The Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship is a 1-year program that develops and fosters clinical leaders who will promote and teach full-spectrum reproductive health care within family medicine. Fellows spend the year as teachers in training, learning to perform and teach reproductive health care procedures.

Here are our 2014-2015 Fellows!

Dr. Zahra Virani, M.D.
I was born among the vibrant colors and spices of Karachi Pakistan but raised in Long Island, not far from the bright lights of Manhattan. I headed north to “Bean-town” for college, home of Fenway Park and the best bubble tea I’ve ever had, where I majored in Human Physiology at Boston University. I ventured to the Caribbean island of Dominica not long after to get my Medical Degree at Ross University. A few years later, I completed Residency at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital where my love for women’s health and advocacy flourished. I joined this fellowship in order to reach my goal of becoming a successful women’s health advocate and women’s health educator. I hope in the future to be able to help expand reproductive health access to women who are in areas of need. In this coming year, I hope to become a powerful, effective champion for comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care.

Dr. Carrie Pierce, M.D.
I am a native Ohioan, where I did my undergraduate studies in neuroscience at Oberlin College. I then spent about 5 years in cancer research at University of Chicago, where I realized I was much more interested in working with the people whose biopsies I was testing than in the biopsies themselves. I switched gears and attended Rush Medical College, staying in the area to do residency at a small community hospital. From the beginning of medical school I knew I was interested in reproductive health and quickly became involved in that field. It was while working with a family physician who provided a large volume of reproductive health services that I saw firsthand the ease in which reproductive health care can be integrated into family practice, as well as the value of these services for patients. The Fellowship has been an extraordinary opportunity for me, as I am not only learning to teach residents but also improving my own procedural skills and participating in more advocacy work. I do not see reproductive health care as separate from the rest of the services offered in family medicine, and I wouldn’t be as good of a physician if I wasn’t able to offer these services to my patients. In the future, I plan to join a rural residency program to expand access to reproductive health care in a remote area while helping to train future family physicians to provide the highest quality of service to their patients.

Dr. Rachel Rosenberg, M.D.
I grew up in Massachusetts, but I fell in love with NYC when I came here for undergrad at Columbia. I returned to my home state for medical school at UMass, where I first discovered the joy of being able to care for patients of all ages and genders as a Family Physician. Soon I was back in NYC for my residency at the Beth Israel Residency in Urban Family Medicine. I am thrilled to be continuing my training as a Reproductive Health Fellow. The more experience I have in providing primary care, the more I realize the importance of integrating reproductive health care into primary care. Reproductive health and family planning are such a huge part of women’s lives for so many years; I am grateful that I can be there for my patients and provide them with safe, respectful care as they make decisions about their own lives and bodies. In the years to come, I am excited to continue to practice Family Medicine and Reproductive Health in underserved areas, and spread my passion about both of these topics with future generations of healthcare providers!

We are now accepting applications for the 2015-2016 Reproductive Health and Advocacy Fellowship. Learn More.