National Advisory Panel
Paula Amato, MD, is a fertility consultant and an adjunct assistant professor at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon. She received her medical degree from the University of Toronto in 1989, where she also completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology. She subsequently completed a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Amato was awarded an American Obstetricians and Gynecologists Foundation Fellowship (1997–2000) and was a recipient of the Berlex Scholar Award in Basic Science Research in 2001. She is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. As an academician, she has held faculty appointments at the University of California, San Diego, and at Baylor College of Medicine.
Dr. Amato is active in many professional and community service organizations. She is a former associate editor of Sexuality, Reproduction, & Menopause, a vice chair of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) Sexuality Special Interest Group, and a member of the ASRM Ethics Committee. Her research interests and clinical practice areas include menopause, polycystic ovary syndrome, and infertility.
Dr. Amato has indicated that she has nothing to disclose.
Susan A. Ballagh, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, has been on the faculty at the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk since 1997. She is a clinical investigator for the Contraceptive Research and Development Program, which seeks to develop new or improved contraceptive methods that are safe, effective, acceptable, and suitable for use in the United States and in developing countries. Previously, she was assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Stanford University Medical Center and chief of Women’s Health at the Palo Alto of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (1992-1997). Before pursuing her medical training, Dr. Ballagh completed a didactic internship and a master’s degree in nutrition at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and practiced as a women-infants-children nutritionist. Dr. Ballagh received her medical degree from the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program at the University of California at Los Angeles and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology and a two-year fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and contraception at the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Medical Center. Usually serving as principal investigator, Dr. Ballagh has participated in many clinical trials that have investigated contraception, menopause, and women’s health conditions, including endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and incontinence. She has given numerous lectures and has written articles, abstracts, and book chapters. Dr. Ballagh serves on the National Medical Advisory Board for Planned Parenthood Federation of America and is an ad hoc reviewer for grant applications for the National Institutes of Health. She also serves as an ad hoc reviewer for Contraception, Fertility and Sterility, and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Disclosure: nonpublic support of research - Berlex, Biotek Inc., Concepts, Duramed, Novo Nordisk, Organon, Solvay, Vanodyne, Vivus Inc.,Warner Chilcott, Wyeth; speakers bureau member - Organon; advisory committee member - Organon, Ortho-McNeil; consultant - Wyeth.
Paul Blumenthal, MD, MPH, is a professor of gynecology and obstetrics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has served as a faculty member since 1990. He received his medical degree from The University of Health Sciences/The Chicago Medical School and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center. He then undertook an additional residency in the Department of Preventive Medicine and a fellowship in reproductive epidemiology at the University of California at Los Angeles. After completing his postgraduate medical training, he served as a faculty member at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine (1984-1988) and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya (1989-1990). At Johns Hopkins University, he has served as director of the Fellowship Program in Family Planning, as an associate in the program’s Population Center, and as medical director of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Project (1999-2005). Since 1988, Dr. Blumenthal has been a consultant to several international programs administered by such agencies as JHPIEGO Corporation (an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University), International Projects Assistance Services, Family Health International, and the World Health Organization in Africa, the former Soviet Union, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Blumenthal is a past medical director of Planned Parenthood in Maryland (1994-2001) and has been a member of the National Medical Committee of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (1996-2002). He has also served as a special advisor to the World Health Organization on the development of technical guidelines for program managers in abortion care (2000); he has served in a similar capacity since 2005 to help introduce approaches to cervical cancer prevention in settings with limited resources. An active researcher, Dr. Blumenthal is currently leading studies of oral, barrier, and implant contraceptive methods and visual inspection of the cervix to detect and prevent cervical cancer. He is also studying the use of mifepristone and misoprostol in medical abortions and in reproductive health training and contraceptive and sterilization services in the developing world.
Disclosure: nothing to disclose.
