About Us

Our Mission: 

We generate, curate, and disseminate free curricula and learning tools about sexual and reproductive health, including abortion, in order to transform health professions education.

Our Vision:

We envision a health professions education (HPE) system where sexual and reproductive health (SRH), including abortion, is fully integrated into the curriculum for learners across professions and disciplines. These curricula will establish abortion as a normal part of healthcare, and cover the myriad factors that impact people’s ability to achieve reproductive autonomy and well-being. Health professions educators from diverse backgrounds will have the support, tools, and mentorship to generate sexual and reproductive health content and integrate it into the curricula across institutions. In this transformed system, health professions educators will train health care practitioners who: 

  • Provide patient-centered, evidence-based, comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care free of stigma, discrimination, and coercion; and
  • Normalize abortion as a part of comprehensive health care.

Our work: 

We create and promote innovative curricula on sexual and reproductive health including abortion.  

We collaborate and build capacity in the field of health professions education on sexual and reproductive health.

Our Team

The Innovating Education team is comprised of professionals with broad expertise. Under the leadership of Professor Jody Steinauer, we have created a hub for cutting edge curricula to teach abortion and family planning to health professionals at all levels. We conduct research on family planning teaching, training, and post-training practice as well as offer in person and digital training through eLearning, flipped classroom curricula, and digital tools for hands on training.

Jody Steinauer, MD, PhD

Dr. Steinauer is a Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), based at San Francisco General Hospital.  She is the Director of Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, the Director of Research and Evaluation for the Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Training Program in Abortion and Family Planning, and the Co-director of the Fellowship in Family Planning at UCSF.  She received her medical degree and also completed her residency training in Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at UCSF.  She then completed fellowship in Family Planning at UCSF.  Dr. Steinauer provides clinical care and teaches at San Francisco General Hospital.  She is currently a PhD candidate in Health Professions Education in the University Medical Center Utrecht-UCSF joint program.

Biftu Mengesha, MD, MAS

Dr. Mengesha is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) within the division of the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG), where she provides clinical care. She is the Associate Director of Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, Medical Director of Obstetrics and Co-director of Equity in the department of OBGYN at ZSFG and is a John A. Watson scholar. She completed medical school and her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency training at Northwestern University. She then completed her fellowship in Family Planning  at UCSF.

Felisa Preskill, MPP

Ms. Preskill has over 10 years of experience working to improve access to abortion and enhance teaching in abortion and sexual and reproductive health. Through Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, Ms. Preskill leads the team in creating digital content to address the omission of abortion from many health professions curricula and to apply the most up-to-date educational theory to teaching in this arena. She has designed, implemented, and published both quantitative and qualitative studies on abortion training, abortion practice after residency, and other SRH topics. In 2018, Ms Preskill was a fellow with the Women’s Policy Institute working to pass a bill in the California State legislature to require public university health centers to provide medication abortion. She holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley, and a BA from Brown University.

Stefanie Boltz, MPP

Ms. Boltz oversees development and production of video curricula, digital tools, and trainings for Innovating Education in Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco. Prior to Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, Ms. Boltz spent 8 years at The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, where she developed and directed national youth and college programs, managed media, video, and digital projects, and provided technical assistance to federal, state and local agencies. In her role, she also helped launch Bedsider, an online birth control support network, and created and launched the Bedsider Campus Ambassador program.

Jema Turk, PhD, MA, MPP

Dr. Turk manages the research and evaluation efforts of the national Ryan Residency Training Program.   She has published multiple quantitative and qualitative studies on abortion training and most recently led a national study of chief residents regarding their training in family planning. Dr. Turk is currently co-leading a prospective cohort study on obgyns and their family planning practice post-residency. Prior to UCSF, Dr. Turk acted as a research associate at Stanford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research, where she oversaw research analyses for a national study on dual-academic career couples.

Amanda Sawyer, MA

Ms. Sawyer serves as the Communications and Outreach Manager for Innovating Education in Reproductive Health.  She manages Innovating Education’s online presence and creates materials and strategy for outreach efforts. Prior to joining Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, Ms. Sawyer worked as the Multimedia Manager for the University of South Florida. Before her role in multimedia, Ms. Sawyer worked with Manna Project International, a community development organization in Nicaragua. 

