SFP mid-career/mentor award for family planning
Contraception
Awarded 2012
Midcareer/Mentor Grants
David Turok, MD, MPH
University of Utah
$40,000

There are few sites that have developed a more productive family planning research program with fewer resources in a shorter period of time than the University of Utah. In 2007 I began to devote a considerable amount of time to developing a multi-disciplinary Family Planning Research Group. We met biweekly and initiated investigations into increasing access to highly effective methods of contraception. These early studies were unfunded but all shared two common threads that are still present in all of our projects: they all involved students or trainees and included researchers from a variety of disciplines. Our team now includes research assistants, administrators, and researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the College of Nursing, the School of Social Work, the Public Health program, and the Department of Philosophy with projects funded by the Society of Family Planning, the NIH, industry partners and private foundations. We have increased our publication production from one manuscript per year to ten during a time I have maintained a significant level of clinical responsibilities. This award will enable me to decrease the amount of time I am providing clinical care and allow me to transition to a phase of my career with more time dedicated to research and mentoring. In addition, it will create the opportunity to grow a research fund established at Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, our main clinical research site. This non-traditional approach to developing a family planning research infrastructure has important implications and can serve as a model for smaller university and community programs developing family planning programs eager to pursue research agendas.