David A. Grimes, MD, currently serves as vice president of Biomedical Affairs at Family Health International and as a clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Grimes obtained his undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard University and then attended medical school as a Morehead Fellow at the University of North Carolina. He completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina and received two years of training at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention while a resident. After completing his postdoctoral training, Dr. Grimes served as an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control for 9 years and as a faculty member in the medical schools at Emory University, the University of Southern California, the University of California in San Francisco, and the University of North Carolina. Through the auspices of the Berlex Foundation, he has taught faculty development courses on research methods to more than 1,100 obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States. Through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Family Health International, he has taught research methods to physicians and scientists in Kenya, Ethiopia, India, Egypt, and Bangladesh. Recently, the editors of The Lancet published a 16-part series that Dr. Grimes coauthored on research methods. These 16 essays will be published as a book by Elsevier in 2006. Dr. Grimes’ research interests have focused on fertility regulation, technology assessment, sexually transmitted diseases, and clinical epidemiology. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles, 40 textbook chapters, and 8 professional books. He is a recipient of the Issue of the Year Award (1994) and the Distinguished Service Award (1997) from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Disclosure: speakers bureau member - Berlex, FEI Women’s Health; consultant - Ortho-McNeil; honorarium recipient - Berlex, FEI Women’s Health, Ortho-McNeil.
Paula J. Adams Hillard, MD,
is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Stanford University School of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Gynecologic Specialties. Up until May 2007, she was the director of the Gynecology and Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology Fellowship Program at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Hillard is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina and a medical graduate of the Stanford University School of Medicine. After completing a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she joined the faculty of the University of Virginia as director of Ambulatory Ob-Gyn. She was a member of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Cincinnati and the director of Women’s Health for the College of Medicine from1984-2007.
Dr. Hillard has been an active member of national medical committees, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, for which she chaired the Patient Education, Adolescent Health, and Guidelines for Women’s Health committees and served as a member of the Gynecologic Practice Committee. She is a past president of the North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology and has served as an examiner for the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists since 1991. She also has been a consultant and a member of task forces and committees for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Food and Drug Administration, the American Medical Association, and the American Cancer Society.
Dr. Hillard has published more than 140 journal articles and abstracts in the field of adolescent gynecology and contraception and has authored 50 book chapters on women’s health. She is an associate editor of a major textbook, Novak’s Gynecology, and has served as an editorial board member and as an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals in her field. In addition to her professional publications, Dr. Hillard has been a contributing editor to Parents magazine (1982-1990), for which she wrote a monthly column on pregnancy and birth, and currently acts as an editorial consultant to such women’s magazines as Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Glamour, YM, and Seventeen. She has appeared on national television programs, including The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Dr. Hillard speaks frequently at national and international meetings and postgraduate courses on topics in ambulatory obstetrics and gynecology, pediatric and adolescent gynecology, cervical cancer screening, human papillomavirus infection, interpersonal violence, and primary health care As a clinician, she has earned the designation as one of the “Best Doctors for Women” from Good Housekeeping.
Disclosure: nonpublic support of research - Berlex, Duramed, Wyeth-Ayerst; speakers bureau member - 3-M Pharmaceuticals, Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, Barr Labs, Berlex, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia-Upjohn, Pfizer, Organon, Ortho-McNeil, Tap Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth-Ayerst; advisory committee member - GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Procter & Gamble, Wyeth-Ayerst; consultant - GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Procter & Gamble, Wyeth-Ayerst.
M. Diane McKee, MD, MSc, is an associate professor in the Department of Family and Social Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and a codirector of the Division of Research within the department. She also directs the New York City Research Improvement and Networking Group, a practice-based research network that conducts research and quality improvement activities relevant to urban primary care. Dr. McKee earned her medical degree at the University of Tennessee and completed a residency in family medicine at the Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island. She also completed additional professional development training at the Montefiore Medical Center and a master’s of science degree in clinical research methods at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. McKee’s research interests include adolescent medicine, women’s health, combined qualitative and quantitative methods, and practice-based interventions. She is a past recipient of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar Award (2001-2006), which she used to investigate barriers to health-care seeking among adolescent girls. She currently is the principal investigator for an NICHD-funded project to develop an intervention to decrease douching, and a Robert Wood Johnson Prescription for Health intervention to address risk factors for obesity in primary care.
Disclosure: nothing to disclose.