Cassandra Carver, MPA

Ms. Carver is the Program & Outreach Coordinator for Innovating Education in Reproductive Health. She supports operations and outreach for Innovating Education in Reproductive Health. Prior to joining the UCSF team, Ms. Carver served in Botswana as a Peace Corps health volunteer. During her service she cultivated a passion for sexual and reproductive health by facilitating empowerment programs for girls and interviewing queer women around Botswana to better understand the intersections of gender, sexual orientation, and HIV.

Aliza Adler

Ms. Adler is the Program and Academic Coordinator for Innovating Education in Reproductive Health. She provides administrative and academic research support for Dr. Jody Steinauer and office support for the whole team. Prior to joining Innovating Education, Ms. Adler worked in a Planned Parenthood Northern California clinic, delivering direct patient care and education. Her passion for sexual and reproductive health started during her time at Scripps College, where she studied human biology and was deeply involved with planning and implementing educational events and programs for her peers.

RHEcourse

In addition to all of the free videos and resources that are available at www.innovating-education.org, we offer RHEcourse, our free reproductive health education platform where instructors can assign content to learners and track their progress. Through RHEcourse instructors can evaluate comprehension through pre/post tests and unit quizzes, and see what videos their learners have watched from their instructor dashboard. Instructors can use pre-made template courses as is, modify them for their teaching setting, or create custom courses with our materials or their own. Learners also have an opportunity to participate in self-paced learning by enrolling in our open template courses.

Login to your existing account or create an account to get started!

To create an instructor account please complete this form.

To create a self-paced learner account please complete this form.

How to Use this Site

At Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, we want educators and learners to use our content in whatever way best helps them reach their teaching and learning goals. That means users can: 

  • Incorporate our videos into teaching in lectures, small groups, flipped classrooms or clinical training, including showing a clip of our of our videos to your learners.
  • Point learners to view videos on our site.
  • Share links to our content with colleagues or learners, on social media, or within another curriculum platform.
  • Download and adapt slide sets from our posted lectures.
  • Download the videos for offline educational uses.

We ask that users do not download and repost our videos or other content on any other website (like YouTube) or make any changes to the videos or other content without express permission. 

If you would like to work with us to change or adapt our content for your setting, please get in touch and we will be happy to explore a collaboration. 

If you would like to be able to assign content to learners and track their progress, you can register for RHEcourse, our online platform for SRH education. Through RHEcourse, you can assign specific content from our website or add your own. You can see learners scores on quizzes and what videos or other content they have watched. 

All of the content available in RHEcourse is also available on our website without registering.  RHEcourse offers more features for users who want to engage more deeply. To register please enter your name and email address here.

For more information, see our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

A Note on Gender Inclusive Language

IERH acknowledges the importance of inclusive language as a component of patient-centered care and we are continually working to improve and create content that is reflective of the diverse experiences of people seeking sexual and reproductive healthcare. While some of our content may refer to “women”, we understand that not everyone with internal reproductive organs/a uterus identifies as a woman or female. We recognize that people who identify as men, non-binary, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, and many other gender identities can become pregnant and seek abortions. We understand the fear of erasure associated with shifting away from the word “women”, but advancing equity in healthcare requires a more inclusive movement and vision. The same systems that threaten holistic care for pregnant and birthing folks also perpetuate violence against trans, queer, and gender non-conforming people, which makes challenging these systems incredibly important.

We strongly believe in the necessity of quality reproductive healthcare not only for cis women but for people of all genders. Content made prior to 2020 may include gendered language, but as we create and update content moving forward we are prioritizing the use of more inclusive language.

Our policy and language were informed by the work of GLAAD, The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), Abortion Access Front, NYAAF, and The EMA Fund.

Terms of Use and Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 26, 2019

Please read these Terms of Use and Privacy Policy  (Collectively “Terms”, “Terms of Use”, “Policy”) carefully before using www.innovating-education.org (“Website”, Site”) operated by Innovating Education in Reproductive Health (“us”, “we”, or “our”). 

