Scholars

Andrea Knittel, MD, PhD, FACOG

Dr. Knittel completed her research fellowship in the Division of General Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2018 and was subsequently appointed Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medical Director for Incarcerated Women’s Health. Her clinical practice within the state prison and at UNC includes office gynecology, gynecologic surgery, prenatal care, and labor and delivery. Dr. Knittel’s research and clinical work have a special focus on reproductive transitions for women involved in the criminal justice system. Her recent article on HIV risk and incarceration, “Incarceration and number of sexual partners after incarceration among vulnerable US women, 2007-2017,” published in the American Journal of Public Health, is available here.

Dr. Knittel’s work as a WRHR Scholar continues to focus on the health of women involved with the criminal justice system, with research activities exploring HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis for women who have experienced incarceration, medications for opioid use disorder for women who experience incarceration during pregnancy, and the effects of incarceration and substance use on menopause symptoms and treatment. This research builds on projects supported by the UNC Center for AIDS Research, the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, and the Cefalo Bowes Young Researcher Award.

Mentors

• Adaora Adimora, MD, MPH – Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology
• Lisa Rahangdale, MD, MPH – Associate Professor of Ob-Gyn (General Ob-Gyn); Medical Director of Labor and Delivery; Associate Dean for Admissions for School of Medicine

Chemtai Mungo, MD, MPH

Dr. Mungo is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist and clinical researcher who was born and raised in Kenya. She received a bachelor’s degree with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley and completed medical school at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), where she was a Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellow and spent a year in Western Kenya working on cervical cancer prevention. She also completed a Master’s in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in San Francisco.

She is passionate about using research, advocacy, and capacity-building to pursue global women’s health equity. Her primary research is focused on increasing access to effective, evidence-based cervical cancer prevention in low-income countries, including investigating resource-appropriate and effective methods of treating cervical precancer, especially among women living with HIV in low-resource settings.

Dr. Mungo was named a 2020 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Conquer Cancer Young Investigator and awarded the National Cancer Institute AIDS Malignancy Fellowship in 2021. At UNC, she will join a multidisciplinary team working to reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Malawi and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Her research will be supported in part by the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the UNC Center for AIDS Research, the UNC School of Medicine, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Allison Stuebe, MD, MSc (2008-2010) is UNC Professor of Ob-Gyn in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Medical Director of Lactation Services, and Associate Director at the UNC Center for Maternal and Infant Health. She studies underlying biological mechanisms for mood disorders and is funded by two NIH R01s. Recently, her work on the fourth trimester of pregnancy has garnered national recognition, highlighting the needs of mothers, newborns, and families in the first 12 weeks after birth.

Gretchen Stuart, MD, MPH (2005-2010) is UNC Professor of Ob-Gyn and Division Director of Family Planning. She is an experienced researcher at the intersection of contraception, HIV, and global health. She has also evaluated strategies to initiate contraception at novel timeframes (e.g., following delivery or abortion). Her research has been supported by over 30 grants and contracts.

Anne Steiner, MD, MPH (2005-2010) is Professor of Ob-Gyn and Division Director for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Duke University. She studies reproductive aging, antimullerian hormone, and predictors of fertility and infertility, and has published extensively in these areas. She currently leads Duke’s site for the NIH/NICHD-funded Reproductive Medicine Network.