Fellowship
The major goal of our three-year Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine is to provide clinical and basic science experience leading to the certification of the candidate by the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG). This will prepare the candidate for a career in academic medicine.
This fellowship is structured to provide thorough training in the basics of fetal-maternal physiology and in the care and management of a complicated pregnancy through patient contact and care, research experience, conferences, postgraduate courses, and rounds. It is designed to meet the requirements of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG), Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
Program Structure
There are specific rotations for the fellows including sonography, obstetric wards, and the high-risk pregnancy unit.
Eighteen months of the three-year fellowship will be dedicated to research and three months will go toward other academic endeavors (postgraduate courses and clinical rotations on other services). To fulfill the ABOG requirements, each fellow must complete a research project suitable for publication and a thesis. This thesis must be completed before taking the oral examination in maternal-fetal medicine.
Program Strengths
There are currently 24 Maternal-Fetal Medicine faculty at the Medical School. All are Ob/Gyn board certified or active candidates; 14 of these are also certified in maternal-fetal medicine. Additional faculty from the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Pathology, and Radiology also participate in teaching the maternal-fetal medicine fellows.
Clinical Facilities
Parkland Health & Hospital System provides our primary teaching facilities. Our current patient load consists of more than 13,000 deliveries per year. Of these, approximately 7,000 are high-risk patients.
Facilities available to care for the high-risk patient include:
- A 30-bed chronic care antepartum unit where patients with such diverse complications as diabetes, twins, hypertension, cardiac disease, renal disease, and threatened premature labor can be hospitalized for prolonged periods of time
- Three 32-bed units for postpartum admissions and short-term antepartum care
- A sonography laboratory where over 18,000 procedures are performed each year
- OB Complications clinic that meets daily and has more than 45,000 patient visits annually. (See Sample Rotation Schedule for list of high-risk clinics.)
- OB Complication research clinics in pre-term birth, multiple gestation, gestational diabetes, genetics, infectious diseases, chronic hypertension, and post-term clinic.
Conferences
Maternal-fetal medicine fellows are encouraged to attend and actively participate in a variety of conferences, boards, grand rounds, courses and lectures. Daily lectures and grand rounds are also given by different departments of the medical school and are published in a monthly calendar of events.