Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion
Sonya Borrero, MD, MS
CHERP COIN Investigator
Co-Director, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
Professor of Medicine; University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Profile
Sonya Borrero, MD, MS, is Associate Director and COIN Investigator, VA CHERP, and Co-Director of the Advanced Fellowship in Women's Health Research at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (VAPHS). She is also Professor of Medicine; Clinical and Translational Science; and Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Borrero's work strives to advance reproductive health equity.
A practicing internist with advanced training in women's health, she provides primary care to Veterans in the Women's Health Clinic at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
Her research has been funded by NIH, VA, and foundation grants and has focused on understanding multilevel influences on contraceptive and pregnancy decision making in marginalized populations in order to identify targets for social, clinical, and policy interventions that will decrease people's risk for undesired pregnancy and that will augment reproductive autonomy. Her projects include optimizing pre-pregnancy and contraceptive care provision within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA); developing patient-centered digital tools to support women's reproductive decision-making and facilitate provider provision of family planning care; and advancing understanding of how social and structural factors and inequalities shape and constrain low-income men's and women's reproductive agency, intentions, and behaviors.
Dr. Borrero leads the VA Women's Health Research Consortium Disparities Workgroup and is an appointed member of the Pennsylvania Governor's Advisory Council for Veterans Services. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf recently appointed Dr. Borrero to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee to collect information and disseminate findings related to maternal deaths. The committee is the result of Act 24, which the governor signed into law in May 2018.
The University of Pittsburgh's Medical Alumni Magazine recently published an interview with Dr. Borrero and other experts on the Governor's committee to discuss this urgent issue for mothers in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Borrero is the PI of Developing and Testing a Decision Support Tool for Women Making Tubal Sterilization Decisions, funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and the Pittsburgh Site PI and Mentor for Reproductive Planning for Women Veterans, the VA HSR&D Career Development Award of Lisa Callegari, MD, MPH, at VA Puget Sound in Washington.
Highlighted publications of interest:
Racial and ethnic disparities in contraceptive knowledge among women veterans in the ECUUN study
| Research Areas |
| Womens Health |
