Understanding Uterine Fibroids Amongst Black Women and the Diaspora
Olubunmi Ajao
Uterine fibroids are the most common type of benign pelvic tumor amongst reproductive age women. They have a disproportionate impact on not only African American women but the diaspora as well. While fibroids are known to be more common and more severe amongst this population, there isn’t a clear understanding on what accounts for this disparity. Uterine fibroids should be considered a global health concern, considering the extent of morbidity and the burden on the quality of life of these patients. Read more.

Smoking Cessation in an Urban HIV Clinic
Kristen Ampig
The morbidity and mortality caused by AIDS for people living with HIV (PLWH) has significantly decreased due to advances in antiviral therapy, but lung cancer continues to burden this population. More than 40% of PLWH used tobacco in 2016, which was greater than the national rate of about 14%, prompting effective interventions to reduce these modifiable risk factors. Read more.

The Social Determinants of Health for Infertility: How Financial, Educational, Racial and Social Disparities Affect Access and Outcomes of Fertility Treatment
Ashlyn Byers
In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) established a Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CDSH) to promote health equity between and within countries. After several years, the WHO CDSH published the report, Closing the Gap in a Generation: Health Equity Through Action on the Social Determinants of Health. The report defines the social determinants of health as “the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” Read more.

Geographic Health Inequities in the Philippines: Rural vs. Urban Health
Courtney DiSangro
I volunteered with the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) during the summer of 2020 and was asked to create educational health campaigns for Barangay health workers (BHWs) to improve rural community health in the Cavite province. Through this experience, the significant health disparities between rural and urban regions of the Philippines were illuminated for me. They are considered to be the major weakness of the Filipino health care system. Read more.

Why Is Chronic Pelvic Pain Under-Recognized and Under-Treated?
Rosanna Kiplagat
Chronic pelvic pain syndrome is one of the most common health conditions affecting women worldwide. However, despite its prevalence, it is under-diagnosed, under treated and poorly understood. Often times, a specific etiology cannot be found, and patients may present with symptoms from multiple organs. A majority of these patients have comorbid conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome, further complicating their management. Besides the lack of awareness, bias within health care toward patients presenting with chronic pain still remains a major barrier for those seeking appropriate diagnosis and treatment. Read more.

Sexual Education and Sexual Health Disparities for Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Megan McAdoo
Sexual health can be a challenging topic for children, caregivers and health care practitioners to navigate. Like all young people, children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are entitled to develop an understanding of their sexuality – and to receive an accurate sexual education – in a safe environment as they build the social and emotional skills to navigate that facet of life. Read more.

Access and Barriers to Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation in the United States: How Attainable Is Fertility Preservation?
Jordan Naylor
Elective oocyte cryopreservation is an underutilized medical resource among women of reproductive age. Countless barriers preclude many women from accessing egg freezing within the optimal timeframe for success, under 35 years of age. Only twenty U.S. states have laws mandating insurance companies to offer some type of infertility coverage, but only eleven states include language regarding fertility preservation, which specifies medically indicated preservation and not elective preservation. Companies offering their own healthcare plans are exempt from these state laws, but some larger companies now offer infertility benefits including elective fertility preservation and the number of businesses doing this is growing. Given the disparities in insurance coverage, financial concern regarding elective egg freezing remains one of the most significant barriers for women. Read more.

Black Maternal Mortality in the US
Debi Smith
Significant racial disparities in maternal morbidity and mortality have continued to increase in the United States for decades. Following decades of decline, maternal deaths began to rise in the 1990’s despite advancements in medical technology and health care. Read more.

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms Mediate the Transition From Acute to Persistent Pain Among Women Sexual Assault Survivors
Jenyth Sullivan
Approximately 100,000 women annually present for emergency care after sexual assault in the United States. In addition to the known negative mental health consequences, many survivors report clinically significant new or worsening pain after sexual assault. Severe physical injury is rare, and persistent pain can be present in body regions without physical trauma. To date, little is known about the etiology of persistent pain in this population. Read more.

