August 2021

Applications Now Open for the Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship! 

The Reproductive Health Care and Advocacy Fellowship is excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for fellows to start in the summer of 2022! 

This one-year fellowship aims to train a diverse community of family medicine leaders to provide, teach, and advocate for access to equitable and person-centered reproductive health care, including abortion, within primary care. There are now fellowship positions available in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington. For more in depth information on the fellowship please visit our webpage.

Applicants must be board-certified or board-eligible family physicians who will have completed residency training in the United States by August 1, 2022. Candidates should have the appropriate state licenses before the start date of the fellowship. Recent graduates and mid-career physicians are eligible. Candidates need not be fully trained in reproductive health procedures. RHAP seeks to train a diverse community of leaders and encourages applicants from backgrounds that are underrepresented in medicine to apply. High priority will be given to applicants who plan to:

• Provide abortion care in an abortion provider shortage area;
• Provide abortion training to other medical learners;
• Actively engage in reproductive health advocacy and speak publicly about being an abortion provider.

For information on the application process, please visit our application information webpage. The application deadline is December 1, 2021.  Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. 

For questions and more information on the fellowship, please email fellowship@reproductiveaccess.org or visit the fellowship website.

Meet Our Regional Clinical Network Leaders! 

Over the past several months we have welcomed two new members to our Regional Clinical Network Leaders (RCL) team. Since March 2021 Drs. Maya Bass and Catherine Romanos have joined Drs. Dalia Brahmi and Moira Rashid as clinical experts providing mentorship, regional insight, and support to our awesome AAFP Liaisons – Network Leaders organizing within the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to support full-spectrum reproductive health care and center health equity and justice in family medicine. Get to know our Northeast and Midwest Regional Clinical Network Leaders: 

Maya Bass, MD, MA (she/hers) | RCL – Northeastern/Mid-Atlantic United States 

Dr. Bass currently works as an Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director in the Department of Primary Care at Cooper University with an interest in resident and medical student education, reproductive health, underserved care, wellness, chronic pain, and addiction.  Dr. Bass completed her family and community medicine residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia. She is a fellow of the AAFP and Chair of the resident and medical student affairs committee for PAFP. Dr. Bass is dedicated to providing compassionate care to stigmatized populations and to improving the overall wellness of her patients and communities. She supports clinician activists in RHAP’s Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island Clusters. (Full Bio) 

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?

My patients. Taking care of a diverse underserved patient population is extremely challenging in our current system. Talking to my patients, hearing their stories, and struggling to get them the care they deserve keeps me pushing to find ways to make positive change. Reproductive Justice gave me the framework to use when addressing these issues. It was a way to learn about the history and recognize how oppressive our current medical system is. 

In your new position at RHAP as a Regional Clinical Leader for the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic Region, what are you most excited about?

I am excited to help support our Liaisons in all the amazing advocacy they are doing and to help create new ways to advocate for reproductive justice in our community. 

What do you like to do in your spare time? 

I love being active and music. I spend time practicing yoga, paddle boarding, and running. As for music, I love dancing to live music at concerts (finally restarting!) and playing the ukulele with family and friends.

Please share one of your favorite authors. Or, please share an activist that you would recommend following on Twitter.

I love Brene Brown. I think that being a lifelong advocate requires a solid foundation of self-care and the bravery to be curious about every conflict. I also love following Dorothy Roberts and SisterSong on Twitter. 

Catherine Romanos, MD, FAAFP (she/her) | Regional Clinical Network Leader – Midwestern United States

Dr. Romanos has been a member of the Network for over 10 years and she works as an abortion provider throughout the state of Ohio. She completed a residency in family medicine at the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency Program in Lawrence, MA. Dr. Romanos is an Ohio Academy of Family Physicians board member, member constituency alternate delegate to the AAFP’s Congress of Delegates, women’s constituency co-convener for the 2022 National Conference of Constituency Leaders (NCCL), and former president of the Central Ohio AFP chapter. She supports clinician activists in RHAP’s Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio Clusters. (Full Bio)

What sparked your passion for reproductive health care and justice?

