Fellowship Structure

The fellowship is intended to be flexible to allow for individual career goals, but also to meet or exceed all ACGME requirements for graduation. Fellows take generalist ob/gyn calls throughout the fellowship (3 - 4 per month) to allow them to maintain their skill set. Obtaining general obstetrics and gynecology board certification (i.e. oral board completion) is strongly encouraged during the fellowship.

Fellows are expected to complete at least one thesis level project for graduation to allow eligibility for the MFM oral boards, and most will complete several. They are encouraged to attend and present at national meetings, and receive a generous stipend to do so. All fellows are encouraged to attend the SMFM meeting annually. Fellows are also encouraged to pursue advanced course work to aid in research or in pursuit of an advanced degree (master’s or PhD), if desired. Fellows are nominated for the NICHD Young Investigator’s Conference in their second year and are encouraged to attend. Fellows attend the SMFM Fellow’s Retreats as scheduled, by year.

Faculty and fellows meet weekly from 7:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. on Thursdays for didactics and patient care conferences. No clinics are held during this time to allow for maximum faculty participation. Most conferences include the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine as well as other specialists and team members to ensure care coordination and multidisciplinary input into care. Some of the highlights of this protected time include:

• Weekly Departmental Grand Rounds (with residents, generalist faculty)
• Twice-monthly Prenatal Diagnosis ultrasound conference for all complex anomaly patients (with NICU, fetal MRI team, fetal cardiology, fetal care coordinators, sonographers, pediatric ENT)
• Weekly conference on new and term MFM patients (with residents, fetal care coordinator, RNs)
• Monthly M&M with review of all poor perinatal outcomes (with pathology and NICU)
• Weekly fellowship didactics with core MFM and other URMC faculty
• Monthly cardiology in pregnancy team meeting (with adult and adult congenital cardiology)
• Quarterly NICU/MFM conference to review areas of new research, policy change, or controversy (with NICU)
• Quarterly obstetrical skills simulation with residents (with residents, generalist faculty)
• Weekly ob/gyn noon research meeting (with generalist and research faculty)

There is an additional monthly core all-fellowship series with teaching and topics that cross fellowships (basic science, professional development, research methods). This is a protected morning of conferences for all fellows in the ob/gyn department (MFM, Urogynecology, and MIGS) and is led by the fellowship directors from all three divisions. The afternoon session is used for MFM-specific education in ultrasound, research, and for a serial writing workshop with an MFM faculty member.

Year One

The first year is dedicated to clinical activities and preparation for the research portion of the program. Fellows rotate through labor and delivery, ultrasound, and MFM specialty clinics. Further experiences in ICU, reproductive genetics, NICU genetics, adult genetics, breastfeeding medicine and research are incorporated into this year. Fellows are strongly encouraged to collect and apply for the ABOG general oral board exam during this year if they have not already done so.

Year Two

The second year is largely dedicated to research activities with minimal clinical commitments (one-half day per week typically scheduled as 2 days/month) during these blocks. Fellows participate in ultrasound, perinatal consultation, NICU genetics, fetal cardiology, and family planning/complex contraception for their clinical time. Fellows start their required blocks as "Labor and Delivery Director", where they are expected to function at the level of an MFM faculty member and effectively run the L&D team, as well as complete some further MFM clinical blocks, which are focused more heavily on consultation, outpatient care, and ultrasound.

Year Three

The third year is flexible to the fellow’s interests and career goals. Fellow’s complete their remaining MFM requirements including ultrasound rotations and blocks as "Labor and Delivery Director". Each clinical activity is directly supervised by a perinatal attending. There are up to six months of elective time that can be used for research, further clinical experiences, or a variety of other options tailored to the fellow’s needs.

Each fellow’s block diagram (example block diagram) will be slightly different. The fellow and MFM fellowship director will develop the diagram together to account for individual needs, career goals, and ACGME requirements.