Emory University Medical School Associate Professor Dr. Mary Segars Dolan Joins CARE About Fibroids as OB-GYN Advisor

Joins the organization’s newly-formed Science Advisory Committee of experts in women’s and public health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 27, 2018
Media Contact:
Jenny Rosenberg
jtr@careaboutfibroids.org

 
Washington, DC  — CARE (Community, Action, Research, and Education) About Fibroids (careaboutfibroids.org), a national nonprofit women’s health organization dedicated to increasing awareness of uterine fibroids, announced today that renowned, Atlanta-based obstetrician-gynecologist Mary Segars Dolan, MD, MPH, FACOG, NCMP, of the Emory School of Medicine Faculty and Emory Healthcare Network Physician, has become the group’s new OB-GYN advisor.

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“We are very excited to announce our partnership with Dr. Dolan, a leading obstetrician-gynecologist at Emory School of Medicine with over 25 years of experience, whose mission as a physician and professor is focused on improving care for women and pursuing advancements in innovation for women’s health,” said Jenny Rosenberg, CARE About Fibroids Executive Director. “The addition of Dr. Dolan’s expertise and leadership in obstetrics and gynecology will help our organization to better fulfill its mission — to build greater awareness of uterine fibroids and create a sense of urgency around the need for improved diagnosis, expanded and better treatment options, and enhanced patient access to care.”
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“Care About Fibroids’ work to improve the lives of women with uterine fibroids and raise the public’s awareness of this condition aligns with my academic and clinical focus on advancing women’s health,” said Dr. Dolan. “I am excited to be partnering with such an accomplished group of leaders on a critically important health condition that impacts millions and millions of women in the U.S. annually, and support our shared interest in empowering women by improving their access to information about uterine fibroids and health care resources so they can live healthier lives.”

Dr. Dolan received her medical degree and masters of public health from the Emory University School of Medicine, completed her OB-GYN residency and internship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and completed an epidemiology fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). Dr. Dolan is also a Nationally Certified Menopause Practitioner. She has been board certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1994 and specializes in general gynecology and the care of midlife and menopausal women.
Prior to medical school, Dr. Dolan graduated from Duke University where she earned a BSN in Nursing. Dr. Dolan has served as an executive board member of the Society for Academic Specialists in General Gynecology and Obstetrics (SASGOG) and on a domestic violence and chronic disease advisory panel for the Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR).

Dr. Dolan joins Drs. Nancy C. Lee and Jenna Benyounes on the recently-formed CARE About Fibroids Science Advisory Committee. Dr. Lee served as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for 28 years, most recently as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Women’s Health for the Office on Women’s Health (OWH). Dr. Benyounes serves on the faculty of Georgetown University, where she is a professor in their Midwifery and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner programs.

About Uterine Fibroids
 
CARE About Fibroids has launched its online resource at a time when estimates are that between 70 percent and 80 percent of women will have uterine fibroids by the age of 50. Yet, due to lack of awareness or the belief that fibroids are a problem to be endured, many women go undiagnosed and untreated. 
 
Among women in the U.S., uterine fibroids are significantly under-diagnosed and under-treated, despite being declared a public health burden by the National Institute of Health (NIH). Collectively, the price tag of symptomatic uterine fibroids, including lost work and disability, approaches $34 billion a year.
 
According to recent studies, women with “symptomatic” fibroids wait, on average, more than three years before seeing a doctor and almost a third wait up to five years. This lag can result in anemia, urinary tract infections, urinary obstruction, and kidney damage as well as leading women to experience body-issue anxieties, lower self-esteem, and worries about relationships and sexuality.
 
The problem is especially important for black women because, compared to other American women, African-American women are three times more likely to develop symptomatic fibroids, experience them at an earlier age, experience twice the pelvic pain and swelling, and have three times the rate of anemia induced by fibroids. As a result, black women also have four times higher rates of hospitalizations and are three times more likely to undergo a hysterectomy. Similarly, myomectomy — another form of fibroid surgery— is about seven times more common among African-American women.
 
In terms of the economic impact, more than $9 billion is spent annually for surgery, hospital admissions, outpatient visits, medications, and other direct medical costs for fibroid treatment. Symptomatic fibroids cost the economy $17 billion annually in absenteeism, lost work, and short-term disability. An additional $8 billion is spent annually on fibroid-related pregnancy complications.    
 
CARE About Fibroids is Sparking a National Dialogue on Uterine Fibroids
 
CARE About Fibroids is taking the lead in mobilizing women’s health advocacy and policy-focused organizations to build greater awareness of uterine fibroids, as well as a sense of urgency around the need for improved diagnosis, expanded and better treatment options, and enhanced patient access to appropriate care. 
 
CARE About Fibroids is headquartered in Washington, DC, under the direction of its Executive Director Jenny Rosenberg, Science Advisory Committee, and a Steering Committee of leading independent nonprofit patient/consumer organizations focused on women’s health. Currently, the steering committee is comprised of (in alphabetical order): The Black Women’s Health Imperative, COSHAR Healthy Communities Foundation, HealthyWomen, and To Know Is To Know. 

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