Hello Team,

March is up to its usual tricks – came in like a lamb, but going out like a lion. But we won’t let the cold weather dampen the amazing work by so many in our department.

As national meetings get rolling again, our department is leading the way in original science and awards. We had a fantastic match for our students that are going across the country to the programs of their choice, and we could not be happier about our incoming interns.

With luck, we will soon be able to gather in person for Grand Rounds and bring our department back together for much-needed celebrations, conversations, mentoring, and more.

I miss seeing you,

Dee E. Fenner, MD

Congratulations to our Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for its #4 ranking in the 2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools rankings!

Up from #6 in 2022, these rankings evaluate medical schools on faculty resources, academic achievements of entering students and qualitative assessments by school leaders and residency directors.

Courtney Townsel, MD, MSc, addresses questions related to fertility and COVID vaccination in a recent Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine video series.

In a recent episode of the Gynecologic Surgeons Unscrubbed podcast, Helen Morgan, MD, shares her insights on the diversification of the physician workforce.

She discusses how to optimize residency interviews, including the benefits of a standardized letter of evaluation, and the integration of coaching with medical education. Dr. Morgan also talks about American Medical Association’s (AMA) reimagining residency grant “Right Resident, Right Program, Ready Day One,” where she is currently co-investigator and program evaluation lead.

In a recently published BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth study, Timothy Johnson, MD, and coauthors explore the in-depth experiences and perspectives of obstetric providers in Ghana who work in a setting with frequent maternal mortalities.

Celebrate International Women’s Day with a video on breaking bias! This video highlights the story of Dr. Kwakye Gifty, a colorectal surgeon here at Michigan Medicine, and features several of our ObGyn Faculty!

Cindy Lee, MD, is the lead author of a recent publication in Women's Health Reports on parenting challenges for physicians.

Her coauthors include ObGyn team members, Brooke Spencley, MD, Lauren Owens, MD, MPH, and Helen Morgan, MD.

A multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional team led by Molly Stout, MD, MSCI, is working on a device to help predict the timing of delivery and outcomes for preterm and term birth. The project is in its second year of funding by the Frankel Innovation Initiative.

In their new article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Dave Marzano, MD, and Maya Hammoud, MD, MBA, find that focusing on the high residency match rate for certain applicants may obscure data that could better capture the current state of the residency-selection process, set realistic expectations for applicants, and highlight areas for reform.

Darington Richardson, MD, is a 2022 recipient of the Dr. David Gordan Award for Quiet Influence in diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and justice (DEIAJ).

This Student Diversity Council award is given to an individual who has demonstrated empathy, humility, and consistent dedication to the cause of DEIAJ in the institutional, local, regional, or national communities. This individual has performed feats of selflessness and leadership, either without a formal leadership role/title or without significant advertisement and awareness regarding their work.

The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) offers continuing certification to board-certified OBGYNs through the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. Each year the board selects and assigns articles under a variety of subject topics, from peer-reviewed literature on clinically relevant patient management information, best-practice guidelines, and research.

A recent review article by Molly Moravek, MD, and John Randolph, MD, was selected as one of this year's 21 articles for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility!

Congratulations to John DeLancey, MD, on receiving the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons President’s Award for Dedicated Service. This award is given to a senior member who has been a major contributor to the progress of the Society. Dr. DeLancey has served in many capacities on the executive committee for over two decades, including serving as president in 2004. In addition, he initiated the Pelvic Anatomy Group and serves as an advisor to that group.

Breonna Slocum, MD, our 2021-2024 Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Fellow, gave an oral presentation at the Annual Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI).

Her presentation was called: "Factors Associated with HPV Vaccination Among LatinX Females: Insights from the ELLAS Study." Learn More About the ELLAS study, led by Erica March, MD, MSCI, FACOG.

Samia Abdelnabi, PhD, MSN, FNP-C, CNM, has completed her PhD in Nursing (successful defense date March 9, 2022) and has been accepted into the National Clinician Scholars Program beginning in July 2022.

Dr. Abdelnabi's research interests include developing and implementing interventions using traditional Arabic and Islamic medicine to reduce infertility-related stress and improve psychosocial well-being among Muslim couples experiencing infertility.

Maeve Sullivan, Fellowship Program Manager, recently presented to a national audience at the APGO/CREOG Annual Meeting on “Making Multiple Programs Manageable." She and her co-presenters discussed the challenges of multiple fellowship program management. They presented helpful tips for organization and time management, specific tools for tracking one-time and ongoing processes (like onboarding and evaluations) and building highly detailed workflow documents around complex processes like recruitment.

They also talked about the importance of clear communication and expectation-setting with both the fellows and the program directors and shared opportunities for fellowship managers to seek help and support.

Adam Baruch, MD, received the Senior Award at this year's Match Day. This award is given each year to the Michigan Medicine faculty member below the rank of associate professor who, in the opinion of the graduating class, has best upheld the ideals of medical education. In addition, Dr. Baruch will have the honor of speaking at graduation.

Thank you Dr. Baruch for all your contributions to medical student education!

