Jennifer Karlin, MD, PhD
Jennifer Karlin, MD, PhD, is a board-certified family physician and fellowship-trained family planning specialist in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Trained as an anthropologist and historian of medicine, Dr. Karlin’s mixed-methods research focuses on transforming healthcare systems and relationships to promote patient empowerment, equity, and quality—centered on patients’ definitions. Her work examines patient preferences in sexual and reproductive health, including self-injection of contraceptives, self-management of medication abortion, and approaches to contraceptive counseling. She also investigates how health care providers can adopt trauma-informed, historically grounded, and self-reflective practices to improve person-centered care and minimize harm caused by the medical system. Dr. Karlin serves as the clinical director and principal investigator of The Reproductive Health Hotline (ReproHH), a clinician-to-clinician hotline funded by the State of California’s Health Care Access and Information Agency (HCAI) through 2029, which provides on-demand, evidence-based guidance to healthcare professionals nationwide on sexual and reproductive health.
Dr. Karlin earned her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University, followed by an MD, MA in Anthropology, PhD in the Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, and a Fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago. She has 15 years of experience as a researcher and educator and has been practicing medicine for 11 years after completing residency in Family and Community Medicine and a Fellowship in Complex Family Planning at UCSF. Previously, as an Assistant Professor at UC Davis, she received the I-EXPLORE Achievement Award for her innovative 2-year course on physician identity formation. In her current roles at UCSF, Dr. Karlin directs ReproHH, serves as a supervising physician at Planned Parenthood, and advises the California FamilyPACT program as the medical supervisor. Her research has been published in over 15 peer-reviewed journals, and she has been interviewed by outlets such as NPR, Medscape, STAT, VICE, and Healthline. She has contributed to national clinical guidelines, developed toolkits for contraceptive counseling and delivery, and regularly speaks on podcasts to translate her research into actionable practices.
For a full list of Dr. Karlin's publications, awards, and presentations, click here.