Dear OBGYN family,

As we end this challenging year, we are fortunate to celebrate several milestones. First, can you believe it has been TEN years growing and thriving in C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital? Thanks to all!

We also wish Dr. Kevin Reynolds a happy, healthy retirement after thirty-plus years of teaching and caring for our GYN oncology patients!

Time certainly marches on and I am often reminded that it is the people, colleagues, and friends that we meet along the way that make it all worthwhile.

Happy Holidays - wishing you all a joyous, healthy 2022!

Dee E. Fenner, M.D.

Congratulations to the Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital team - our faculty, staff, residents, and fellows - for being named #1 in Michigan by the new US News and World Report rankings for uncomplicated pregnancies!

Alex Peahl, MD, MSc, worked with the Center For Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety (CHEPS) students to understand how tailoring care would affect access to care. The team has developed a score using electronic health record (EHR) data to sort patients into four prenatal care phenotypes based on their risk factors. Now, they are analyzing data to understand how implementing tailored prenatal care schedules affects usual clinic operations, including patient delays and appointment availability.

The "Music Therapy Wellness Program” will launch in January 2022 at Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital.

This program will provide additional services for our antepartum patients - further supporting them during these challenging times. This one year, generously donor-funded pilot program has been supported by a partnership between the OBGYN Department, C.S. Mott Music Therapy team, and our U of M medical students.

Emma Wymer, music therapist, and Kenzie Corbin, medical student, will be hosting multiple educational drop-in sessions throughout January to share more about the program. During these sessions, you can engage in music therapy relaxation exercises, learn how music therapy can help your patients, and ask questions/provide feedback.

Each session will also be available through zoom if you are unable to attend/prefer to join virtually. Additionally, a recorded session will be available for viewing at your convenience.

Questions? Please contact Emma at wymere@med.umich.edu or Kenzie Corbin at cmcorbin@med.umich.edu.

Congratulations to OBGYN staff member, Becky Hovatter!

Before joining the Center for Education, Becky was the project manager for the Right Resident, Right Program, Ready Day One grant led by Drs. Maya Hammoud, Helen Morgan, and David Marzano. Becky worked with their larger grant team locally and nationally to further the initiatives and innovations of the grant.

In her new role as Program Manager for the OBGYN Center for Education, Becky is very much looking forward to working with our fantastic education team and programs!

We would like to honor Lisa Scheiman, CNM, for her role and legacy in both creating and sustaining the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program at the University of Michigan. Lisa is stepping down as leader of this program after 22 years of dedicated service.  

Providing forensic sexual assault exams has been part of Lisa’s role as a CNM since she joined our midwife service almost 30 years ago. In 2000, Lisa volunteered to coordinate a formalized a SANE program at the University of Michigan. The program has been funded by hospital nursing and supported clinically through the OBGYN department to care for survivors who present to the adult and children’s emergency services or University Health Services and it includes integrated care with social work, nursing, medicine, police, and survivor advocates. 

Lisa has always been unwaveringly dedicated to providing timely, high-quality trauma-informed care to each of the survivors and she has been instrumental in mentoring many of us. Lisa has built a robust program with currently 20 trained providers sharing 24/7 coverage. Debra Rhizal, CNM, DNP, is assuming administration of the program.  

In this role, Lisa has also taught principles of trauma-informed care for survivors of violence to every medical student, many graduate nursing students, and upper-level women and gender studies undergraduate students. She has been our UM Health liaison for the Washtenaw County Sexual Assault Response Team as well as SAPAC (UM Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center) and SafeHouse.

Congratulations to Kevin Reynolds, MD, on his retirement after 33 years with our Department! Thank you for all you have done for your patients, learners, and colleagues.

Shannon Fischer, one of our amazing nurses at the Center for Reproductive Medicine, recently received funding to attend the Pacific Coast Reproductive Society Annual Meeting (PCRS) this Spring from the Joint Implementation Team/UM Professional Nurse Council.

The PCRS Annual Meeting provides an outstanding forum for the exchange of information and the advancement of the ideologies of reproductive medicine. Shannon will hear from a variety of experts in the field, including our own Erica Marsh, MD, MSCI, who will be presenting this year on Diversity and Health Care Disparities in Reproductive Medicine.

Karen McLean, MD, PhD and Leigh Pearce, PhD, MPH, (UM School of Public Health – Epidemiology) recently received a four-year Department of Defense (DOD) Investigator Initiated Research Award as partnering PIs for their project, “The Michigan SOC:IAL Cohort (Surviving Ovarian Cancer: Innovation, Advancement and Living Well): Improving Outcomes for Women with Ovarian Cancer.” Shitanshu Uppal, MBBS, is a Co-Investigator on the award.