Your access to and use of the Website is conditioned on your acceptance of and compliance with these Terms. These Terms apply to all visitors, users and others who access or use the Service.

By accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you disagree with any part of the terms then you may not access the Service.

I. Terms of Use

1. Information on this Website should not be considered medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

  1. This Website provides information for health professions educators and learners regarding sexual and reproductive health and related topics topics. It is intended to be an educational resource and should not be considered inclusive of all proper treatments or methods of care or as a statement of standard of care. The information is not intended to be a substitute for the independent professional judgement of the treating clinician.
  2. If you have a medical or health emergency, contact your healthcare professional or call 911. 

2. This Website is informational and educational. 

  1. The content on this site was current at the time it was created and posted to this Site. Innovating Education in Reproductive Health makes every effort to present accurate and reliable information. This content is, however, provided “as is” without any warranty of accuracy, reliability, or otherwise either express or implied. 
  2. Neither Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, nor its employees or agents will be liable for any loss, damage, or claim with respect to any liabilities, including direct, special, indirect, or consequential damages, incurred in connection with these videos or reliance on the information presented. 
  3. No educational content on this Site should be interpreted as a replacement for professional training in any discipline. Review or completion of any training curriculum included on this Site should not be interpreted as certification of competence for any clinical skills. 

3. Links To Other Websites

Our Site may contain links to third-party web sites or services that are not owned or controlled by Innovating Education in Reproductive Health. We have no control over, and assume no responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party web sites or services. You further acknowledge and agree that Innovating Education in Reproductive Health shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such web sites or services.

4. Prohibited Uses

All content on the Site is owned and copyrighted by Innovating Education in Reproductive Health, all rights reserved. Content on this site may not be altered or uploaded to any other website without express permission. 

 

II. Privacy Policy

General Innovating Education in Reproductive Health is committed to respecting and protecting your online privacy. This policy informs you the collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information we receive from users of the Site.

We use your Personal Information to communicate with you, to enable your use of our learning management system, RHEcourse, or to conduct program evaluation for the improvement of our content and user experience. 

1. Information Collection And Use

  1. Access to our website is generally unrestricted, and you may browse it anonymously. Users of this website are under no obligation to provide any personally identifying information, with the caveat that a user’s refusal to do so may prevent the user from using certain site features. 
  2. Innovating Education in Reproductive Health will collect your personal information when you voluntarily sign-up for our newsletter, log into RHEcourse (our learning management platform) or complete any other form on our site.  When registering you may be asked to enter your name, e-mail address, mailing address, institution, or other demographic information. 
  3. Enrollment in RHEcourse requires consent to participate in our program evaluation activities. This evaluation is governed by the UCSF Institutional Review Board which has granted exempt status to evaluate this educational intervention. All content available in RHEcourse is also available on the website without submitting any Personal Information.  
  4. Information we collect will never be sold or rented to third-parties. We may release your information when required to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others rights, property, or safety. Additionally, third-party service providers may be granted access to your Personal Information in their work to support the site’s functionality. 
  5. By registering with or using the site, you consent to the use and disclosure of your personally-identifying information as described in this section. 

2. Log Data

  1. Like many site operators, we collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Site (“Log Data”). This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol (“IP”) address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our Site that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages and other statistics.
  2. In addition, we may use third party services such as Google Analytics that collect, monitor and analyze information to determine the popularity of online content and better understand online activity. If you do not want your information to be collected and used by Google Analytics, you can install an opt-out in your web browser (https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/)

3. Communications

  1. We may use your Personal Information to contact you with newsletters, update on the functionality of the site, or research or program evaluation survey invitations. Generally, you may opt out of such emails, though we reserve the right to send you notices about your account, such as service announcements and administrative messages even if you opt out of all voluntary email notifications. 

4. Cookies

  1. Cookies are files with small amount of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and stored on your computer’s hard drive.
  2. Like many sites, we use “cookies” to collect information. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Site.

5.  Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

 

III. Changes

This Privacy Policy is effective as of August 26, 2019 and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page.

We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Service after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.

Contact Us

Contact Us

If you have any questions about these policies, please contact us at info@innovating-education.org 

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