Whitney Lieb, MD, MPH, dispensing medication in a clinic in Jamaica.
With a background in public health and a desire to create sustainable global health projects, I was excited about the opportunity to join the Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute and develop the research skills needed to enhance women’s health services around the world. And as I complete my first year in the Women’s Health Scholars Program, I can now reflect on what I have learned.
Before joining the Institute, I completed a fellowship in Global Women’s Health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. I focused my fellowship on international residency training, health workforce capacity, and HPV screening and treatment, among other critical global health issues affecting women.
As part of my global health work I traveled to Nepal, Uganda, Jamaica, and Liberia, however, some of my global health work is also done in the United States. Specifically, I work with Physicians for Human Rights as a volunteer faculty member in the Mount Sinai Human Rights Program aiding victims of female genital mutilation, domestic violence, and sex trafficking in their applications for asylum in the United States.
At the Institute, I have strengthened my skills in biostatistics, epidemiology, research design, data analysis, informatics, bioethics, and grant writing. I have learned how to create and analyze biostatistical models and successfully collaborated on research projects while developing advanced analytical strategies that I can apply to my research questions.
One of my ongoing research projects is defining the prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV among health care workers at the largest tertiary hospital in Liberia. I conducted this study as a Global Women’s Health Fellow under the guidance of Ann Marie Beddoe, MD, MPH, a gynecologic oncologist and an Institute faculty member, in collaboration with on the ground partners in Liberia. Armed with these new analytical skills, I am excited to explore the data in hopes of furthering vaccination efforts among health care workers in Liberia.
The Women’s Health Scholars Program, with the Master of Science in Clinical Research, has thus far provided me with rigorous training in patient and population-based research, and prepared me for life-long learning in scientific discovery, clinical innovation, science education, and health policy. I feel honored to be a part of the Institute—under the guidance of Elizabeth Howell, MD, MPP, Director of the Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute and a Professor in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai—and to have the opportunity to prepare for an academic career in women’s health research.
I look forward to the year ahead.
Whitney Lieb, MD, MPH, is the current Women’s Health Scholar with the Blavatnik Family Women’s Health Research Institute. She is also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.