Their research seeks to better understand survivorship among women with ovarian cancer to improve quality of life and psychosocial wellbeing. The work includes the assessment of patient experiences and exposures, as well as comprehensive biomarker analyses. Their findings will allow for the development of endpoints for intervention studies and help shape clinical guidelines to improve disease management with consideration of the many facets of patient wellbeing.

Congratulations to Ashley Hesson, MD, PhD, and Ajleeta Sangtani, MD, for receiving a $60,000 pilot grant from the Michigan Biological Research Initiative on Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Disease (M-BRISC) Grant Program.

This is the result of years of hard work and the MFM Division could not be more proud!

We are excited to announce that Natalie Saunders, MD, has accepted the position as Medical Pod Lead for our East Ann Arbor OBGYN clinic! Dr. Saunders has practiced at EAA for many years and we are thrilled to have her join the leadership team.

Congratulations to our second-year house officer, Sarah Santiago, MD, for being a HOPE Award Finalist.

The Evan Newport HOPE Award was established to formally recognize the ongoing patient and family-centered care practices and initiatives that are happening each day within Michigan Medicine. 

The HOPE Award was developed and designed by Scott Newport and his son Noah - inspired by those who allowed Evan, Scott’s son, to have a happy childhood while he was a patient at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Not only does Evan’s legacy live on at Mott, but his award has given us the opportunity to acknowledge those who work hand-in-hand with patients and families across the entire health system.

Lindsay Admon, MD, MSc, is the new Associate Director of the Health Policy & Economics Pathway of Excellence at the University of Michigan Medical School.

This Pathway of Excellence prepares students to work within the framework of health care to apply knowledge and experience in directing and implementing policy changes.

This Path delves into the multiple functions physicians fill in any health care system, from medical practice and research to population health, policy, and organizational leadership. It is offered in collaboration with the U-M’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI), giving med students access to more than 400 faculty from the schools of medicine, public health, public policy, nursing, dentistry, pharmacy, engineering, law, and social work.

In this one-hour interactive talk, Karen Catlin covers key points from her book, Better Allies: Everyday Actions to Create Inclusive, Engaging Workplaces.

Date: January 14th, 2022

Time: 4 - 5:00pm

Location: Zoom

Attendees will learn steps they can take to diversify their network, amplify and advocate for others in meetings, use more inclusive language, and open career doors for people from underrepresented groups.

The Office for Health Equity and Inclusion (OHEI) and the Graduate Medical Education (GME) office are hosting the second annual Michigan Medicine Second Look event, “Health Injustice: A Threat to Everyone.”

Date: January 20th, 2022

Time: 4 - 6:00pm

This virtual event is for prospective house officers who interviewed at Michigan Medicine. This is an opportunity to educate and inform the prospective house officers about our commitment to health justice and the individual departments’ DEI and Community Engagement efforts.

Join us for one of the largest University of Michigan celebrations honoring the life and work of Dr. King!

Faculty, staff, and students are invited to attend lectures, exhibitions, workshops, and community service projects, throughout campus from January through March. Learn and share new perspectives with other students, faculty, and staff from all fields and the surrounding campus community.

The 2022 Keynote Memorial Lecture will be held on January 17th at 10:00 am in Hill Auditorium.

It’s been 10 years since we opened our new facility for C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital! This exciting milestone would not be possible without our dedicated and compassionate teams and our extraordinary patients and families. We celebrated this special birthday with individually wrapped cupcakes and balloons. Hail to many more years of life-changing patient care, research, and education.

For nearly a century, University of Michigan medical students have looked forward to the first weekend of December to volunteer their time and enthusiasm by standing on the corners of Ann Arbor collecting donations to support children in need throughout Washtenaw County. Tag Days is a tradition beloved by all - an opportunity to make a meaningful impact on our local community, and embrace the holiday spirit by wearing colorful "tags."

Last year, the Department of ObGyn took 2nd place in the hospital-wide competition to see which department could raise the most money for the kids! This year, you can donate in a variety of ways, including GoFundMe, Venmo (@galenstagdays), Paypal (tagdaysczars@umich.edu), and Check (made payable to Galens Medical Society, mailed to Galens Medical Society, 400 North Ingalls Room G-191 Ann Arbor, MI 48109).