Assessing Knowledge, Interest, Beliefs and Outcome Expectancy About Oral Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Use in Pregnancy and the Use of Long-acting Injectable PrEP in the Postpartum Period
Jessica Vadaketh
Obstetrician–gynecologists may play an important role in increasing pregnant individuals’ knowledge of and access to PrEP during pregnancy among those who are at risk of HIV acquisition. To maximize uptake and adherence during this time, PrEP formulations should be tailored to individual preferences. Prevention of HIV during this critical life transition is important not only for the long-term health and well-being of pregnant individuals and their infants, but to the plan to end the HIV epidemic in the United States by 2030. Read more.

Trainee Driven Curriculum to Improve Impact of Implicit Bias on Patient Care
Nadirah Waites
Implicit bias (IB) is defined as unconscious perceptions or attitudes possessed by an individual. These biases disproportionately impact minority populations, especially within health care. Research shows that health care providers with a higher incidence of IB have poorer patient communication and lower patient satisfaction. This causes a disproportionate amount of minority patients to feel disconnected from their providers and less willing to return for future care. Read more.

United States: The Only Developed Nation With Increasing Maternal Morbidity and Mortality
Shu Zhao
The maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is used as the major metric to quantify and monitor maternal mortality globally. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines the maternal mortality ratio as “the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, [where] maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy” for a specific period. Read more.

Understanding Infertility Among Female Physicians
Prachi Anshu
This paper focuses on the struggles of fertility faced by female resident physicians and will cover topics including this history of the marginalization of women in medicine and its impact on fertility, social barriers to childbearing for female physicians and common biological causes of infertility, screening tests and treatments. Read more.

Exploring the Mental and Emotional Burdens of Cancer Diagnosis Faced by Parents with Dependent Children
Nikita Dahake
One in five cancer patients who are undergoing active treatment are parents of children who are under the age of 18. Families are affected greatly when a parent is diagnosed with cancer, and this is a major unpredicted stressor for parents. Understanding how a family is affected depending on their role in their family as well as the severity of their disease is extremely important so health care professionals can help mitigate some of the stressors experienced by these patients. Read more.

Medical Care and Education in the Age of the COVID-19 pandemic: An Analysis and Discussion on Equity in Health Care and Medical Education
Maureen Farrell
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19) pandemic brought about wide-sweeping unprecedented changes to health care, education and society at large. Hospitals and medical providers were burdened with large populations of critically ill patients dying from a novel virus. Medical schools were challenged with providing for the education and well-being of pre-clinical and clinical students during an unprecedented public health crisis that necessitated the adaptation of medical school curriculum to a remote learning platform almost overnight. Read more.

Intimate Partner Violence: Long-term Sequelae
Ishani Khatiwala
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of the most common forms of violence against women. It affects one in four women and one in ten men. The World Health Organization conducted a multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence against women, collecting data from more than 24,000 women in ten countries. The study found that IPV was a widespread issue in all studied countries. Different types of violence often coexist. Read more.

Methods of Birth Control
Charmie Mehta
Whether it is for birth control, STD/HIV prevention, a medical condition or one of many other valid reasons, various methods of contraception remain heavily used by women and men who both are and aren’t sexually active. Throughout the years, while still a controversial topic in many areas of the world, new and more efficient methods of contraception have been created and there continue to be uptrends and downtrends of different ones. Read more.

Sustainability of WASH Infrastructure in Lesotho: Observations of Attitudes of the Basotho and their Impact on Project Longevity
Christiana Obeng
World Vision, among other organizations, provides financial and technical support for the implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene projects (WASH), in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by the United Nations. However, a plan to sustain WASH infrastructures will determine the longevity of the impact of the projects. This was evident during my time in Lesotho this past summer, where I reviewed the WASH projects implemented by World Vision in Berea District, Lesotho, and the impact of the projects on the health burden in the district. Read more.

