The Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship is a 1-year clinical training 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. This year, RHAP is sponsoring 4 fellows, three in New York and one in Massachussets. Meet are our 2015-2016 Fellows!

Danit Brahver, MD
“I grew up in northern New Jersey in the suburbs of New York City, attended college in Pennsylvania, and returned to my home state for medical school at Rutgers University Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Camden, NJ. The residency match landed me in Boston at the Tufts University Family Medicine Residency program, and I am ecstatic to be the first fellow at Tufts piloting the Massachusetts arm of the Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship! My passion for family medicine, underserved care, and reproductive health provision is rooted deeply in reproductive justice and social equity (Thanks, Mom!). I chose to do the RHAP fellowship to bolster my procedural skills, to gain real comfort in teaching residents, and to learn the nuts and bolts of family planning practice integration. After graduation, I hope to join a family medicine residency program in need of a reproductive health trainer to continue teaching and providing comprehensive women’s health services in a shortage area.”

Razel Remen, MD
“I am from a working class family from Brooklyn, NY, the first in my family to become a physician. I have always had a passion for women’s health, in residency I discovered that I also loved pediatrics, so family medicine seemed to be the ideal place where I could do both women’s health and pediatrics. I did my residency training in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I started residency with the plan of doing an obstetrics fellowship. I think coming from New York City I really had no idea how dire the situation of reproductive health is for most women outside of major US cities. I was also struck by the lack of reproductive health training outside of obstetrics as well as the emotional and economic impact that unplanned, unwanted pregnancies had on women and their families. I applied for the Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship because I wanted to learn to become a well-trained provider as well as train the next generation of providers. I am also deeply committed to learning how to change the many policies which negatively impact reproductive health.”

Martha Simmons, MD
“I grew up in the suburbs of Boston and actually lived in and around Boston for over 25 years. I went to Tufts undergrad and stayed at Tufts for medical school. I actually didn’t know much about family medicine until medical school and for a long time I thought I wanted to be a pediatrician. However, when I started medical school, I was lucky enough to get involved with the Tufts student-run free clinic. Through working with the patients there and getting to work with the amazing passionate family medicine doctors who staffed the clinic I realized that I wanted to do primary care and be a family doctor. Providing reproductive health care is important to me, because I think it’s where I can really make the most difference in women’s lives. Helping a woman control when she becomes pregnant and her family size can influence so many aspects of her health and life. I chose to apply to this fellowship in order to become an expert in providing and teaching reproductive health care procedures. As a “trainer in training”, I receive instruction in teaching procedures to medical students and residents which is invaluable for my planned career in academic medicine as faculty at a family medicine residency program.”

Seema Shah, MD
“I was born and raised in Houston, Texas and have traveled a bit before coming to New York City. I was an anthropology major for undergrad in Chicago, and then spent a year in India working with various women’s health NGOs on reproductive health issues and access to care. These experiences sparked my drive to pursue degrees in public health and family medicine with a focus in reproductive/sexual health. I finished my residency in June 2015, and this year, I am fortunate to be a Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellow. The fellowship provides me additional family planning and advocacy training, research, and teaching opportunities, and an incredible network of similar physicians/advocates in the field. With this training, I plan to provide full-spectrum reproductive health care in primary care settings, teach students/residents, and continue reproductive health advocacy. I also hope to provide family planning services in areas of need locally and internationally.” 

We are now accepting applications for the 2016-2017 Reproductive Health and Advocacy Fellowship. Learn More.