows to participate in a fully integrated clinical and research environment. Fellows work directly with leaders in the field of family planning conducting clinical trials, policy evaluation, and international training and research. Fellows are part of one of the largest second trimester outpatient clinics in the country. In addition to all ob/gyn subspecialty fellowships, UCSF has a fellowship in infectious diseases, women’s health epidemiology , and is host to a Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Fellow. Along with advanced family planning clinical skills, fellows at UCSF solidify their generalist skills by serving as attending obstetricians and general gynecologists. Fellows are mentored by Philip Darney, MD, a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the field of family planning research and education and the Associate Fellowship Director, Dr. Jody Steinauer, whose research focuses on education and training in abortion and family planning.
Clinical training encompasses all methods of uterine evacuation with emphasis on second trimester D&E. An important benefit of the program is the variety of practice settings in which fellows encounter many kinds of patients and clinical challenges. These settings include an in-hospital outpatient abortion clinic focused on complex second trimester cases, and a private practice based abortion clinic which offers medication abortions and genetic terminations. Additional clinical and research opportunities are available through affiliated clinics whose medical directors provide leadership and mentoring: a free-standing teen family planning center (New Generation Health Center), a free-standing health center for sex workers (St. James Infirmary), and a full service ob/gyn department in a large public hospital serving indigent patients where fellows are attendings (SFGH). Fellows may choose to complete aMaster’s Degree in Public Health at UC Berkeley with emphasis on maternal and child health, epidemiology, management, or international health, or a Master’s Degree of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research at UCSF. Research may be conducted on a broad range of topics, including contraceptive development, 1 st trimester abortion analgesia, 2 nd trimester abortion safety and access, abortion training and education, post-abortion contraception, adolescent contraception and decision-making, international family planning, and family planning program evaluation. Fellows are expected to enroll in UCSF’s rigorous clinical research course (ATCR) which requires fellows to design and defend a research protocol that usually becomes their fellowship research project. Family Planning Fellows share their perspectives with other specialties including Social Science, Infectious Diseases, and Maternal and Fetal Medicine. This research is coordinated by an epidemiologist who provides assistance with research design, protocols, and IRB approvals. Collaboration is a strong feature of the UCSF program. UCSF’s clinical trials unit, specializing in contraception and abortion, and faculty of UCSF’s Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy allows fellows to collaborate with demographers, epidemiologists, and other social scientists who conduct worldwide research, training, and policy analysis. In addition, fellows collaborate with professionals from the surrounding community including advocates, and researchers at other Bay Area universities. Externships at the California Department of Public Health’s Family Planning Program are also available. Overall mentoring in the program is provided by Dr. Phil Darney and Dr. Jody Steinauer and includes scheduled mentoring meetings addressing progress in completing fellowship requirements and assisting fellows with all aspects of professional development toward becoming a leader in the field of family planning. Additional mentoring, tailored to the fellow’s research interests, is available through other expert faculty. Diverse international contacts and activities implemented by Dr. Darney and other faculty and staff of the Bixby Center for Reproductive Health Research & Policy offer a broad range of international experiences in training, program evaluation or research. The UCSF Fellowship program expects fellows to participate in an international rotation and, with the Fellowship’s national staff, gives guidance and assistance in arranging such experiences.
Philip Darney, MD, MSc is Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at, UCSF and Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at SFGH. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and UCSF’s School of Medicine, he also holds an MSc from The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is board-certified in preventive medicine and obstetrics and gynecology and received his training in these specialties at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University, Boston. He has served on the medical faculties at Harvard University, Oregon Health & Sciences University, and UCSF. Dr. Darney is the author of more than 200 scholarly publications and books including A Clinical Guide for Contraception with Leon Speroff. . Dr. Darney is the founder of the SFGH Women’s Options Center, Bixby Center, New Generation Heath Center, and the formal residency training in abortion at UCSF in 1981. He has conducted clinical and acceptability trials of implant, injectable, and oral contraceptives, contragestins and intrauterine devices for The National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, foundations, and pharmaceutical companies. The Center provides family planning services to teenagers and indigent women in San Francisco, trains gynecologists from all over the world in family planning technology and is the evaluator of California's family planning program. Member of the Institute of Medicine, and recipient of APHA’s Ross and Schultz awards and CARAL Champion of Choice, as well as UCSF’s Chancellor’s Award for Public Service, he has been widely recognized for his pioneering leadership in the field of family planning. Jody Steinauer, MD, MAS, is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences Department at UCSF. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz and UCSF’s School of Medicine, Jody also holds a Master’s Degree of Advanced Studies in Clinical Research at UCSF. After residency in ob\gyn at UCSF, she completed fellowships in both Women’s Health Clinical Research and Family Planning at UCSF. In addition to serving as the Associate Director of the Family Planning Fellowship at UCSF she is the Co-Director of the Reproductive Health Research Unit at SFGH. She is currently studying the factors that contribute to abortion provision after residency and the effect of family planning training in general. She is also studying methods to improve contraceptive compliance in patients, and is overseeing recruitment of patients for two Phase III clinical trials of new contraceptives. As a medical student Jody founded Medical Students for Choice, and has continued to have a strong interest in policy in her work with MSFC and other organizations such as Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health and ACOG.
Research and Clinical Interests of the Directors
Current Faculty Research Projects
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