Identification of Genetic Biomarkers for Prediction of Diminished Ovarian Reserve
Estefania Alba-Rodriguez
As women age, particularly after 35, their likelihood of pregnancy or live birth decreases. This is in part due to the decrease in number and quality of their oocytes, named ovarian reserve. However, the process of ovarian aging does not occur at the same rate in all women; it is accelerated in some women resulting in diminished ovarian reserve. Read more.

The Chance to Have a Biological Baby: Uterus Transplantation
Alyssa Calder
Uterus transplantation (UTx) is a fairly new and experimental option for women with absolute uterine factor infertility (AUFI), in which a woman has an absent or abnormal, either anatomical or functional, uterus. Reports estimate that 1 in 500 women of childbearing age are affected by AUFI. Women who meet the criteria of AUFI and who still wish to bear children may be eligible. Read more.

Effect of Gender/Estrogen on EGFR Mutant Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer
Presented at Drexel Discovery Day
Ashni Nadgauda
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer after breast cancer in women, after prostate cancer in men, and is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. The proportion of lung cancer cases in women attributed to smoking is half that of those in men. Approximately 20% of women with lung cancer have never smoked, versus only 2-6% in men. In Asian populations, the rate of lung cancer in women who have never smoked is estimated at 60%-80%, in contrast to 10%-15% in men that have never smoked. Read more.

The Perils of Race-Based Medicine
Clarissa O'Conor
There is a long history of science and medicine being used to justify slavery and racism. Examples include the pathologization of escape attempts by enslaved people as a psychiatric diagnosis of "drapetomania," and the eugenics movement and its obsession with skull measurements to prove the racial superiority of white people. These beliefs persist today in the form of race used as a genetic and biological category. Race, however, is a social and political category designed for power and subjugation. Racial definitions have changed dramatically over the decades to suit this goal. Read more.

The Role of Sex in Coronary Artery Disease
Priya Ramachandrula
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide and as a result has garnered much attention in the form of research, clinical care and pharmaceutical trials. However, amidst all of this research lie several misconceptions and disparities in understanding the disease’s differences in men and women. For quite some time, sex and its role in coronary artery disease was not explored and was often clouded by the misconception that CAD affected males more than females. Read more.

The Silent Killer: Barriers to Menopausal Care
Nimerta Sandhu
To understand the public health benefit of robust menopausal care, offer more holistic resources for patients, and support efforts to improve patient care and well-being, my research focuses on understanding the barriers to menopausal care. The research addresses the historical approach to menopausal care, scientific and medical advancements, stigma surrounding these health needs, the current state of patient education, and cultural disparities to care. I also propose solutions for patients, clinicians and the greater health care community to advance the current state of menopausal care and support individuals to receive proactive and needed care. Read more.

Gender Differences in Bariatric Surgery: Patient Characteristics, Outcomes, and Considerations
Tristan Seton
Bariatric surgery is an effective weight loss procedure that has become increasingly common in the past 20 years, but it is unfortunately still underutilized across genders. Because this procedure is related to body weight, its efficacy and outcomes are also inherently connected to patient behavior. Gender is strongly related to weight and it is therefore essential to consider in examining patient behavior in the context of weight loss surgery. Read more.

Association Between Overall Maternal Health and Family Resilience in the United States
Sitara Soundararajan
The relationship between maternal health and health outcome of offspring has been studied extensively. However, there is sparse data available regarding the association between overall maternal health and the health, functionality and productivity of the family unit. More specifically, measures such as family resilience in the context of maternal health are not well understood. Read more.

Racial Disparities in Cardiovascular Health Outcomes
Temi Adegoke
The existence of racial disparities and worse cardiovascular health outcomes among black Americans in comparison to whites is a well-known phenomenon. Blacks are two to three times as likely to die of preventable heart disease and stroke compared to their white counterparts. However, the typical explanation given for these disparities has focused on risk factors such as obesity, dietary habits and delays in seeking health care. Read more.