Alfred N. Poindexter, III, MD,
has been a faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, since 1975. He is director of the Division of Contraceptive Research and Development and of Gynecological Services in the Baylor Population Program. He also is the director of the Reproductive Endocrinology Service at the University of Houston. Dr. Poindexter
received his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, and completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Kansas City General Hospital in 1972. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine in 1976. Dr. Poindexter has been a board examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1988 and is currently an ad hoc member of the editorial boards of the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fertility and Sterility, and Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has been a member of the Board of Directors and was secretary of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Dr. Poindexter has participated in numerous studies concerning the efficacy of contraceptive drugs, devices, and programs, often serving as principal investigator. His past research has covered oral and vaginal contraceptives, and his current research focuses on tubal sterilization and a newly developed spermicidal agent.
Disclosure: nonpublic support of research - Conrad, Wyeth Labs; speakers bureau member - Ortho-McNeil; advisory committee member - Proctor & Gamble.
Frank Z. Stanczyk, PhD, is
professor of Research at the University of Southern California
School of Medicine in Los Angeles, holding that position in
the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1994 and
in the Department of Preventive Medicine since 1999. He has
been a member of the medical school faculty since 1986.
From 1983 to 1986, he was associate scientist at the Oregon
Regional Primate Research Center in Beaverton and associate
professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at
the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. He held
assistant professorships in obstetrics and gynecology at the
same university from 1980 to 1984 and at the University of
Southern California from 1975 to 1980. The latter university
was also the site of a postdoctoral research fellowship in
obstetrics and gynecology from 1972 to 1974.
His research interests include the pharmacokinetics and metabolism
of estrogens, progestins and androgens in postmenopausal women,
the effect of contraceptive steroids on androgens, and the
role of steroid hormones in the etiology of Alzheimer’s
disease, lupus erythematosis, multiple sclerosis, and prostate,
ovarian, and breast cancer. Current projects include the effect
of exogenous DHEA on serum levels of DHEA, its major metabolites,
and cardiovascular and skeletal markers in postmenopausal
women, and the effect of steroid hormones on cognitive function
and mood in women during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and
postpartum, as well as in men and women with Alzheimer’s
disease.
He has authored or co-authored almost 200 articles and 200
abstracts (published or in preparation) on progestins, estrogens,
and other steroid hormones. In addition, he has been associate
editor of Contraception since 1991, and a member
of the editorial boards of Steroids and the Journal
of the Society of Gynecologic Investigation since 1995.
He received his doctoral degree in experimental medicine from
McGill University in Montreal, Quebec in 1972.
Disclosure: Dr. Stanczyk has no relationships to disclose.
Catherine Stevens-Simon, MD, is a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver. She also directs the Adolescent Medicine Fellowship Program at the university and the Colorado Adolescent Maternity Program. Dr. Stevens-Simon earned her medical degree at Boston University College of Medicine, completed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in adolescent medicine at the University of Colorado Health Science Center in Denver, and a second fellowship in adolescent medicine at the University of Rochester Health Science Center in Rochester, New York. She served as an instructor in the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical School before joining the faculty of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in 1989. Dr. Stevens-Simons focuses her research on adolescent health, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted (e.g., Chlamydia trachomatis infection) and other diseases of the reproductive tract (e.g., polycystic ovary syndrome). A recipient of the Young Investigator Award of the Society for Adolescent Medicine (1992), her research is supported by grants from the American Heart Association, the March of Dimes, the Craig Family Foundation, and the Rose Foundation. Her work as a clinician was recognized with a Denver Top Doctor Award in 2005.
Disclosure: nothing to disclose.
Richard L. Street, Jr., PhD, is a professor and head of the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Dr. Street also serves as the associate director and chief of the Health Services Delivery and Organization Program at the Houston Center for Quality of Care and Utilization Studies. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in speech communication from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, he completed a doctorate in communication at the University of Texas. Before joining the faculty at Texas A&M University in 1991, Dr. Street held full-time faculty positions at the University of Arkansas and at Texas Tech University. He also served as a visiting professor at the University of California in Santa Barbara and the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
Over the past 20 years, Dr. Street has developed an extensive program of research examining issues related to communication between health-care providers and patients, to outcomes of medical treatment, and to strategies for increasing patient involvement in medical care. During the past 10 years, he also has explored the various ways that information (e.g., interactive, multimedia programs) and innovations in telecommunication technology (e.g., the Internet) can be used to enhance health services offered to patients and, very importantly, to motivate patients to become more involved in medical decision-making, in communicating with their physicians, and in self-management of chronic disease. To date, he has published a book and more than 80 articles and book chapters on these topics. He most recently coauthored a monograph on patient-centered cancer communication. In 2003, he was named Outstanding Health Communication Scholar by both the National Communication Association and International Communication Association.
