Elizabeth Langen, MD, recently appeared on Good Morning America to share her expertise in postpartum medical care.

Erica Marsh, MD, MSCI, FACOG, recently spoke with HCPLive about the current state of therapy options for fibroids, and with NPR about fibroids and disparities in reproductive health care. 

Suzie As-Sanie, MD, was interviewed by the Huffington Post, sharing information about uterine fibroids, including symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment options.

Lisa Harris, MD, PhD, has a new Perspective article in the New England Journal of Medicine about preparing for the effects on patients and trainees of the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade.

In a new article for Crain's Detroit, Erica Marsh, MD, MSCI, FACOG, discusses the potential implications for IVF care if Roe v. Wade were to be overturned.

On Wednesday, May 25, Groundwork Ohio's Center for Maternal & Young Child Health led an in-depth virtual conversation on maternal mental health and the relationship between maternal mental health and maternal mortality.

The webinar featured community-based organizations, providers, advocates, and people with lived experience who share the unique ways they are supporting the mental health of pregnant Ohioans and mothers in their communities and advancing equity.

Lindsay Admon, MD, MSc, delivered the keynote, "The Case for Connection: Maternal Mental Health and Mortality & Morbidity."

Our faculty had two recent publications in the Journal of Surgical Education:

• Distributions of Residency Interviews With the Implementation of Virtual Interviews and Standardization of Interview Offer Dates. Keli S Santos-Parker, Maya M Hammoud, Abigail Ford Winkel, David Marzano, Sarah Frank, Patricia Franz, Helen K Morgan.

• How We Do It: Student Perspectives on Changes to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Application Process. Eric A. Strand, Brett L. Worly, Helen K. Morgan, David A. Marzano, Abigail Ford Winkel, Jessica Bienstock, Erika Banks, Nadine T. Katz, Luiz G.O. Brito, Maya M.Hammoud.

We had a great group of people representing our department at ACOG this year! View the 17+ presentations and posters by our faculty, fellows, and residents.

Please also join us in congratulating Colin Russell, MD, MPH, and Katelyn Tondo-Steele, DO, for their award-winning presentations at the Michigan ACOG Junior Fellows Research Day:

• Oral Presentation Resident 3rd Place – Dr. Colin Russell
• Oral Presentation Fellow 1st Place – Dr. Katelyn Tondo-Steele

Congratulations to the following ObGyn faculty on their promotions:

• Ros Maben-Feaster (WH) promoted to Associate Professor
• Natalie Saunders (WH) promoted to Associate Professor
• Stephanie Young (WH) promoted to Assistant Professor
• Pam Fairchild (GYN) promoted to Associate Professor

A special thank you to the mentors and administrative assistants that helped throughout the process!

The University of Michigan Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Lab, directed by Min Xu, PhD, has successfully met College of American Pathologists (CAP) standards for accreditation.

Kayte Spector-Bagdady, JD, MBe has been promoted to Associate Editor (AE) for the American Journal of Bioethics, an international journal of bioethics that publishes leading research on current ethical challenges in the health sciences. It is the highest impact journal of medical ethics in the country.

AEs are responsible for overseeing the peer-review process including the initial evaluation of submissions, selecting reviewers and assessing their comments, and making editorial decisions.

Alex Peahl, MD, Msc, and Ros Maben-Feaster, MD, MPH, received funding through the Patients First Initiative to study patients' experiences with Michigan Plan for Appropriate Tailored Healthcare in Pregnancy (MIPATH). Funding will be used to survey patients to better understand how telemedicine and wraparound services can better support our pregnant patients.

Congratulations to Daphna Stroumsa, MD, MPH, on being selected by the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) student group and the student body as this year’s University of Michigan Medical School faculty member to receive AMWA’s Gender Equity Award.

This award honors faculty members who promote a gender-fair environment for the education and training of physicians, and who assure equal opportunities for women and men to study and practice medicine.

Emma Lawrence, MD, MPH, and team were awarded an African Social Research Initiative (ASRI) Collaborative Faculty Seed Grant, through the African Studies Center at the University of Michigan, for their project: “Co-creation of an intervention to support obstetric providers experiencing workplace trauma in Ghana.”

The goal of this project is to utilize a human-centered design approach to co-develop an intervention to address provider trauma associated with maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in Ghana. The team includes Emma Lawrence, Cheryl Moyer (OBGYN), and Heidi Burns (Psychiatry) from the University of Michigan, and Samuel Oppong, Titus Beyuo (OBGYN), and Ruth Owusu-Antwi (Psychiatry) from Ghana.

Congratulations to Maya Hammoud, MD, MBA, on her new book, Coaching in Medical Education!

The book, which is part of the American Medical Association’s MedEd Innovation Series, is a first-of-its-kind, instructor-focused field book that equips educators to coach all learners and run an effective coaching program, increasing the likelihood of the learner (and thus physician) success. 

This year's University of Michigan Global Health Summer Institute virtual conference included breakout sessions by Alissa Carver, MD, and Elizabeth Langen, MD, a keynote talk by Emma Lawrence, MD, MPH, and an abstract presentation by Dr. Timothy Johnson’s undergraduate thesis mentee, Stephanie Johnson. The conference focused on Chronic Conditions in Women’s Health: Through a Global Lens. 

As recipient of the Senior Year Award, Adam Baruch, MD, had the honor of speaking at this year's Medical School graduation. This award is given each year to the early-career faculty member who, in the opinion of the graduating class, has best upheld the ideals of medical education.

Dr. John Randolph's paper, "Anti-Mullerian Hormone and Impending Menopause in Late Reproductive Age: The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation" was one of the top 10 percent of articles published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2020-2021.

In addition, Dr. Molly Moravek & Dr. John Randolph's article, "Impact of Exogenous Testosterone on Reproduction in Transgender Men" was one of the top 10 percent of articles published in Endocrinology in 2020-2021.

Our department will be well-represented at the 2022 AUGS/IUGA Scientific Meeting next month. Our faculty and learners will be participating in 6 oral presentations, 5 scientific salons, 2 workshops, 1 panel, 1 surgical tutorial, and 1 poster session. 

To support faculty and trainees’ research productivity and scholarly output and based on recommendations of members of the RAdC, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology will be piloting a Virtual Writing Accountability Group (V-WAG).

Our first sessions will take place on Zoom from April 15, 2022 – July 1, 2022. We plan to meet every Tuesday & Friday 6am-10am. If you are interested in joining the V-WAG please email Julie Tumbarello.

Please save the date for this year's Department Picnic:

Date: August 6, 2022

Time: TBD

Location: Gallup Park, Fast Shelter

Additional details to follow. We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, clean up, and activities. If you are interested, please contact Kelly Berch.

Our Women's Health faculty and their families recently gathered for a fun evening of bowling and bonding!

Implicit Bias Training

The OBGYN department will be offering the first hour of the comprehensive Implicit Bias training that meets the newly adopted guidelines set forth by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). 

We are looking forward to hosting the first hour of LARA training during Grand Rounds on July 14, 7:30-8:30 am. Please note this is an extended session of Grand Rounds. The training will be on Zoom.

Microaggressions: Supporting Our Learners

Please read “No One Size Fits All: A Qualitative Study of Clerkship Medical Students’ Perceptions of Ideal Supervisor Responses to Microaggressions” for tools to support our learners facing microaggressions. This study captures medical students’ perspectives on the ideal response to microaggressions from faculty or other supervisors. Overall, an ideal bystander response "incorporates both student preferences and the microaggression context, best revealed through advanced discussion.” See Figure 1 for a visual intervention guide. For additional information and resources please visit our OBGYN DEI webpage.