This track is designed to prepare residents to be a future leaders in clinical and/or academic women’s health. Our goals are to enable residents to:
ACP Internist published an article on Long Acting Reversible Contraception and interviewed faculty members Dr. Meghan Geary, Dr. Vidya Gopinath and Dr. Mindy SobotaLink
Faculty members Dr. Meghan Geary, Dr. Vidya Gopinath and Dr. Mindy Sobota presented a workshop on providing medication abortions in primary care at the National Society for General Internal Medicine conference in Orlando, FL in May 2022
Faculty members Dr. Meghan Geary, Dr. Vidya Gopinath, Dr. Kelly McGarry and Dr. Mindy Sobota co-authored and published an article on contraception in the Brown IM resident clinic after implementing a program to provide Long Acting Reversible Contraception to its patients. Link
It is through this lens that the Women’s Health Track was created and continues to develop.
Resources in Research: Women's health focused research occurs at Brown University and its affiliated hospitals and centers, including Rhode Island Hospital, the Miriam Hospital, Women and Infants' Hospital, and the Rhode Island Women's Correctional Facility. The research represents a broad range of investigation including women in prison, menopause, the disproportionate effects of alcohol on women, breast cancer, obesity, depression, HIV, osteoporosis, genitourinary malignancies and pregnancy-related issues. Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island was a vanguard site for the Women's Health Initiative, the largest longitudinal trial of postmenopausal women ever conducted. WHI studies are ongoing.
Clinical Resources: In addition to strong research, the hospitals and faculty offer outstanding clinical services to women. There are multiple women-specific internal medicine practice sites, including: 1) an academic women's health practice based out of Rhode Island Hospital providing primary care to women at two sites in East Providence and East Greensich, 2) an academic practice in consultative and general internal medicine based out of Women and Infants' Hospital, 3) a primary care site at the women's prison, and 4) an academic practice in obstretic medicine based out of Women and Infants' Hospital.
In addition to these internal medicine sites, there are many additional clinical opportunities in breast health, gynecology, reproductive endocrinology, urogynecology, and psychiatric services for women. There is an obstetric medicine fellowship at Women and Infants' Hospital and a popular month-long rotation for residents in obstetric medicine. Residents in the women's health track will have an opportunity to work in any of these sites.
The internal medicine residency's largest site for resident ambulatory care, the Center for Primary Care, has a procedure clinic staffed by faculty leaders in the Women's Health Track. Women's Health Track residents preferentially rotate through procedure clinic to gain competency in procedures such as insertion and removal of IUDs and contraceptive implants (e.g. Nexplanon).
Advocacy: Residents have the opportunity to be involved in advocacy if they choose. The 2018-2019 RI legislative session heard numerous women’s health related bills. In June 2019, the Reproductive Privacy Act which preserves the current legislative status of abortion passed. Women’s health track faculty members frequently went to the state house and were leaders in mobilizing physician advocacy efforts. This session also established the Maternal Mortality Review Commission at the Department of Health to study maternal health outcomes and racial disparities.
Through procedure clinic at the resident continuity clinic as well as clinical sessions at the gynecology clinic at the Women and Infants' Hospital or Planned Parenthood, track residents can gain experience and competency in IUD and subdermal implant insertions/removals as well as more experience with pelvic and breast exams.
Women’s Health Curricular resources are shared amongst the faculty and residents on the pathway. A core curriculum of articles is available online through the residency Canvas course page. During ambulatory block months, track residents will select articles to review during that month and discuss with a WH faculty member. The curriculum serves as a reference and should aid in achieving a level of competence in the area of women's health. Midway through PGY-2 year, residents will have a clinical competence review with their mentors and identify areas in which resident wish to have more guidance and/or exposure. This will guide the selection of articles to be reviewed during ambulatory block or the track elective as well as clinical experiences. A second review will take place during ambulatory block of the PGY-3 year.
Iris Tong, MD
Clinical Director:
Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical)
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Email: Email
Mindy Sobota, MD
Procedural Director:
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Email: Email
Meghan Geary, MD
Care of Vulnerable Populations Director
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Email: Email
Additional Faculty:
Michelle Anvar, MD
Kimberly Babb, MD
Christine Duffy, MD
Laura Edmonds, MD
Jennifer Jeremiah, MD
Kelly McGarry, MD
Rachel Casas, MD
“Contraceptive Use in Women Having Bariatric Surgery”
2015
Mariah Stump, MD
“Integrating Integrative Medicine into residency curricula: We CAM do it!”
Manasa Ayyala, MD
"Do internal medicine trainees ask female patients about the presence of fecal incontinence and if so, what factors influence them to do?"
2016
Karen Kimel-Scott, MD
"Polyarthritis and Eosinophilia: Can you spot the rare vasculitis?"
Margaret McNamara, MD
"Recurrent pneumonia in a woman with severe tracheobronchomalacia"
2017
Christiana Zhang, MD
"Internists underperform in provision of first line contraception"
Meghan Geary, MD
"The internist and the uterus: the case for medication abortion in general internal medicine"
2018
Vidya Gopinath, MD
"A review of the contraceptive choices of patients in an urban, resident continuity clinic"
2019
Yetunde Asiedu, MD
"Evaluation of training in women's health in the Brown Internal Medicine program"
2020
Yael Tarshish, MD Co-Authored Women's Health Chapter of Cecil Essentials of Medicine, 10e
2022
Amelia Tajik, MD
"A Case of Extensive Venous Thromboembolism after initiation of Combined Oral Contraceptives for Treatment of Menorrhagia in a patient with Undiagnosed May Thurner Syndrome"
Resiency presentations on Abnormal Uterine Bleeding and Menopause
Leanne Duge, MD
Residency presentations on Breast Cancer Screening and Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome