FACTS Teacher Series: Lisa Gilbert, MD
Breaking Barriers to Fertility Awareness: From West Africa to Western Kansas
By: Gracie Stotzer
Director’s Note: As part of our FACTS Teacher series, we highlight the diverse set of physicians and clinicians who contribute their time and expertise to help us educate the next generation of medical professionals through the FACTS elective. Our series continues with Dr. Lisa Gilbert, a family physician trained in the Creighton Model. Growing up in Africa, Dr. Gilbert’s travels over the years have taken her from West Africa to Western Kansas. Presently, she serves on faculty at Ascension Via Christi Family Medicine Residency Program in Wichita, KS, where she facilitates residents’ training in FABMs through FACTS. With plans to return to Africa for future medical mission work, we don’t know where in the world Dr. Gilbert will be next year, but we can promise you a chance to meet her in Austin, TX, on April 19 and 20 at our upcoming conference, Authentic Women’s Health: Advancing Access Across the Lifespan. Dr. Gilbert will present on the basics of restorative reproductive medicine. We hope to see you there!
Dr. Gilbert is also listed in our FACTS Physician/Clinician Directory. If you are an FABM-trained medical professional or educator, please apply here to join the directory.
A Heart for Mission Work
Dr. Lisa Gilbert grew up in Africa, the daughter of missionaries, so she was very familiar with the challenges facing underserved populations. Although her studies and work would eventually take her to the United States, she never lost sight of her love for these vulnerable populations — a love that shapes her current practice and plans for the future. Now practicing family medicine in Kansas, Dr. Gilbert serves some of the most underserved communities in Wichita.
Growing up, Dr. Gilbert was drawn to the sciences. Initially, she planned to pursue medical research as she was fascinated by the impact of HIV and AIDS throughout Africa. When her parents moved to South Africa, she decided to take a gap year and served at an orphanage for children living with HIV and AIDS. Over the course of the year, she felt drawn to practice medicine instead of research. She later attended medical school at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX.
A New Understanding of Healthcare
Dr. Gilbert had never been exposed to fertility awareness based methods (FABMs) prior to attending medical school. Neither medical school curricula nor residency filled this gap. Unexpectedly, however, a conversation in medical school opened her eyes and ultimately changed the entire way she thought about healthcare.
She was asked by a retired doctor: “Have you ever thought that maybe contraception isn’t the best thing for our patients?”
Dr. Gilbert was struck by this simple question, and she began to wonder whether there might be a different way to approach fertility and the challenges that fertility can bring, especially in situations of extreme poverty.
“This conversation shifted my understanding of healthcare from mitigation of problems to directing the focus to the well being of the whole person — a restorative medical model.”
Drawn to the idea of a more holistic vision of medicine, but still with a heart for medical mission work, Dr. Gilbert let these interests guide her specialty after graduation from medical school. She considered Ob/Gyn, Surgery, and Family Medicine as these were some of the most practical specialties in mission work. She knew she didn’t want to perform surgeries and, although she enjoyed deliveries, she said, “I didn’t have a love and passion for hysterectomies!” With Surgery and Ob/Gyn both off the table, Family Medicine was an easy choice. She knew she enjoyed working with patients across all ages and stages.
From West Africa to Western Kansas
After graduation, Dr. Gilbert began residency at Via Christi in Wichita, KS, and began to research FABMs independently. She was initially unimpressed with the outdated materials, but she eventually discovered more modern resources online. She wishes she would have encountered even just an introductory FACTS webinar during her studies “rather than trying to go find the Billings office and figure it out myself!”
In 2015, she connected with Dr. Marguerite Duane, Executive Director of FACTS About Fertility, and found a wealth of information about these modern methods. She eventually went on to complete training as a Creighton Model medical consultant through the Saint Paul VI Institute in Omaha, NE. Her interest was piqued by fertility awareness, but she continued to be drawn back to medical mission work. Following residency, she completed a fellowship in family medicine, returning to West Africa to work in both Niger and Cameroon.
After her fellowship, Dr. Gilbert traded West Africa for Western Kansas. She spent over two years in rural practice in Lakin, KS, but found it difficult to incorporate fertility awareness into her practice. She was trained as a Creighton medical consultant but not as an instructor, and she did not have instructors nearby for patient referrals. Dr. Gilbert described the challenge that many women face in finding FABM-trained physicians, medical professionals, and instructors, particularly in more remote areas.
Both Learner & Teacher
Dr. Gilbert’s next move was back to Wichita, KS, where she returned to Via Christi Hospital — this time as faculty at the Ascension Via Christi Family Medicine Residency Program. She continues to practice family medicine at Via Christi and sees a broad range of patients, primarily underserved and often poor populations. Her patients include urban families to Pashtun refugees from Afghanistan. Sometimes she works days, sometimes nights. There is never a dull moment, but Dr. Gilbert loves the variety of patients and ages and complications. She also appreciates the opportunity to accompany residents throughout their early years of practice.
“I often enjoy being a fellow learner with the residents,” Dr. Gilbert remarked.
Part of being a physician is the continual learning process, which Dr. Gilbert acutely understands, as she serves as a teacher as well. She is also a trained FACTS speaker and facilitates residents’ training in FABMs through the FACTS resident elective.
“It’s fun to see their eyes light up,” she said, as they come to understand the concept of the female cycle as the fifth vital sign. “Women are a mystery, but our cycles can be figured out!”
“It’s fun to see their eyes light up,” she said, as they come to understand the concept of the female cycle as the fifth vital sign. “Women are a mystery, but our cycles can be figured out!”
Dr. Gilbert said the most meaningful part of her work is the opportunity to help train the next generation of physicians to provide better care for their future patients.
“It feels like I’m paying it forward when I see it magnified through our residents, many of whom are going to rural areas of America,” she said.
Addressing Barriers to Fertility Awareness
Misconceptions are one of the barriers to more widespread use of FABMs, but Dr. Gilbert’s work outside of Via Christi volunteering at a free clinic has opened her eyes to the many additional obstacles that women face. Many of these patients are struggling with infertility, she explained, and they may never have access to expensive endocrinology resources. Some are familiar with Creighton or Marquette models of charting, but for a population that can’t afford more than LH strips to identify their fertile window.
Dr. Gilbert asked, “How do we support poor urban populations in fertility issues?”
Cost is just one piece of the puzzle, she explained. Phone numbers change often, arranging transportation to teaching sessions and finding childcare is often a barrier. And even if a woman can get to a session, sometimes the site itself poses a problem.
“We had one Muslim patient who couldn’t go to a Catholic church for the teaching,” she added.
Dr. Gilbert said that the barriers she encounters often revolve around simply accessing instruction, but she hopes that her Ascension Via Christi clinic will soon have an in-house instructor to equip patients with the clinical support necessary to help them take charge of their fertility.
Plans For the Future
Dr. Gilbert still loves to travel and hopes to see greater efforts to incorporate FABMs internationally.
“Medical missions will always be part of my story,” she said.
Dr. Gilbert has her eyes on Maternal Life International, an organization that supports women and children primarily in Africa. Their three-part approach includes training in fertility awareness for both couples and hospital staff, recognizing the high maternal death rates in Africa and malnutrition interventions. Dr. Gilbert described the “Couple Beads” method of charting [1] utilized by Maternal Life International, explained that she has reviewed some of their materials, and said she hopes to travel to Africa within the next year to help train people in fertility awareness.
We don’t know where Dr. Gilbert will be a year from now, but we do know she’ll be in Austin, TX, from April 19 through 20 at our annual in-person FACTS conference. Don’t miss your chance to learn all about the basics of RRM treatment. Plus, expand your toolkit with talks on everything from adolescent amenorrhea to mental health in menopause to insulin resistance and reproductive health. We hope to see you there. Registration closes Friday, April 12th.
References
[1] Mulcaire-Jones G, Fehring RJ, Bradshaw M, Brower K, Lubega G, Lubega P. Couple Beads: An integrated method of natural family planning. Linacre Q. 2016;83(1):69-82. doi:10.1080/00243639.2015.1133018
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gracie Stotzer
Gracie Stotzer first joined FACTS as the Conference and Speaker Program Coordinator in the summer of 2021 and now serves as the Educational Programs Assistant. Upon graduation from Benedictine College with dual majors in psychology and Spanish, she traded out her native Albuquerque, NM for Sevilla, Spain to become an ESL instructor. While abroad, she began a crash course in fertility awareness to address her own health issues. Upon returning to the United States, she encountered FACTS and is delighted to now engage with students and FACTS speakers alike–including some of the very same doctors who saw her as a patient while abroad. Gracie now balances her FACTS responsibilities with graduate studies in human nutrition, fostering a growing interest in the intersection of the health of both people and the planet. Unsurprisingly, in her spare time, you can find her enjoying great food and the great outdoors!
