Hello OBGYN team,

May is coming to an end and summer is officially starting with the Memorial Day weekend. As we near the end of the 2021 academic year, I could not be prouder of the publications, awards, national presentations, community advocacy, and celebrations highlighted in this month’s newsletter. It is wonderful to see the depth and breadth of scholarship and commitment to improving women’s health. What an amazing department we have!

Best,

Dee E. Fenner, MD

Our Department of ObGyn doctors, midwives, and nurses share what they like best about being a mom, what it means to help women become mothers, and the top advice they share with new parents.

In a new Green Journal Research Letter, "Incidence of Abnormal Glucose Values After Delivery in Women With Gestational Diabetes Mellitus," Erin Swor, MD, and team find that postpartum people with GDM are at low risk of hyperglycemia.

In their new commentary, "Changing Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Education to Combat Reproductive Injustice: A Call to Action," Charisse Loder, MD, MSc, and team find that clinician educators can combat reproductive injustice by incorporating reproductive justice training into obstetrics and gynecology resident education, supporting resident debriefing, and engaging communities in advocacy.

This month, the ObGyn Residency Programs at Michigan Medicine and St. Joseph Mercy Health System hosted the 36th Annual Sager Day and the 2021 Abram Sager, MD, Lecture.

12 residents presented their original research. Presentation at Sager Day represents the culmination of a trainee's research milestones and reflects preparedness for long-term academic success.

Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, FACOG, presented this year's Sager Lecture, "Reflections on Leadership: Women's Health and COVID-19."

In their new article, Charisse Loder, MD, Lisa Harris, MD, PhD, and Vanessa Dalton, MD, MPH, investigated associations between perceived discrimination, or the perception of unequal treatment in everyday life, and contraceptive method use among U.S. women.

They found that women who perceived discrimination were at risk for contraceptive nonuse; however, among contraceptive users, perceived discrimination was associated with the use of more effective reversible methods.

To celebrate National Women's Health Week (May 9-15th, 2021), Ebony Parker-Featherstone, MD, former Michigan Medicine Medical student, and Department of ObGyn Women's Health Advanced Trainee, recently joined WEMU 89.1 to discuss ways for women to improve self-care. Take some time to listen:

In their new JAMA Viewpoint article, Maya Hammoud, MD, MBA, and Michigan Medicine medical student, Taylor Standiford, reflect on the 2020-2021 residency application cycle and the unique innovations and challenges that arose due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This work is part of Dr. Hammoud's Right Resident, Right Program, Ready Day One project, which aims to optimize the match process for both residents and programs and ensure that incoming first-year residents have the medical knowledge, skills, and support they need to succeed during residency and beyond.

Our department is well-represented in Ann Arbor's 2021 Family Favorite Contest! Monica Rosen, MD was nominated as Ann Arbor's favorite OBGYN, and both Melisa Scott, CNM, and Anne Rosa, CNM, were nominated for favorite Certified Nurse Midwife!

Eight ObGyn faculty members have been officially promoted by the University of Michigan Regents (effective September 1st)!

On May 20th, Molly Moravek, MD, MPH, gave the 33rd Annual Johns Hopkins Susan L. Shackman, PhD, Memorial Lecture, entitled, "Comprehensive Reproductive Care for Transgender and Non-Binary Patients."

The Michigan Medicine Department of ObGyn had fantastic representation at the 35th Annual ACOG Junior Fellow Research Day.

Our Complex Family Planning Fellow, Dr. Halley Crissman, MD, MPH, presented an Advocacy Update as the ACOG Junior Fellow Advocacy Chair, and three of our learners' orals presentations received awards!

Lindsay Admon, MD, MSc, was recently elected to serve on the University of Michigan Faculty Senate Assembly.

The University of Michigan Senate Assembly consists of 74 elected faculty members from the Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint campuses, each serving a three-year term to represent the interests and concerns of faculty throughout the University of Michigan system.

Alli Straubhar, MD, 2020-2023 Gynecologic Oncology Fellow, was just awarded a Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation grant to fund her work, entitled, "Improving Quality of Life using Patient Reported Outcomes Measures Post-operatively via Text messaging: a randomized control trial (PROMPT study)."

