Jill S. Huppert, MD, MPH
Dr. Huppert is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Her main research interest is the prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in adolescents.
Her initial work, funded both internally and via an R03 (NIH- NIAID) focused on a common clinical question: what is the overlap between STI and UTI in adolescent women? This work uncovered high rates of Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) in our population. Thus she next embarked on research to improve the detection of this common and yet understudied STI, using 4 tests: wet mount, rapid antigen, culture and nucleic acid amplification. Collaboration and funding from industry, other institutions, and an NIH K-23 award furthered this goal, and initial comparisons have been published. The K-23 work was enhanced through collaboration with Dr. Jessica Kahn to explore the feasibility, acceptability and accuracy of self-obtained vaginal swabs to detect vaginitis in adolescent women. This data is presently being analyzed. She is eager to move STI testing to the point-of-care, and thus has established a sub-contract with the Johns Hopkins Point-of Care testing network (Charlotte Gaydos, PI), and has piloted an STI testing scheme on a community outreach van in Cincinnati. Through her collaborations with the Cincinnati Health Department’s STD clinic, she is investigating the patterns of gonorrhea infections in adult and adolescent women. The prevalence of gonorrhea in Cincinnati is 10 times the national rate, making such studies valuable and efficient. She has also collaborated with the Bioinformatics Department at CCHMC to evaluate patterns of gonorrhea and pelvic inflammatory disease among adolescents seen at CCHMC.
Because Dr. Huppert began her career as a clinician, she is highly motivated by projects that improve the clinical care of patients. Thus, in addition to her funded STI work, she has researched several clinical topics that affect pediatric and adolescent gynecology patients. For example, she has published on the laboratory evaluation of hirsutism, weight gain with monthly injectable contraceptives, unusual vulvar ulcerations, and ovarian torsion. She has collaborated with junior faculty in ED and radiology, and currently is working on a clinical project to differentiate ovarian torsion from appendicitis. She has also mentored medical students and trainees in successful clinical research projects on topics such as menorrhagia and unusual case reports that have lead to national presentations and publication.
