Olivia Perlmutt is wrapping up a busy two-year fellowship training program that provided her with intensive training in reproductive health care and a Master in Public Health from the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. Her two-year fellowship program combined health care, research and advocacy. “The fellowship provided me with the time and opportunity to do good scientific research that has a practical impact.  Doing this kind of research is its own form of advocacy.” 

Olivia’s fellowship research project examined the complication rates associated with uterine aspiration provided by family physicians in community-based settings. While uterine aspiration can be done in outpatient settings by family physicians, it rarely is. One barrier to integrating uterine aspiration in to family medicine practices is the lack of data demonstrating safety within this setting. Olivia’s study did just that. Her study found that uterine aspiration for abortion and miscarriage management can safely be conducted by family physicians in community-based settings.

For her research and academic performance, Olivia was recently awarded the Community-Clinical Scholar Award by the Department of Community Health and Social Sciences at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. 

What’s up next for Olivia?  Now that she has completed her fellowship she will be starting a job doing full-scope family medicine care–including reproductive health care–where she’ll be training future family physicians, working on publishing, and talking about her research. 

We are so proud of Olivia!