The Vaginal Microbiome and Reproductive Health
Brittany Ashe
Until recently, knowledge of the human microbiome was limited due to the inability to successfully culture the majority of bacterial species in the laboratory. However, research focusing on the microbiome has exploded over the last decade. With the advent of 16S rRNA gene sequencing, scientists and clinicians are now able to directly analyze biological samples without the need for cultures. Learn more.

On Surmounting the Barriers to HPV Vaccination: We Can Do Better
Published in Annals of Medicine (2018) 50:209-225
Aria Attia
HPV infection causes cancers of the cervix, vagina and vulva in women, the oropharynx and anus in both sexes, and penile cancer in men. HPV vaccine coverage among U.S. adolescents has steadily increased since vaccine licensure but remains well below the 80% target set forth by the Healthy People 2020 initiative. A number of barriers have hindered increased coverage including: lack of a strong HCP recommendation to vaccinate, low acceptability of vaccination of males, sexualization of the vaccine and non-uniform timeline for vaccination administration. Read more.

Ethical and Legal Considerations of Human Egg Donation
Esieza Braimah
Egg donation has been a controversial topic since its beginnings. The practice raises several ethical issues, especially as technology continues to advance. Egg donation is only lightly regulated, and those regulations that exist fall into two categories: safety testing and truth in advertising. Neither category includes informed consent or compensation. Egg donation may be on its way to becoming a “made to order” service based on prospective parents choosing specific traits from donors, possibly promoting eugenics and potentially fostering a system of inequality and injustice. Read more.

What Are the Risk Factors for Development of the Female Athlete Triad in Adolescent Female Athletes, and How Can Health Professionals Help?
Leanna Brooks
Athletes are usually associated with healthy lifestyles and lower levels of obesity. So, it may come as a surprise that a potentially dangerous medical condition can affect athletes much more than the general population. In the 1990s, experts in sports medicine noticed a pattern of three medical abnormalities in young female athletes: low energy availability, decreased bone mineral density, and menstrual dysfunction. In 1992, the American College of Sports Medicine coined the disorder the “female athlete triad.” Read more.

Awareness of Fertility and Contraception Issues Among Women With Rheumatologic Diseases
Presented at Drexel Discovery Day
Meagan Clark
Clinicians treating women with rheumatologic disorders must be aware of risks and complications surrounding fertility, contraception and pregnancy in their premenopausal patients. Many women discontinue immunomodulatory agents before or during pregnancy either due to a lack of research on the safety of the drug, a lack of understanding by the physician on current protocol or a lack of communication to or education of the patient by the physician. In addition, a large proportion of premenopausal women with rheumatologic disease report a lack of contraceptive counseling and have engaged in sexual practices with a significant risk of unintended pregnancy. Read more.

Indigenous Women, Sexual Assault and Healthcare Access
Natalie DiCenzo
Healthcare providers are in a unique position to advocate for Native women and survivors of abuse both on an individual and systemic level by recognizing the societal context as a factor that perpetuates violence. Learn more.

Break-Even Analysis of Doula Support on Cesarean Section Reduction
Adam Elwood
Cesarean deliveries have been increasing in frequency over the past two decades. With each cesarean delivery, there is a possibility of developing co-morbidities and complications, as well as future cesarean sections, in addition to greater costs to the individual than vaginal deliveries. Multiple studies have shown that non-medical, continuous supportive care by doulas during labor decreases risk for cesarean deliveries and can decrease expenses for the patient. Cesarean rates have been shown to decrease significantly with doula support — as much as 10% overall, combined with fewer preterm births and low-birth-weight infants. Read more.

Improving Conversation and Cooperation Within the Maternity Care System in the United States
Kathleen Nelson
Due to social, political and economic forces, the maternity care system in the United States has become polarized with western medical care and natural childbirth practices on opposite ends of the spectrum. Women who become pregnant and seek prenatal care usually must choose between types of providers such as obstetricians, midwives, doulas, acupuncturists, and so on. In the current moment, there is little to no communication or cooperation between these various types of providers when providing maternity care to patients, forcing women to choose between types of available maternity care instead of working with various types of providers to receive comprehensive and collaborative prenatal, perinatal and postnatal care. Read more.

Contribution of Risk Factors to the Increasing Incidence of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome in South Asian Women
Imari Patel
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine abnormality in women, leading to a number of life-threatening and emotional stressors, such as increased cardiometabolic diseases, insulin resistance, obesity, hirsutism, infertility, depression and anxiety. Over 100 million women of reproductive age worldwide are affected by this syndrome, with a rise in incidence in rapidly developing urban environments in countries such as India, China and Korea. Read more.

Weighing the Evidence for Treating Obesity
Chelsea Salas
In both societal and medical culture there is discrimination against overweight and obese individuals. Weight stigma stems from an uninformed understanding of how obesity develops. It presumes that obese individuals are lazy, unmotivated, and lack willpower to control their food intake – that they are undisciplined and less likely to adhere to treatment. Consequently, studies suggest that primary care providers may spend less time educating obese patients about their health, since they perceive it as a waste of time. Read more.

Barriers to Care for Pregnant Women with Opioid Use Disorder: Stigma, Criminalization and Unmet Needs
Camille Singh
Pregnant women with substance use disorders endure a unique, intense and pervasive type of stigma from multiple levels of society – from family and friends to government officials to health care professionals – a failure of moral judgment as well as a failure to adhere to societal expectations for their gender. Not only is the stigmatization itself a powerful deterrent to seeking help, but pregnant women also fear criminalization and loss of child custody if they seek treatment. Read more.

Prevention of Morbidity in Individuals with a History of Male-to-Female Sex Assignment Surgery
Katherine Thompson
The transgender community is a vulnerable population at increased risk for a number of adverse health outcomes including surgical complications, development of cancers, and chronic disease. In addition to the psychosocial challenges associated with being transgender, these patients are also at increased risk for medical comorbidities that health care providers cannot prevent or manage unless they are aware of their patient’s transgender status. Male-to-female (MtF) transgender individuals are at risk for the same medical conditions as a biologic male at their age, in addition to the risks of taking estradiol hormone therapy. Likewise, female-to-male (FtM) transgender patients are at the same risks as a biologic female, in addition to the risks of taking testosterone. Health care providers can endeavor to prevent morbidity in MtF transgender patients who have undergone sex assignment surgery with a collaborative patient-physician relationship, routine medical management, and cancer screening. Read more.

Why Are Thromboembolic Events More Common in Women With Atrial Fibrillation Than in Men?
Krista Vadaketh
Women with atrial fibrillation not only have an increased risk of stroke compared to men, but also experience more severe and disabling strokes. Factors that predispose women with atrial fibrillation to developing more thromboembolic events than their male counterparts include the pathophysiology of the condition (larger left atrial volumes, reduced atrial contractility, non-pulmonary vein triggers, increased parasympathetic responses, higher degree of fibrotic remodeling), modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors (e.g., hyperthyroidism, suboptimal blood pressure management), and differences in clinical presentation (atypical symptoms, such as weakness and fatigue are also more common in women) that may delay diagnosis and treatment. Read more.

Exploring Cultural Barriers to HPV Vaccination in South Asian American Women
Karina Verma
Attitudes regarding HPV vaccination vary globally and cross-culturally. Among South Asian American females, low rates of HPV vaccination may directly be influenced by cultural and religious expectations due to the vaccine’s misconceived association with sexual activity. The South Asian American population’s cultural beliefs include abstinence from premarital sexual behavior and a monogamous sexual relationship upon marriage. Read more.