Dr. Pope on what she hopes to see at the 2024 ISSWSH annual meeting

In this video, Rachel Pope, MD, MPH, shares what she hopes to see and/or present at next year’s International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health annual meeting. Pope is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of Female Sexual Health at University Hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio.

Transcription:

I did have 2 medical students that are working on projects with me. We had a medical student who presented on the microbiome for women with lichen sclerosis. I'm inspired by the groups that have been started, especially Dr. Rachel Rubin, [who] has been working with a group of students in Chicago. I'm really excited to see there is interest. I feel like here in Cleveland, there are tons of medical students who are interested also. I want them to be there next year, too, and have more of them presenting. In terms of specifics, I am interested in looking at postpartum issues for sexual function. We have a study that's underway right now looking at vaginal estrogen for women who are postpartum, specifically looking at breast milk levels and looking at outcomes with dyspareunia, whether they're using vaginal estrogen or not. Why? Because we just don't have that data, and lots of clinicians prescribe vaginal estrogen when women are having pain with sex while breastfeeding postpartum, but we don't actually have the data that shows its safety. That's 1 thing I'm hoping to have done by next year. Hopefully, a little bit more with our neovagina research that we're doing with our trans patients. I'm working on a project where we're trying to develop a validated tool to survey our trans patients who've had vaginoplasties. [Those efforts are] underway and hopefully will be ready in time for the conference next year.

This transcription was edited for clarity.