I was, and continue to be, motivated by the need for folx to do this work. Originally I was inspired by the declining numbers of physicians who were providing abortion care. Now I realize that there is an equally urgent need for clinicians to work as advocates, educators, and leaders if we are going to make significant progress in the fight for reproductive justice.  

In your new position at RHAP as a Regional Clinical Leader for the Midwest Region, what are you most excited about?

I am excited to work with new leaders who have a lot of energy and enthusiasm as well as seasoned leaders who have a wealth of knowledge to share.

What do you like to do in your spare time? 

Baking – I had a sourdough starter before the pandemic! 

Please share one of your favorite authors. Or, please share an activist that you would recommend following on Twitter.

I am obsessed with baking and cooking. I love to read anything by Chef Ruth Reichl. Her memoir-cookbook My Kitchen Year is truly healing. 

 

Spotlight on a Donor 

Christine Carone (she/they) aka @SomethingStitches 

etsy.com/somethingstitches

https://www.instagram.com/somethingstitches/

 

Tell us a little about your work as Something Stitches: 

I’m a Queens NYC-based fiber artist who mostly works in embroidery as a medium. I like the calming repetitive nature of stitching and I’ve been able to use it as an art form in which I’m really able to express myself. I stitch the things I love; from food, to animals, to mantras I like. Each embroidered work takes a long time to finish and can sometimes be a bit tedious. But being able to spend so much time with a subject that means a lot to me makes the process take on a meditative and healing nature. In addition to selling my embroidered pieces I also sell prints and stickers that are based off of them to keep my art affordable and accessible.

 

What sparked your decision to fundraise for RHAP? 

Every few months I hold a fundraiser on my Instagram page in which I raffle off an embroidery piece in exchange for donations. I pick a different organization every time, and match the donations I receive. Though access to reproductive health has always been a topic that I’ve cared about, I saw an Instagram comment advocating for Hobby Lobby’s denial of reproductive healthcare for their workers. I let the spark of anger I felt fuel me and quickly created a piece to raffle off in support of RHAP. 

 

How have recent events shaped your advocacy and/or passion for reproductive health care and justice?

I think the start of the pandemic really highlighted the disparity of social power in the US. It became clear to so many people that our healthcare system is inaccessible to a large majority of the people we depend on in society.  In addition, people saw that childcare for parents working overtime and working from home was also a huge issue. Reproductive healthcare is an intersection of both of these problems, and we as a country absolutely need to do better to support reproductive rights.

 

What is bringing you joy these days?

Aside from embroidery, I’ve really gotten into yoga and baking. I think both of these are very similar to embroidery in that they’re all extremely grounding and meticulous.

 

Any book/podcast/TV/movie/music/social media account recommendations that you’d like to share?

Lately I love the podcast Every Little Thing on Spotify. They take a deep dive into the small details of life that one usually overlooks – like how experts are able to tell just where and how a wildfire began, or the history of how houseplants gained popularity. It’s funny, informative, and loaded with puns – right up my alley. 

RHAP is Hiring! 

We’re hiring! The Reproductive Health Access Project is seeking a remote full-time Organizing and Communications Associate and a remote part-time Development Intern to join our team.

The Organizing and Communications Associate will be part of an interdisciplinary team working to build, expand, and support the Reproductive Health Access Network, a national community of primary care clinician activists.  You will provide critical logistical support for this program. You will also provide support for the organization’s outward-facing communications efforts, including coordinating the organizational newsletter and social media. 

Supporting the work of the Manager of Individual Giving, the Development Intern will play a key role in ensuring that RHAP meets its short and long-term fundraising goals. Through our national organizing and mobilizing, we are building a movement to change the way reproductive health care is provided, and we are looking for highly motivated, organized, and detail-oriented individuals to join our movement.

You can learn more about these positions, and apply, on our website. Please share it with someone if you think they would be a good fit for this role.