Recently, the BMJ Sexual and Reproductive Health created a number of ‘trainee editor’ posts, with a trainee working alongside an associate editor in their country for one year. Trainee editors will gain knowledge and experience as a peer reviewer and also of the peer review process, together with skills that will prepare them for joining editorial teams of journals in the future.
In the coming weeks, the BMJ SRH blog will provide a short feature on each new trainee editor. Our fourth featured trainee editor is Andrea Henkel.
Dr Andrea Henkel is a Clinical Fellow in Complex Family Planning at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California while also completing a Master’s degree in Epidemiology and Clinical Research. She has a background in public policy, winning the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service’s Excellence in Public Health Award and the ACOG National State Legislative Accomplishment Award for prior legislative achievements. Her research interests focus on patient experience and equitable access in sexual and reproductive health. Outside of the hospital, she is an athlete that loves the outdoors; she loves mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and road biking.
Andrea, what are you most looking forward to as a trainee editor?
Andrea: I hope that this opportunity connects me to a global community of scholars similarly committed to bettering the field of sexual and reproductive health. As reproductive rights are attacked and the prevalence of misinformation increases, we, as physician scientists, must continue to produce methodologically robust research to inform practice and policy.
Andrea, what do you consider to be the biggest challenge facing sexual and reproductive health?
Andrea: The ongoing global inequalities in maternal health outcomes and access to reproductive health services are significantly related to persistent medical racism. One of the greatest challenges facing SRH is the uncomfortable recognition that the field of gynaecology was deeply intertwined with the institution of slavery and the ongoing patterns of disparity originate from the commodification of enslaved Black women’s childbearing. Those of us working in SRH must center and protect the most vulnerable while actively addressing the ongoing systemic discrimination.
Follow Andrea on Twitter: @dochenkel