Complex Family Planning Fellowship-Research and Resources

The Center for Family Planning Research at UC Davis was established in 2011 under the leadership of Dr. Mitchell Creinin, Professor and Director of Family Planning. The Center for Family Planning Research has active funding through the NIH, private foundations, and industry. The researchers in the Center also collaborate with stem cell researchers in the Department of Surgery, working on in utero cures for developmental and medical problems. UC Davis is home of the country’s largest stem cell research facility, the UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures, with world renowned reproductive stem cell biologists. Other important collaborative opportunities at UC Davis include the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and the California National Primate Research Center. The fellow will be an active participant in ongoing trials along with designing and conducting his/her own funded fellowship research. The fellow will also gain experience in grant writing, budgeting, contracts, and other administrative aspects of clinical research.

Focused research meeting with family planning faculty, fellows, associated investigators, and our clinical research coordinators occur twice monthly during which we review status, progress, recruitment, or other issues for every study, including the fellows’ projects.

Fellows in a Complex Family Planning program may participate in a global or domestic low-resource family planning experience, dependent on funding availability. Past fellows at UC Davis have coordinated this experience through the central fellowship office. These one-month placements provide an opportunity for the fellow to learn about family planning, abortion and reproductive health in contexts outside the U.S. or in underserved areas within the U.S.

UC Davis has a longstanding history in medical legislation and advocacy. Our medical students can participate in a pre-clinical legislative internship and/or a Health Advocacy curriculum track, and all our OBGYN residents and Family Planning fellows attend the ACOG-led Legislative Day, whose clinical responsibilities are covered by faculty. Our fellows have collaborated with the California Abortion Alliance, participated in ACOG Congressional Leadership Conference, made media appearances, written letters to the editor, prepared groundwork for legislation, and given testimony on multiple state bills in the Capitol.

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and especially our Division of Family Planning, provides care for patients from diverse socioeconomic, cultural and geographic backgrounds. We strive to meet the emotional and cultural needs of our diverse patient population as well as that of our fellows, residents, staff and faculty. The fellowship in Complex Family Planning recognizes the criticality of a diverse clinician workforce that reflects the communities in which we work. To that end, we seek to support and raise up voices that have been traditionally marginalized in academic medicine.

The UC Davis Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion works to create a climate of inclusion reflected in structures, policies and practices; the demographics of UC Davis Health community; the attitudes and values of its members and leaders; and the quality of personal interactions.

For the ninth consecutive year, UC Davis has been recognized as a leader in LGBTQ health equality in the Healthcare Quality Index, an annual survey conducted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the educational arm of the country’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization.

Sacramento is one of the most ethnically and socially diverse cities in America. Throughout your training here you’ll learn to care for patients from around the world and prepare yourself to provide quality healthcare to women who need it.

UC Davis strongly promotes that health and well-being can be learned and practiced to continually enhance quality of life. Individual health and well-being include awareness, commitment and open-mindedness. Community health and well-being includes collaboration, integrity and inclusion. UC Davis Health has a focused Staff and Faculty Health and Well-being program to provide support for physicians when personal or work issues arise, with confidential and free services. More information is available at https://safetyservices.ucdavis.edu/units/occupational-health/health-well-being.

Professional liability insurance is provided by the Regents of the University of California. Fellow benefits include medical, dental and vision insurance, and disability insurance; life/accidental death and dismemberment insurance; physician lab coats, laundry services; and maternity/paternity leave. Annual vacation leave (20 working days per year) plus protected conference and fellowship-specific educational workshops are included.

Salaries are set at the level of PGY-5 (first year fellow) and PGY-6 (second year fellow).  Salaries are established annually and are subject to change from union bargaining.