Experts' Biographies
About "NWHRC Contraception: Ask the Experts Panel"
"NWHRC Contraception: Ask the Experts Panel" is a question and answer column produced by the National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC). The questions submitted to the service are answered by the NWHRC Contraception: Ask the Experts panel, a team of medical experts with extensive research and clinical experience related to reproductive health. Members of the panel include: Heather Reynolds, CNM, MSN and Susan A. Ballagh, MD. Their biographies are below:
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| Heather Reynolds, CNM, MSN |
Heather Reynolds, CNM, MSN, is an associate professor of nursing in the Nurse-Midwifery Specialty Program at Yale School of Nursing. She entered Yale's door as a nursing student with a degree from Boston University in psychology and a background in child development and social work. She graduated with her masters in nursing from Yale in 1980.
Reynolds started her career as a nurse educator when she joined the faculty at the University of Colorado Nurse-Midwifery Program in 1983. She returned to Yale in 1986 and has been caring for two generations of young women having their babies at Yale-New Haven Hospital. She practices in the Women's Center at Yale New Haven Hospital, where she provides a broad spectrum of ambulatory services to the women there. She was the nurse-midwifery service director at Yale-New Haven from 1988 to 2002.
In addition, Reynolds has served as a member of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Infant Mortality, the New Haven Healthy Start Initiative and the greater New Haven Fetal and Infant Mortality Review and is on the board of the Society of Primary Care Policy Fellows. All of her professional career has involved the provision of health care to underserved and unserved populations.
Reynolds is a frequent participant in forward-looking clinical research projects. She has studied and written about breastfeeding, midwifery service administration, group prenatal care, adolescent health care and adolescent risk reduction.
Susan A. Ballagh, MD, associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, is part of the faculty at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Ballagh earned her medical degree from the Drew/UCLA Medical Education Program in Los Angeles. She completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where she did a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and contraception. She joined the Eastern Virginia Medical School faculty in 1997 and participates in CONRAD, formerly known as the Contraceptive Research and Development program. Since 2001, she also has served as medical director of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia.
Dr. Ballagh has published over 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, online peer-reviewed articles, and book chapters, including Vaginal Ring Hormone Delivery Systems in Contraception and Menopause, Alcohol: The Link Between Hormone Replacement and Breast Cancer Risk, and Oral Contraceptives and Smoking (online CME activity). She has delivered over 80 talks and speeches, including eight international presentations, and has appeared on many radio and television programs. Dr. Ballagh has been principle investigator for over 45 research projects and grant support and co-principle investigator on many more.
She is the recipient of many awards, including the Hartford Clinical Faculty Award for Research in Geriatrics and Berlex Foundation Scholar. Dr. Ballagh was also a visiting professor at the University of Hawaii in 1994. She is a peer reviewer for six journals, including American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Contraception, and Journal of Women's Health.
Dr. Ballagh is a member of many organizations and societies and furthers her education by attending many CME presentations across the United States. As the medical director of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, she participates in community health education, which includes talks titled, "Update on Oral Contraceptives and Their Use as Emergency Contraception" (July 1998), and "Historical Perspective on Contraception" (March 1999).
This content was developed with the support of an educational grant from Conceptus, Inc.
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