Dr. Patil’s Research on Menopause

Dr. Rajita Patil is the Founder and Director of UCLA’s Comprehensive Menopause Program (CMP). Driven by a mission to redefine menopause care, Dr. Patil leads a dedicated team in implementing a systematic, evidence-based approach. Using a proprietary UCLA-developed provider decision support system called MAPSS© (Menopause Assessment & Pathways Support System), her team comprehensively addresses the diverse biological and psychosocial dimensions of menopause. This tool enables certifiedmenopause providers to offer personalized, whole person care by considering each patient’s menopause symptom burden, unique genetic and health factors, and personal preferences. This tool has been utilized with over 2000 patients, and CMP has expanded to 14 menopause providers this year, with plans to further expand and model the program to support the development of similar programs across other UC campuses in California through the UC-wide Menopause Collaborative.
Her current research focuses on the impact of CMP on symptom burden, mental health, bone health, and cardiovascular health outcomes. She is also studying the supplements that people take during menopause and working on building education material for patients and clinicians. Dr. Patil is also preparing a menopause toolkit to help institutions develop and implement their own menopause programs. In addition, she co-developed a group menopause care pathway called CenteringMenopause with the Centering Healthcare Institute.
Dr. Patil also has conducted extensive research in abortion care. She developed the first telemedicine abortion protocol at UCLA and across the UC system, making it one of the first academic institutions in the country to implement such a protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic. The protocol evaluated the effectiveness and safety of telemedicine abortion and compared person-centered care between telemedicine and clinic-based abortion services.

Learn more about her work:

Cardiovascular Risk Associated with Menopause and Menopause Hormone Therapy: A Review and Contemporary Approach to Risk Assessment. D’Costa Z, Spertus E, Hingorany S, Patil R, Horwich T, Press MC, Shah J, Watson KE, Jafari L. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2025 Oct 9;27(1):100. doi: 10.1007/s11883-025-01343-6.

Person-centered abortion care scale: Validation for medication abortion in the United States. Sudhinaraset M, Gipson JD, Nakphong MK, Soun B, Afulani PA, Upadhyay UD, Patil R. Contraception. 2024 Sep;137:110485. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2024.110485. Epub 2024 May 15.

Society of Family Planning Clinical Recommendation: Telemedicine in family planning care part 2 – Abortion. Patil R, Dethier D, Fleming M, Godfrey E, Kohn JE; with the assistance of Laurie Ray, DNP, WHNP-BC and Jennifer Chin, MD, MS on behalf of the Clinical Affairs Committee, and Robert Johnson. Contraception. 2025 Mar 10:110864. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2025.110864. Online ahead of print.

Long-acting reversible contraceptive preference and initiation among clinic-based and telemedicine medication abortion patients at one academic health system in California. Woofter R, Patil R, Sudhinaraset M, Gipson J. Contraception. 2025 May;145:110838. doi: 10.1016/j.contraception.2025.110838. Epub 2025 Feb 10.

Comparing Efficacy of Medication Abortion by Health Care Modality at a California Health System. Patil R, Woofter R, Sudhinaraset M, Gipson JD. Obstet Gynecol. 2026 Jan 22. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000006174. Online ahead of print.