Women’s Reproductive Health Alert
Christina Yarborough is helping solve the macro problem caused by microplastics
By Bob Woods
Photography by Peter Freed
Christina Yarborough hopes to improve the quality of women’s health.
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icroplastics, the infinitesimal plastic particles found in hundreds of everyday products, have infiltrated our food, water and air, raising concerns about their links to potential health hazards. Christina Yarborough, a third-year Miller School M.D. student specializing in urology, is researching whether microplastics detected in women’s reproductive tissues can lead to infertility, cancers and other diseases.
The research project is under the direction of Raveen Syan, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical urology in the Miller School’s Desai Sethi Urology Institute. “We want to see if the amount of microplastics that we can find in those tissues correlates with various diseases that women encounter,” Yarborough said.
To work on the study, Yarborough is taking a year off from her M.D. curriculum, enabled by a DREAM (Dean’s Research Excellence Award in Medicine) scholarship, a program initiated in 2021 by Henri R. Ford, M.D., M.H.A., the Miller School’s dean and chief academic officer. “Having a full year to concentrate on the research has been absolutely incredible,” she said, “so I am continuously thankful to Dean Ford for that opportunity.”
Yarborough will graduate next year, then go on to a residency in urology. “I would love to continue my career in academia and work with public health professionals to improve the quality of women’s health.” she said. “Microplastics are everywhere in our environment, and while reducing our exposure is challenging, I hope my research can contribute to meaningful interventions that address their potential impact on women’s health.”
She’s hopeful that studies such as hers, connecting microplastics to disease development, will help people change their behavior. That, she acknowledges, will require the collaboration of consumers, physicians, policymakers and public health officials. But Yarborough is optimistic: “I believe there’s a way to tap into all those different groups to show that reducing our exposure to microplastics will benefit the health of our country.”
Tune in to hear Christina and Dr. Syan speak with Dean Ford about their research. 
