Dear Barnard Community,
As we look forward to the academic year ahead, we wanted to share some exciting news about how Barnard College is engaging in the important discourse and work of reproductive health and justice on campus. Barnard remains strongly committed to the health and well-being of our community, which has always included a wide range of education, resources, and access to reproductive healthcare.
This past spring, six applicants were awarded the 2023-24 inaugural Reproductive Health Grant. Join us in congratulating them on these innovative, interdisciplinary, and impactful projects:
“Birth Doula Training for Barnard Students,” Erin Donahue ’25
“The Attack on Reproductive Rights & Young Adults’ Mental Health and Thought Processes Around Sexual Reproductive Health,” Flavie de Germay de Cirfontaine ’23/Mailman 4+1 student
“Building Reproductive Justice Coalitions in Architecture, on Campuses, and Beyond,” Kadambari Baxi and Lindsay Harkema, Architecture Department
“Black Women’s Maternal Health and the Struggle for Reproductive Justice,” Premilla Nadasen, History Department
“Barnard Library and Archives & the Coalition for Women Prisoners (CWP) for Reproductive Justice,” Martha Tenney, Tatiana Bryant, Obden Mondésir, Liam Adler, Jennie Correia, and Jenna Freedman, Barnard Library
“Abortion in Context: An Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Lecture Course,” Wendy Schor-Haim and Cecelia Lie-Spahn, English Department
We look forward to learning more from the grant recipients over the next year. To learn more about the projects, you can visit Barnard’s Reproductive Health Grant website.
Additionally, we wanted to update you and let you know that the clinical staff at PCHS will be fully trained to provide medication abortion at Barnard by late fall/early winter and will work closely with campus partners to ensure that the process is in place for a spring launch at PCHS. We have been working hard and wanted to share two important stages in preparation for this:
- After a competitive application process, Dr. Sarah Ann Anderson-Burnett was selected for a grant from the Project ACCESS New York State Medication Abortion/Early Pregnancy Loss Workgroup, and she serves as Barnard's leader in this important initiative. The Project ACCESS NY Workgroup is a program of the Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP) and Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) that focuses on expanding patient access to medication abortion and early pregnancy loss care in primary care settings.
- In June, working group members from Barnard’s Office of Health & Wellness and the Primary Care Health Service (PCHS) began training with experts from RHAP and PCDC.
A portion of the funding for this grant specifically supports implementation and putting the necessary clinical, administrative, logistical, and financial systems in place to begin providing medication abortion as an option at Barnard College. This robust opportunity allows Barnard to be in the best position to successfully implement and sustain provision of medication abortion. Based on the experience of setting up medication abortion services, the College will be able to inform New York State advocacy and policy priorities to increase access to medication abortion and care for early pregnancy loss in college health settings.
PCHS continues to be committed to providing sexual health counseling, pregnancy options counseling, and referrals to all students, and to help them identify the best choices for their unique personal care needs. As always, students can access the array of sexual health counseling and care at PCHS, including pregnancy options, counseling, referrals and linkage to care for the full spectrum of abortion and pregnancy services. We refer directly to specialists at CUIMC trained to provide the full spectrum of abortion and pregnancy services and we have an expanded list of providers in New York City through Project ACCESS.
We look forward to continuing to innovate in education, provision of resources, and access to sexual and reproductive health services on our college campus to best serve our community.
In health and community,
Marina Catallozzi, MD, MSCE
Vice President for Health & Wellness
Chief Health Officer
Leslie Grinage, EdD
Vice President for Campus Life and Student Experience
Dean of the College
Jennifer Rosales, PhD
Vice President for Inclusion and Engaged Learning
Chief Diversity Officer