Mehret Birru Talabi, MD, PhD

(she/her)
Program Director, ORCHID; Assistant Professor of Medicine

Mehret Birru Talabi, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology. Her research is focused on optimizing reproductive health management and health care for women with rheumatic diseases.

Education & Training
B.A, Kenyon College, 2002
PhD, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, 2009
M.D., Univeristy of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2011
Residency, University of Pittsburgh Medica Center, 2014
Fellowship, UPMC Rheumatology Division, 2016
Awards
Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Award, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2020)
Dean’s Faculty Advancement Award, University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Fellow Award, American College of Rheumatology (2017)
T32 (Autoimmunity and Immunopathology), University of Pittsburgh, 2017
K12 (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research), University of Pittsburgh, 2019
K23, National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, "Investigating Pathways to Optimal Reproductive Outcomes Among Women with Rheumatic Diseases" University of Pittsburgh, 2020-2025
R21, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, "Development of a novel, patient-centered measure of reproductive autonomy in the healthcare context", University of Pittsburgh, 2022-2024
Representative Publications

Birru Talabi M, Callegair L, Kazmerski T, Krishnamurti T, Mosely E, Borrero S. A Blueprint for a New Model of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare in Subspecialty Medicine. Health Services Research. 2022. 

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Birru Talabi M, Clowse MEB, Blalock SJ, Switzer G, Yu L, Chodoff A, Borrero S. Development of ReproKnow, a reproductive knowledge assessment for women with rheumatic diseases. BMC Rheumatology. 2019;3:40.

  • ReproKnow, an assessment developed to evaluate the reproductive health knowledge of women with rheumatic diseases, may be a promising tool to identify knowledge deficits for future educational interventions.

Birru Talabi M, Clowse MEB, Blalock SJ, Hamm M, Borrero S. Perspectives of adult rheumatologists regarding family planning counseling and care: a qualitative study. Arthritis Care & Research. 2020;72(3):452-458.

  • Semi-structured interviews among 12 rheumatologists revealed that they feel a sense of responsibility to provide some aspects of family planning counseling and reproductive health care to reproductive‐age female patients, but rarely refer patients to gynecologists for contraceptive care.

Birru Talabi M, Clowse MEB, Blalock SJ, Moreland L, Siripong N, Borrero S. Contraception use among reproductive-age women with rheumatic diseases. Arthritis Care & Research. 2019;71(8):1132-1140.

  • A study of administrative data of 2,455 women with a rheumatic disease diagnoses and at least 2 outpatient rheumatology visits revealed low use of prescription contraception.

Birru Talabi M, Eudy AM, Jayasundara M, Haroun T, Nowell WB, Curtis JR, Crow-Hercher R, White CW, Ginsberg S, Clowse MEB. Pregnancy, periods, and "the pill": exploring the reproductive experiences of women with inflammatory arthritis. ACR Open Rheumatology. 2019;1(2):125-132.

  • Findings from a survey of 267 women aged 18-50 with inflammatory arthritis suggest that infertility but also potentially fear and anxiety related to their diagnoses, may affect their family sizes.