Dr. Street has served as a principal investigator or coinvestigator on research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the American Cancer Society, and the State of Texas Advanced Research and Advanced Technology Programs. He also has served on scientific review panels for NIH and AHRQ and as an external evaluator for the National Cancer Institute-funded Centers for Excellence in Cancer Communication. Dr. Street is currently a member of the editorial boards of Health Communication, the Journal of Communication, Patient Education and Counseling, Communication Monographs, and Social Science and Medicine and serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for many other professional journals in his field.
Disclosure: nothing to disclose.
Patricia J. Sulak, MD, currently is a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Texas A&M University College of Medicine and is the director of the Sex Education Program in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas. Dr. Sulak obtained her undergraduate degree in pharmacy from the University of Houston College of Pharmacy and her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, and then served as a major in the United States Army Medical Corps. In her career as a clinical researcher, Dr. Sulak has conducted numerous studies on women’s health problems, hormone therapy, and contraception. Her current research focuses on contraceptive redesign to eliminate monthly menses and hormone withdrawal symptoms, including premenstrual symptoms and menstrual headaches and pain. She has published and lectured extensively throughout the United States and abroad about her research, which has been published in numerous peer-reviewed medical journals, including Obstetrics and Gynecology, Fertility and Sterility, Contraception, and the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr. Sulak also founded and directs Worth the Wait® (www.worththewait.org), an award-winning adolescent sex-education program that has been adopted by numerous school districts in Texas and in other states. She received a Community Service Award from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) for her work with this program. Dr. Sulak is also extensively involved in medical education and directs several state and national continuing medical education (CME) programs. She is a past chair of the Scott & White Continuing Medical Education (CME) Committee and continues to serve as a member. She is an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and an active member of ACOG, having chaired the ACOG Committee on Gynecology Practice Bulletins, directed the ACOG postgraduate course on Office Gynecology, and served on the ACOG PROLOG Office Practice Committee. Committed to improving public understanding of women’s health-care issues, Dr. Sulak gives presentations to many groups and organizations each year. She has been interviewed and quoted by many national media sources, including CNN, The Wall Street Journal, TIME magazine, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, U.S. News & World Report, and Newsweek. She was selected by her peers to be included in “Best Doctors in America” in 2003-2004.
Disclosure: non-public support of research - Barr Labs, Berlex, Organon; speakers bureau member - Barr Labs, Berlex, Wyeth; advisory committee member - Barr Labs, Wyeth; consultant - Barr Labs; honorarium recipient - Barr Labs, Berlex, Wyeth.
Susan Wysocki, RNC, NP, is the president and chief executive officer of the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health (NPWH). She is a woman’s health nurse practitioner certified by the National Certification Corporation (NCC) and is a nationally recognized speaker and opinion leader in the field of women’s health. Ms. Wysocki graduated from Boston College School of Nursing and attained her certificate as a nurse practitioner through the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She has published numerous articles in her field and is the editor of Clinical Challenges in Women’s Health: A Handbook for Nurse Practitioners, Women’s Health Care: A Practical Journal for Nurse Practitioners, and Conversations in Counseling. She also is a contributing editor and Washington, DC, bureau chief for Nurse Practitioner World News and a member of the editorial boards of the American Journal for Nurse Practitioners, Dialogues in Contraception, and Contraceptive Technology Update. She has published numerous articles in nursing journals in the area of women’s health and contraception. Ms. Wysocki is a Charter Fellow of the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners, the founding president of the American College of Nurse Practitioners, and a past chair of the National Alliance of Nurse Practitioners. In recognition for her many contributions to her field, Ms. Wysocki has received a Lifetime Achievement Award (1999) and a Political Activism Award (2003) from the Nurse Practitioner Journal and a Sharp Cutting Edge Award for leadership from the American College of Nurse Practitioners (2003). She also was awarded the Alan Guttmacher Lectureship by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (2005).
Disclosure: speakers bureau member - Organon, Ortho, Wyeth; advisory committee member - 3-M Pharmaceuticals, Berlex, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Ortho; honorarium recipient - Berlex, Merck, Organon, Ortho, Wyeth.
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