3rd Quarter Newsletter (01/1/2023 - 03/31/2023) -Vol 3, Issue 3 | |
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Greetings!
As we approach the end of the academic year, it's natural to reflect on the experiences we've had and the progress we've made. Whether you're a trainee, faculty, staff, or administrator, this time of year marks a significant academic milestone. It’s graduation season! It's a time to celebrate our accomplishments, acknowledge our challenges, and look ahead to what's next. We wish all of our graduates well in their next chapters and look forward to welcoming our next class of trainees!
Please find highlights of our 3rd quarter (FY23) below.
With gratitude,
Dineo Khabele, MD, FACOG, FACS (she/her/hers)
Mitchell & Elaine Yanow Professor and Chair
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Medical Student Graduation - May 15
Resident Graduation - June 18
48th Annual OBGYN Symposium - October 19-20
Innovations in the Practice of Obstetrics and Gynecology
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Clinical Spotlight: Pediatric, Adolescent & Young Adult Gynecology | |
PROVIDER UPDATES
Dr. Eric Strand has accepted a Vice Chair position at University Hospital, Cleveland Medical Center and will be leaving Washington University OBGYN on June 30, 2023. We wish him all the best in his new role!
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Study: HPV vaccine leading is the cause of decrease of cervical cancer cases | Dr. Lindsay Kuroki of Washington University ObGyn and Siteman Cancer Center speaks with Fox2 Now about how the HPV is decreasing cervical cancer cases. | |
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Black Family Wellness Expo | |
We loved seeing everyone who joined us for the Black Family Wellness Expo!
The event was held at Christian Hospital on Saturday, March 25!
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St. Louis fetal care center is one of few in the region to offer surgery for some patients with Spina Bifida | Babies diagnosed with Spina Bifida are being offered an innovative and less invasive way to be treated. Many patients choose to travel to St. Louis to have this surgery with some coming from quite a distance away. The surgery is performed in our Fetal Care Center, the only one in the area, and one of [...] | |
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Gynecologic oncologist & surgeon Andrea Hagemann, MD, recently joined @KMOV to discuss how the HPV vaccine greatly reduces the risk of cervical cancer & a number of other cancers, making it a key part of cancer prevention for both girls & boys." | |
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Birthrates declining in Missouri | Dr. Roxane Rampersad, Washington University Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology at Barnes Jewish Hospital talks with Tom and Carol about the decline in birth rates in the state of Missouri. Total Information AM With up-to-the-minute news, information, traffic and weather together and sports reports. | |
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Makeba Williams notes African Americans' unique menopause experience | Did you know that people who menstruate can spend up to a third to half of their lives experiencing some stage of menopause? Medical professionals are still learning about menopause and utilizing ways to normalize this period of life for their patients - making it possible to uncover inequities in menopausal care and discoveries in how different demographics experience "the change" in America. | |
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Dineo Khabele installed as Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology | Department Chair and gynecologic oncologist, Dineo Khabele, MD, was installed as the Mitchell and Elaine Yanow Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology on January 21, 2023. Dean David Perlmutter and Chancellor Andrew Martin presented Dr. Khabele with her Professorship medal. Her presentation was 'Below the Belt' Cancers: A surgeon-scientist's perspective. | |
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REI division teams up with BJH, Women & Infants to improve our third-party reproduction experience
for patients
| Women and infants and our REI team organized a rapid improvement event (RIE) to improve our third-party reproduction experience for patients. Our third-party coordinators, Christy Wagoner and Kate Staples, along with our WashU leadership team, Dana Schull and Tiffany Little are working with our BJH team. | |
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Dr. Carter presents "Pearls for Practice on the Physician-Scientist Pathway" for the Division of Physician-Scientists | Ebony B. Carter, MD. MPHAssociate Professor, Ob/GynChief, Division of Clinical Research Thank you to the Division of Physician-Scientists for this feature on Dr. Carter! [...] | |
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"We had a great time at @acog_org Faculty Development Seminar in Scottsdale, AZ this week! Loved connecting with current faculty and some blasts from the past!" | WashU ObGyn via Instagram | |
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WashU Med School's first Black department head looks to tackle disparities impacting people of color | ST. LOUIS, Mo. (KMOV) - WashU Medical School's first Black department head hopes to make St. Louis a leader in the nation. Dr. Dineo Khabele was appointed as head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2020. "In the 2020′s to be a first is very sobering," Dr. Khabele said. | |
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Our department celebrated National Women Physicians Day! We are incredibly lucky to be home to incredible minds like theirs." | WashU ObGyn via Instagram | |
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REI got a special visitor today...we all need a little visit from Hanley! | WashU ObGyn via Instagram | |
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DINEO KHABELE ASKS: HOW CAN WE DO BETTER | By Anne Makeever Dineo Khabele, MD, FACOG, FACS, a specialist in gynecologic oncology, is head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine. She made history when she assumed that role in 2020, becoming the first Black department head at the medical school. | |
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Featured Articles
Dwiggins M, Shim J, Galloway LA, Hoefgen H, Patel V, Breech L, Gomez-Lobo V. Effects of Ovarian Tissue Cryopreservation on Primary Ovarian Insufficiency in Girls Undergoing Bone Marrow Transplantation. J Pediatr Adolesc Gynecol. 2023 Apr;36(2):128-133. doi: 10.1016/j.jpag.2022.12.001. Epub 2022 Dec 5. PMID: 36481215. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36481215/
Graham O, Rodriguez J, van Biljon L, Fashemi B, Graham E, Fuh K, Khabele D, Mullen M. Generation and Culturing of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Patient-Derived Organoids. J Vis Exp. 2023 Jan 6;(191). doi: 10.3791/64878. PMID: 36688549. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36688549/
Luby JL, England SK, Barch DM, Warner BB, Rogers C, Smyser CD, Triplett R, Arora J, Smyser TA, Slavich GM, Zhao P, Stout M, Herzog E, Miller JP. Social disadvantage during pregnancy: effects on gestational age and birthweight. J Perinatol. 2023 Mar 13. doi: 10.1038/s41372-023-01643-2. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36914799. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36914799/
Rimsza RR, Raghuraman N, Carter EB, Kelly JC, Cahill AG, Frolova AI. Association between Elevated Intrauterine Resting Tone during Labor and Neonatal Morbidity. Am J Perinatol. 2023 Feb 24. doi: 10.1055/a-2022-9588. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36720261. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36720261/
van Biljon L, Fashemi B, Rodriguez J, Graham O, Compadre A, Fuh K, Khabele D, Mullen M. Visualizing DNA Damage Repair Proteins in Patient-Derived Ovarian Cancer Organoids via Immunofluorescence Assays. J Vis Exp. 2023 Feb 24;(192). doi: 10.3791/64881. PMID: 36912550. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36912550/
Veade A, Martin C, Dombrowski M, Omurtag K. Female physician infertility: the lack of adequate insurance coverage. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2023 Mar;228(3):306-310. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2022.08.049. Epub 2022 Sep 5. PMID: 36067804. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36067804/
Xu KY, Jones HE, Schiff DM, Martin CE, Kelly JC, Carter EB, Bierut LJ, Grucza RA. Initiation and Treatment Discontinuation of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Pregnant People Compared With Nonpregnant People. Obstet Gynecol. 2023 Mar 9. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000005117. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36897142. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36897142/
Zahedi-Spung LD, Huysman BC, Madden T, Bebbington M, Raghuraman N, Stout M. Missouri's Abortion law: Access to care for Patients with Lethal Fetal Anomalies at a Midwest Tertiary care Center. Matern Child Health J. 2023 Mar;27(3):468-475. doi: 10.1007/s10995-022-03511-5. Epub 2022 Nov 9. PMID: 36352286; PMCID: PMC9646264. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36352286/
Zahedi-Spung LD, Stout MJ, Carter EB, Dicke JM, Tuuli MG, Raghuraman N. Obstetric Outcomes in Singleton Pregnancies with Abnormal Placental Cord Insertions. Am J Perinatol. 2023 Jan;40(1):89-94. doi: 10.1055/s-0041-1729163. Epub 2021 May 2. PMID: 33934323. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33934323/
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Wang, Odibo, and others featured on the cover article of Ultrasound in Obstetrics in Gynecology | Department members Z. Sun, W. Wu, P. Zhao, D. M. Nelson, A. Odibo, Y. Wang were featured on the cover article on Ultrasound in Obstetrics in Gynecology & "Association of intraplacental oxygenation patterns on dual-contrast MRI with placental abnormality and fetal brain oxygenation" Most human in-vivo placental imaging techniques are unable to distinguish and characterize various placental compartments, such [...] | |
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Santi Lab publishes "A selective inhibitor of the sperm-specific potassium channel SLO3 impairs human sperm function" | To fertilize an egg, human sperm must undergo a process in which the membrane becomes more negative inside. The ion channel responsible for this membrane hyperpolarization has long been unclear. In this publication, the Santi and Denton labs describe a screen to identify inhibitors of a strong candidate - the sperm-specific potassium channel SLO3. | |
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Zhexian Sun in featured paper | Media Advisory: New MRI method provides detailed view of the placenta during pregnancy Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new method to process MRI scans to reveal the distinct compartments of the placenta, take measurements of oxygen levels in each region and determine if there are malformations in blood vessels [...] | |
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CRepHS Valentines Bake-Off | The members of CRepHS held a Valentine's Bake-Off and card-making party. Photos courtesy of Julie Emmerich! | |
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Dr. Santi in "Fast-Acting Nonhormonal Male Birth Control Prevents
Pregnancy in Mice"
| Hormonal birth control methods are highly effective, but for many people who take them, they have undesirable side effects. But these could someday be avoided with the advent of fast-acting nonhormonal contraceptives. In a study published February 14 in Nature Communications, a group of Weill Cornell Medicine pharmacologists report a male contraceptive that prevented 100 percent [...] | |
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Associate Professor of ObGyn, Yong Wang, on developing new imaging technology | Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed new imaging technology that can produce 3D maps showing the magnitude and distribution of uterine contractions in real time and across the entire surface of the uterus during labor. "Imaging tech produces real-time 3D maps of uterine contractions during labor" by Jacquelyn Kauffman [...] | |
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Gyn Onc Division Represents at SGO
The Gyn Onc Division was able to network, present and discuss the latest science in the field of gynecologic oncology at the SGO Annual Meeting on Women’s Cancer® in March. The Program Committee for this annual meeting was co-chaired by Dr. Khabele.
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Paper awarded 2023 Impact Award from SGS/AJOG | "D-mannose vs other agents for recurrent urinary tract infection prevention in adult women: a systematic review and meta-analysis" co-written by our own Dr. Jerry Lowder, was awarded the 2023 Impact Award from SGS/AJOG! | | | |
WashU Named in Top 10 in Blue Ridge Ranking | WashU's Deptartment of OBGYN has once again achieved a US TOP 10 RANKING! Funds awarded to our department by the National Institutes of Health totaled $6.4M in 2022, as reported by Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research #BRIMR. Congrats to our amazing & dedicated research teams! | | | |
More Awards & Appointments
Bisiayo Fashemi, PhD, postdoctoral research associate in the Khabele lab, received a 2023 Mentored Investigator Grant from Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA). Her research project, titled “Organoids to Evaluate an Epigenetic Drug Regimen for HR Proficient Ovarian,” proposes the use of patient-derived ovarian cancer organoids, which are 3D miniaturized and simplified organs made from tumor biopsies and ascites fluid, to screen for novel combination therapies. Dr. Fashemi’s OCRA grant provides a total of $75,000 and began in March 2023.
In January, WashU OBGYN collaborator Dr. Christine O’Brien, assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering, and her team received a $20,000 prize from the National Institutes of Health’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Technology (RADx Tech) for Maternal Health Challenge. Check out the following paper, with authorship including Drs. O’Brien and Frolova, to learn more about WashU’s women’s health research endeavors: Maternal aRMOR: early detection of postpartum hemorrhage with a wearable optical device.
Research from Yong Wang, PhD, and others, was featured in a NIH NICHD news release in March. Dr. Wang and his team, funded by the National Institutes of Health, have developed a new imaging tool, called electromyometrial imaging (EMMI), to create real-time, three-dimensional images and maps of contractions during labor. Dr. Wang also had his research on placenta MRI scans featured in a NIH NICHD media advisory in February.
Antonina Frolova, MD, PhD, was one of 28 investigators to receive a grant from the Clinical and Translational Research Funding Program (CTRFP) in March. The award will support Dr. Frolova’s research project titled, “Sphingosine-1-phosphate Signaling in Parturition.” Her research aims to optimize uterine contractility and improve obstetric outcomes for millions of women and babies. The CTRFP grants are supported with funding from the WashU Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences (ICTS), The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital and ICTS partner institutions: Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Frolova’s project period began in March 2023 with an award of $50,000.
Nicole Dallas, undergraduate researcher in the Frolova lab, was accepted as a scholar in the WashU MSTP ACCESS Summer Research Program. The program aims to increase and support the diversity of the physician-scientist workforce. It provides admitted scholars with a variety of enrichment activities, lab work with prestigious scientists, mentorship from WashU faculty and MSTP students, and also includes a scholar stipend. Nicole begins the program on May 30th, with the program culminating at a Scientific Symposium on July 28th.
Trinidi Prochaska, undergraduate researcher in the England lab, was accepted into the graduate program in Neuroscience at Emory University in Atlanta.
Juan Ferreira, PhD, postdoctoral research associate in the Santi Lab, recently earned a fellowship award from the Lalor Foundation for his research on a new assay to evaluate sperm fertilization capacity in infertile patients. Dr. Ferreira’s “WHICH-A.R.T.” project is a research endeavor aimed at developing a reliable and clinically feasible assay that can personalize assisted reproductive technologies (ART) or fertility treatment plans for normozoospermic infertile men. The research project will primarily take place in the lab of Dr. Celia Santi. The Lalor Foundation provides $55,000 for Dr. Ferreira’s 12-month-long fellowship beginning in June. Read more on this story here.
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Presentations
Shweta Bhagwat, PhD, was selected to participate with a cohort of WashU postdocs in “storyteller training” workshops led by Campfire and the WashU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. In March, Dr. Bhagwat received her certificate of achievement for completing the “Campfire Academy” with a speech about her scientific journey and postdoc appointment in the lab of Celia Santi, MD, PhD, at the 18th annual Washington University Postdoc Symposium. Additionally, Viju Gupta, PhD, senior scientist in the Khabele lab, was a career path speaker at the roundtable sessions for postdocs at the symposium.
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Ebony Carter, MD, MPH, Emily Diveley, BSN, Antonina Frolova, MD, PhD, Cassy Hardy, RN, Jeannie Kelly, MD, FACOG, MS, Anthony Odibo, MD, MSCE, Nandini Raghuraman, MD, MSCI, Rebecca Rimsza, MD, and Peinan Zhao, PhD, were selected to present on the topics of labor, prematurity, ultrasound/imaging, reproductive health equity, and more at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s 43rd annual “Pregnancy Meeting.” The event was held Feb. 6-11 in San Francisco. | |
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WashU represented at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI) held in Brisbane, Australia, in March. Sicheng Wang and Yiqi Lin (Wang lab) each were recipients of a SRI President’s Presenter’s Award, Patricia Strutz, MD, MSCI (England lab) and Zhexian Sun (Wang lab) each won a Poster Award, and Favour Akinjiyan (formerly of the Fuh lab) won a Brisbane Travel Award. Additionally at the event, Sarah England, PhD, presented in a career development workshop on the topic of budgeting and grant management, and Toni Frolova, MD, PhD, presented on “Maternal Obesity and Mechanisms of Myometrial Dysfunction.” Dr. England also was appointed to the SRI Council as a council member.
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Announcing the 2023/2024 Chief Administrative Residents | Meet our 2023 - 2024 chief administrative residents! They were all voted on amongst their peers. They are critical to the success of our team as they take on a huge leadership role in the program. Congrats to Dr. Caroline Min, Dr. Erika Mauban, and Dr. Elizabeth Buckley! | |
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WashU OBGYN on Instagram: "Dr. L. Lewis Wall visited us! Thanks for stopping by, we're only some of your biggest fans!" | WashU ObGyn via Instagram | |
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Dr. Strand gives a low fidelity simulation on a c-section to our capstone students! | |
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Nelson Alumni Society Hosts First Annual Residency
Career Day
| On Wednesday, February 15, the Michael D. Nelson Alumni Society hosted the first annual Residency Career Day! The residents were able to hear from many of our community physicians, starting with presentations from Dr. Makeba Williams, who spoke on career values as a physician. | |
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Residency DEIA Committee Hosts Live Broadcast | Last night, residents, students, and attendings gathered to view Michelle Alexander speak in regard to her book, The New Jim Crow, and race in America today. Delicious Ethiopian food catered by Meskerem was enjoyed! When asked about what keeps her hopeful, Alexander admitted that it's hard to always be hopeful. | |
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Class of 2027 ObGyn Residents Announced | |
✨ We are absolutely thrilled to welcome this new intern class of 2027! ✨
Emma Altieri
Katherine Brow
Catherine Burns
Katherine Carbonell
Sarah Cohen
Laura Granger-Howard
Alexandra Houston-Ludlum
Ngantu Le
Allison Whorton
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"Full-time residents and rockstars, one of our program perks! 🎸" | | | |
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"When the weekend labor team shows up with Coke Zeros for each other
...unplanned!"
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"A lab that bowls together, publishes together" | 📸 Dr. Frolova via Twitter | | | |
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To make a donation, please follow the link below and select the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from the list of funds, center and departments. You may also name a person in whose honor your gift is dedicated.
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