This study is a prospective, randomized control trial with a parallel, superiority design in gynecologic oncology patients who have undergone a laparotomy procedure. This study uses a novel text message-based symptom tracker to capture postoperative patient-reported outcomes with the goal of improving patients’ quality of life and decreasing healthcare resource utilization.

The clinical significance of this intervention is that the development of user-friendly mechanisms for tracking Patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) in the postoperative setting can improve patient health-related quality of life (HRQOL) by providing normative feedback to recovering patients and improve symptom management while capturing potential complications earlier and triaging them to prompt care. This framework can be expanded to other procedures (minimally invasive surgery), other surgical services, across healthcare systems, and to other institutions leading to improvement in the patient experience while maximizing current resource allocation and decreasing cost.

Dr. Straubhar's research mentor is Shitanshu Uppal, MBBS.

Faculty are encouraged to join the Department of ObGyn Health Equity Rounds.

Please join us for the Department of OBGYN virtual Residency Program Graduation honoring the Class of 2021!

Date: Saturday, June 19th, 2021

Location: Zoom

Congratulations to our graduates, Drs. Bell, Ebott, Inman, Jibrel, and Sturza!

As part of the Advocacy and Professional Development Subcommittee for the Anti-Racism Oversight Committee, the Office of Faculty Affairs & Faculty Development is hosting several 45-minute micro-learning sessions on Facilitating Conversations for an Anti-Racist Workplace for faculty and staff.

These sessions will assist managers and supervisors (and anyone who leads team meetings) in learning and practicing an approach to use a guiding template for facilitating 15-minute anti-racism discussions with their team. They will also share a plan on how to begin conversations on sensitive topics, and view a conversation in action.

June 8: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

June 17: 3:00pm - 4:00pm

June 21: 12:00pm - 1:00pm

June 22: 9:00am - 10:00am ​

The Civility Project (June 23rd, 11:30-12:30 pm​) with Nolan Finley and Stephen Henderson brings their story and their perspectives on the importance of civility, despite different stances and perspectives, to communities, workplaces, and audiences throughout the Midwest.

This workshop is open to faculty and staff and is sponsored by the Anti-Racism Oversight Committee (AROC) Advocacy & Professional Development subcommittee. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to:

Mark your calendars for the 2021 Annual Norman F. Miller University of Michigan Alumni Society Meeting. This year's meeting will be held on Friday, September 24, 2021. Stay tuned for more details!

The MARTS (Michigan Alliance for Reproductive Technologies and Sciences) Conference aims to accelerate the growth of Reproductive Sciences in Michigan by enhancing collaboration and communication among educators and researchers in the basic, translational and clinical arenas.

Date: October 8th, 2021

Location: Rogel Ballroom, Michigan Union

Michigan Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology recognizes that people's health and health care quality differs. Historical and modern injustices (social, economic, and political) have resulted in diminished quality of life in some communities. Injustices such as societal racism and discrimination cause negative health consequences. We see this in women in the U.S - especially women of color – who feel the impact of these injustices across their lifetime. They face unacceptable disease and death rates, especially during pregnancy, childbirth, and when diagnosed with reproductive cancers. People with substance use disorders, disabilities, and those identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or gender non-conforming, among others, also face these injustices.

Our department is working to bring awareness and to create solutions to these societal issues. We are working to better educate and train our care providers and carefully listen to our patients' voices and the communities we serve. We are examining our performance and seeking to improve.

We strive to consistently provide patient-centered, safe, evidence-based, and timely care. Specifically, we pledge to provide equitable care for patients of every race, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, ability, educational level, and familial status.

The ObGyn DEI team is excited to announce the launch of our Phase II DE&I work groups!

If you are interested in participating, please email DEI-OBGYN@med.umich.edu. Please know we welcome your participation by joining our distribution list to offer feedback and insight into our work without attending a meeting.

Please visit our new ObGyn Department DEI webpage to stay up to date on the latest DEI activities, events, and accomplishments!

The Creative Services photo studio is open again and accepting appointments!

The photo studio is located on the second floor of the North Campus Administrative Complex (NCAC). Faculty can currently sign up for a time in March or April.