Melissa L. Gilliam, MD , MPH
mgilliam@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu

Dr. Melissa Gilliam is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Chicago and Chief of the Division of Family Planning and Contraceptive Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at U of C in addition to her role as Director of the Fellowship in Family Planning. With degrees in English literature, philosophy and politics, Dr. Gilliam’s research takes a broad approach to the study of family planning. She employs social science, qualitative and quantitative techniques to explore contraceptive behaviors. Dr. Gilliam has initiated several clinical trials examining contraceptive behaviors, with a strong interest in contraceptive device and acceptability studies; she also possesses a strong interest in community-based research focusing on factors influencing contraceptive use, sexuality, and pregnancy and reproductive health care for low-income African-American and Latino/a adolescents and postpartum contraceptive use and repeat pregnancy.

She has also been the principal investigator on multiple device and birth control pill clinical studies conducted in the Section of Family Planning including the ACCEPT study (a randomized controlled clinical trial comparing the acceptability of the NuvaRing versus the pill in college and graduate students), POP COUNCIL (a Phase III clinical trial assesses the safety and efficacy of a 12-month contraceptive vaginal ring)study, MINT study (a randomized controlled feasibility trial comparing the Copper IUD and Mirena® among teens), and IMPOWER (a pharmacokinetic study of Implanon among obese women.)

She has received funding from private foundations, The National Institute of Health, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Centers for Disease Control. Dr. Gilliam’s clinical interest is in pediatric and adolescent gynecology. She currently serves on the Editorial Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served on the Board of The Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Currently she is Secretary of the board of The Society for Family Planning and Chairs the board of the Guttmacher Institute.

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Sabrina Holmquist MD, MPH
sholmquis@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu

Dr. Holmquist holds a faculty position in the Section of Family Planning at the University of Chicago in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  Dr. Holmquist attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin, and completed her residency training in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. She specializes in comprehensive reproductive health care for women and teens, and has a research and policy interest in emergency contraception, adolescent reproductive health, abortion provision and defending the reproductive rights of women and their health care providers. She was also the co-investigator on multiple contraceptive clinical studies conducted in the Section of Family Planning including the ACCEPT study (a randomized controlled clinical trial comparing acceptability of the NuvaRing versus the pill in college and graduate students), the POP COUNCIL study (a Phase III clinical trial that assesses the safety and efficacy of a 12-month contraceptive vaginal ring)study, the MINT study (a pilot randomized controlled feasibility trial that compares the Copper IUD and Mirena® among teens), and the IMPOWER study (a pharmacokinetic study of Implanon among obese women).

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Amy Whitaker, MD
awhitaker@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu

Dr. Whitaker holds a faculty position in the Section of Family Planning at the University of Chicago in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  She attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco and completed residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Magee Women’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She completed her Fellowship in Family Planning at The University of Chicago. Between medical school and residency, she worked for one year as a research assistant at San Francisco General Hospital, where she designed a randomized controlled trial to evaluate techniques for cervical preparation before second trimester abortion. She also collaborated on studies of the pharmacokinetics of misoprostol and of HIV prevalence among women seeking abortion. Her current research focuses on long acting reversible contraception. In her residency, she conducted a survey of 144 adolescent and young adult women regarding their knowledge and attitudes toward the intrauterine device (IUD). She is the principal investigator on the PIXIE study, a randomized controlled trial comparing immediate postplacental Mirena ® IUD insertion vs. interval insertion (at 4-8 weeks post-partum) following cesarean delivery. She was also the co-investigator on multiple contraceptive clinical trials conducted in the Section of Family Planning at the University of Chicago including the ACCEPT study (a randomized controlled trial comparing acceptability of the NuvaRing versus the pill in college and graduate students), the POP COUNCIL study (a multi-center phase 3 clinical trial assessing the safety, efficacy, and cycle control of a 12-month contraceptive vaginal ring), the MINT study (a pilot randomized controlled trial of the Paragard ® copper IUD vs. the Mirena ® IUD among adolescents), and the IMPOWER study (a pharmacokinetic study of Implanon among obese women).

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Sigrid Tristan, MD
stristan@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu

Amy Neustadt, MPH
Research Manager
aneustadt@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu
773-834-3890

James Puricelli, MHA
Section Administrator
jpuricelli@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu
773-834-7022

Robert Webster, MPH, MPP
Policy Coordinator
rwebster@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu
773-834-1069

Summer Martins, MPH
Senior Research Analyst
smartins@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu
773-834-8724

Sarah Orzalli
Project Assistant
sorzalli@babies.bsd.uchicago.edu
773-834-4017