Fellowship Program in Maternal-Fetal Medicine

The Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Program in Maternal Fetal Medicine aims to train thoughtful and well-rounded experts in our field. The three-year fellowship is designed to provide comprehensive exposure to all areas of our discipline. We pride ourselves on development of the consummate Maternal-Fetal Medicine specialist. Our program provides exposure to a breadth of opportunities in prenatal diagnosis and ultrasound-based procedures, maternal critical care, basic and advanced obstetric surgery, clinical and translational research, reproductive epidemiology, and patient safety and quality. As the only academic medical center in central New Jersey, and through our affiliation with the RWJBarnabas Health system, our program provides high acuity care to a diverse urban and suburban patient population. Additionally, as part of Rutgers University, we pride ourselves on all pillars of the academic mission, including excellence in education, clinical care, and research, with an aim to improve health. Our MFM program produces clinicians equally comfortable with an ultrasound probe or a pipette, who truly design their career focus for the advancement of maternal and fetal health.

The fellowship is currently approved for three positions by the American College of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) with one fellow at each year of a three-year program. Our curriculum has core elements for all ACGME milestones. Requirements include completion of an approved Residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and eligibility for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and New Jersey licensure.

Program Description

Clinical:

Our program provides 19 months of clinical rotations, as well as 10% clinical continuity and skill maintenance during 17 months of dedicated research and elective time.

Clinical exposure is divided between Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center in New Brunswick NJ, and Newark Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, NJ. Combined, these two centers provide a breadth of patient pathologies for experiential learning, and gradual increases in autonomy.

Focuses of the clinical curriculum include inpatient antepartum management, delivery of the complex gravida including multiple gestation, and surgical care including cerclage and cesarean hysterectomy. Training in dilation and evacuation is available. Ultrasound education focuses on prenatal diagnosis, with special emphasis on ultrasound-based procedures including chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, and multifetal reduction. The faculty has expertise in cordocentesis and intrauterine fetal transfusion. Outpatient management is learned through exposure to high risk pregnancy populations in a variety of settings. Our patients are ethnically and socioeconomically diverse providing our fellows with r a wide experience in consultation and prenatal care.

Research:

Candidates interested in translational research would find an abundance of laboratory opportunities in our program, including investigators focused on term and preterm labor, pathophysiology of abnormal placentation, placental pharmacology and others. We house a dedicated Perinatal Translational Research Laboratory, with resources to complete basic and advanced molecular biology. Graduates of the program have authored highly novel manuscripts in impactful journals which have truly advanced scientific understanding of pregnancy biology.

Clinical research opportunities are abundant, with division participation in multiple NIH-funded and industry trials, and a dedicated MFM research staff. Fellows have participated in development of projects across ultrasound, perinatal genetics, perinatal epidemiology, and clinical management, resulting in multiple publications for each of our graduates. Participation in the Perinatal Regional Consortium (http://perinatalresearchconsortium.org) have provided opportunities for our fellows to design and conduct multicenter clinical trials. We have an accomplished Reproductive Epidemiologist and Biostatistician as a full-time faculty member in the department, providing substantial research support.

Education:

Our didactic schedule offers a truly protected and robust exploration of all elements of MFM practice, focusing not only on pathophysiology, but on multidisciplinary case management, and patient safety and quality. Our program develops clinician thought-leaders, able to integrate evidence and experience into an optimal patient experience.

A. Lecture Series (weekly)

• MFM Faculty core curriculum lecture series
• Grand Rounds lecture series
• Department Morbidity and Mortality Cases

B. Conferences

Weekly:

• Fellow-led Fetal Ultrasound Diagnosis and Management Conference
• Perinatal Genetics Conference
• MFM Patient Care Conference
• Perinatal Epidemiology and Biostatistics Conference
• Fetal Tracing Rounds

Monthly:

• Multidisciplinary Fetal/Neonatal Case Conference
• Combined MFM/Neonatal Conference
• Fetal Echocardiogram Conference
• MFM Journal Club
• Ob/Gyn Peer Review and Performance Improvement
• Ultrasound Protocol Development

Our program develops comprehensive teachers by participating actively in resident teaching and supervision. Additionally, our fellows provide a core medical school teaching function in the Patient Centered Medicine course, providing exposure to patients during the pre-clinical years.

Fellows are provided with an academic budget to allow for growth through participation in many national conferences. Fellows attend the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine annual conference, as well as an additional conference with accepted research. Fellows also attend the SMFM first year fellow annual retreat, and the Exxcellence in Clinical Research Course. Electives may also be arranged for expanded exposure to areas of interest.

Application to our program is through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS), with a deadline of 5pm on May 30th. Questions can be addressed to our Fellowship Coordinator, Nithalena Duncan at 732-235-6375 or at nita.duncan@rutgers.edu.

We encourage you to look at our individual faculty members and fellows to review their individual interests and look forward to our application to our program!

Sincerely,

Todd Rosen, MD 
Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences
Chief, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine
Director of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship