Research Opportunities

Prior Fellow Research Projects:

• Salcedo (2012) — “Cost analysis of immediate post-abortal IUD insertion compared to planned IUD insertion at the time of abortion follow-up”
  • Published in Contraception: Dr. Salcedo explored the cost savings of placing an IUD post-abortal versus during the patient’s two-week follow-up. Dr. Salcedo found that post-abortal IUD provision decreases public program expenditures by $111 USD per woman.
• Sridhar (2013 )— “Mobile application for information on reversible contraception: a randomized controlled trial”
  • Published in American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology: Dr. Sridhar developed a mobile application for contraception counseling and conducted a randomized controlled trial to test its effect on contraceptive knowledge and uptake of long acting methods.
• Kim (2014) — “Endometrial inflammatory pathways with IUDs in immunosuppressed women”
  • Published in Contraception: Dr. Kim created a pilot study to investigate the uterine environment of stable transplant patients and healthy women before and after IUD insertion. Kim found that there is likely local inflammatory response following IUD insertion for the transplant patients.
• Ireland (2015) — “Reproductive Life Planning Among Diabetic Women of Reproductive Age”
  • Sought to learn more about if diabetic women are getting enough information about preventing pregnancy. Additionally, the study looked to learn more about patient’s opinions and experiences with birth control and pregnancy.
• Kuperman (2016) — “Postpartum Contraception Decision Aid”
  • Kuperman conducted this study to better understand women’s birth control preferences after childbirth. Participants answered questionnaires, used web-based modules and tablets to share their decision-making in selecting the right contraceptive method postpartum.
• Berger (2017) — “Reproductive Decision-Making of Women in Methadone Clinics: A mixed method study.”
  • Published in Women’s Health Issues: Berger explored the family planning decision-making of non-pregnant women seeking services at methadone clinics in LA county. Much remains unknown about this population, but Berger concludes that there is a need for accurate information about pregnancy in the context of methadone treatment to ensure women can make informed family planning decisions.
• Taylor (2019) — “Optimizing Referrals for Women Seeking Abortion Care.”
  • Taylor’s study focused on optimizing referrals for women seeking abortion care. Though a survey, Dr. Taylor gathered data on LA County provider preferences and rationale for referring patients to tertiary-level providers, like UCLA.
  • Mentors: Amy Stoddard, MD, Angela Chen, MD, MPH, Jessica Gipson, PhD
• Korotkaya (2020) — “Evaluating the frequency of Crisis Pregnancy Center (CPC) visits among a population of patients seeking abortions.”
  • Mentors: Angela Chen, MD, MPH, Jessica Gipson, PhD
• Jung (2021) – “Abortion Care in the United States – Current Evidence and Future Directions”
• Gupta (2022) – Empowering the Patient Through NTTA – A Person Centered Approach and Implementation
  • Presented at the Women’s Health Update Conference 2022. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, UCLA Obstetrics and Gynecology implemented a no-test telemedicine abortion (NTTA) model of care in Spring 2020, giving women access to a medication abortion without requiring an ultrasound or in-person clinic visit.
  • Mentor: Rajita Patil, MD
• Reiser (2023) – “Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of On-Demand, Any Cycle-Day IUD Placement”
  • Presented at ACOG 2023
  • Mentor: Radhika Rible, MD
• Barnes (2024) – “A Qualitative Study Exploring Patient Experiences with Telehealth and In-Clinic Medication Abortion: Stigma, Privacy, and Support”
  • Published in the Contraception Journal, Volume 139; November 2024
  • Mentor: Rajita Patil, MD
• Joshi (2025) – “Exploring Contraceptive and Reproductive Lifespan Desires Among Transgender, Non-Binary, and Gender Expansive (TNGE) Adults who were assigned Female at Birth: A Qualitative Analysis”
  • This qualitative study in collaboration with the UCLA Gender Health Program seeks to understand the transgender, non-binary, gender expansive patient population's perspectives and values around contraception and reproductive life-span goals via semi-structured telephone interviews. All interviews will be audio-recorded, professionally transcribed, checked for transcription accuracy, and de-identified prior to analysis with the goal enrollment to be 20-30 patients. Transcripts will be analyzed using a thematic analysis approach involving inductive and deductive coding to identify themes and subthemes.
  • Mentor: Mya Zapata, MD