Our Department was well represented at the 2022 SGO Annual Meeting On Women's Cancer.

Lindsay Admon, MD, MSc, has been selected as an editor for the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the official publication of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), popularly known as the "Green Journal."

Dr. Admon will join fellow ObGyn faculty member, Courtney Townsel, MD, MSC, on the Board this July, making Michigan Medicine one of only two OBGYN Departments in the country (along with the University of Alabama) to have multiple members on the Editorial Board.

Need a new headshot? Join us for an on-site portrait session next Friday, April 8th!

Date: April 8th, 2022

Time: 2:30 - 3:30 pm

Location: University Hospital South, L4503

Questions? Contact Maeve Sullivan.

President Mary Sue Coleman, Vice President for Research Rebecca Cunningham, and Vice President for Government Relations Chris Kolb invite you to an engaging event featuring conversations celebrating the 2021 recipients of the President’s Awards for Public Engagement.

Date: April 11th, 2022

Time: 3:00 - 5:00 pm

Location: Stephen M. Ross School of Business or YouTube Livestream

Tune in to see our own Alex Peahl, MD, MSc, who will be participating in a policy discussion, "IHPI Policy Sprints: The Case of Prenatal Care Redesign."

Join us at Michigan Medicine’s Women’s Health Luncheon with guest speaker Kim Barnes Arico, U-M women’s basketball head coach, remarks from Valerie Jarrett, CEO, Obama Foundation, and the Inaugural Women’s Health Hero, Maxine Frankel.

Date: April 27th, 2022

Time: 11:00 am

Location: Virtual and in-person at the Daxton Hotel, Birmingham, Michigan.

Help support innovative research and advances in care for all women.

The Office for Health Equity and Inclusion (OHEI) is partnering with more than 20 Michigan Medicine departments – including OBGYN – to host the inaugural Youth Summit at the Big house on Saturday, May 21.

This regional outreach event is aimed at engaging and exposing diverse middle school students from schools across southeast Michigan to Michigan Medicine health care.

Faculty members - please contact Emily Rivkin if you are interested in volunteering.

Immune-mediated diseases put women and birthing people, particularly people of color, at risk for not only pregnancy complications, but potential disease flares that could lead to poor health outcomes for the mother and child.

As we recognize International Women’s Day, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, in collaboration with Janssen Immunology Research & Development and the Office of the Chief Medical Officer (OCMO) Health of Women team, is proud to launch the Maternal-Fetal Immune Disorders QuickFire Challenge: Innovating for Health Equity.

Faculty are encouraged to submit grant applications by June 3rd, 2022.

Mark your calendars! The 2022 Norman F. Miller University of Michigan Alumni Society Annual Meeting will be held on Friday, October 14th. The theme will be “Reproductive Health in 2022: The Health Care Provider’s Role in Access to Care, Health Policy, and Patient Advocacy.”

A variety of presentations and group discussions regarding current challenges and opportunities encountered by women’s health care providers and patients will be planned. The classes of 2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017 will be honored.

Alumni are also welcome to join the Department of ObGyn for a tailgate prior to the UM v Penn State football game on Saturday, October 15th. Additional information and registration materials will be sent in July. We hope to see you there!

No matter who we are or where we work within this organization, Chief Executive Officer Marschall S. Runge, MD, PhD, believes we all share a common motivation — to make a difference in our patients’ lives. In his recent Minute with Marschall blog, he shares words of thanks from our patients, and their family members, which remind all of us why we are here.

Two years ago this month, the U-M and local communities stepped up to help neighbors in need in the first weeks of the pandemic. They did so by giving healthy food and essential supplies through a Michigan Medicine donation drive for Food Gatherers. Three more drives followed as need continued during the pandemic. Now, a new food and toiletry drive will build on the 281,000 meals’ worth of donations that those first four have brought in.

This month, Marisa Wetmore, MPP, (Department of ObGyn Communications Specialist), Doug Portz, MD, (former Resident), and Pete Peterson, MD, (former Medical Student, Resident, and Faculty Member) and their families spent a week in the Cayman Islands.

The gathering included plenty of sunshine, snorkeling, reminiscing over department history, and, of course, Michigan Basketball!

Please join us in supporting the Corner Health Center! Every year we come together as a department in the Springtime to support the Corner, whose mission is to inspire 12–25-year-olds (and their children) to achieve and sustain healthy lives by providing judgment-free, affordable health, and wellness care and education.

There are three ways to give:

We’ll be sending a few friendly reminders between April 1-8 to encourage everyone to lend their support.

We know that sharing personal stories and experiences with the COVID-19 vaccine motivates people to get vaccinated. The Region 9 PQC invites all pregnant and breastfeeding individuals to share their stories about why they decided to get vaccinated! View the first video in the series. Want to share your story? Visit https://tinyurl.com/region9covidtestimonial to tell us more!

The Region 9 PQC's trauma-informed care workgroup developed materials designed to support pregnant people and parents with traumatic stress. We value your perspective and invite you to share feedback at one of two sessions. If you're interested, please reach out to Helen Joa.