Message from Department Chair, Deborah Krakow, MD

The past 18 months have redefined so much of our daily lives including how we practice medicine, how we interact with our colleagues, and how we value others in our society.  Change impacted almost every component of our universe including clinical care, research, education, even how we hold a meeting, how we shop, or how and where we see a movie.  Many new “normals” have been established that will dictate many facets of our future.   

Earlier this year a Pew Research Center survey of over 900 experts revealed consensus that the next 3-4 years will bring about broader adoption of “remote” processes including telework, telemedicine, virtual schooling and e-commerce.   As we emerge from the worst days of the pandemic, we have already transitioned into many of these new norms in our clinics and labs.  Telemedicine visits, which at UCLA were less than 2% pre-COVID, now average about 25% of the care UCLA provides each month.  Our researchers have found ways to work effectively with collaborators without personal interaction or contact.  Our faculty and our students have skillfully navigated remote learning, continuing to teach and learn while maintaining rigorous academic standards.  A great example of this is OBGYN’s Virtual Symposium on Postpartum Maternal Health, an innovative international conference led by Dr. Aparna Sridhar in partnership with the Global Health Program at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Society of India.  

The social dynamics of our world have also seen significant change.  Political and social upheaval have focused greater attention on the need to take bold steps to embed equality into our social fabric.  UCLA’s commitment to this is firm.   Diversity and inclusion are addressed in all our areas including education programs, clinical care and research, and preventative health programs.   In this edition of OBGYNews you will meet Dr. Lisa Nicholas who has been named UCLA OBGYN’s Vice Chair for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.  Dr. Nicholas is leading a 16-person committee of faculty, staff and trainees who are focused on improving workforce diversity and advancing healthcare equity. 

Also in this issue of OBGYNews, is an overview of our Family Planning Division, information about our new PCORT T32 Fellowship program, and a sample of faculty news and publications over the past four months.  

If vaccine rates continue to improve and incidence of COVID continues to decline, it is hoped that by late 2021 our lives will return to a more regular cadence.  Among the many lessons learned from almost two years of the pandemic is how we must adapt quickly to an unexpected change in our landscape of life while maintaining a focus on excellence in women’s health care, research, education and community service. 

Thank you for all that you do to support our mission in the delivery of care to women.    

Deborah Krakow, MD

In this issue:

Meet the Faculty: Lisa Nicholas, MD, Vice Chair, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion >
Clinical Update: Family Planning Division and Complex Family Planning Fellowship >
Education: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Training in Urologic and Gynecologic Cancers (PCORT UroGynCan) >
Global Health Update >
New and Noteworthy >
Recent Highlighted Publications >