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Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship

The Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) fellowship program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is approved for three fellowship positions. Applications for a first-year position for July 2025 will be available in December 2023, with interviews scheduled for Summer 2024.  Application deadline to be included in the first notification is April 28, 2024. The fellowship is designed to provide fellows with the clinical and research background necessary for a successful academic career in Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

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Our Program

 Education

Through McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University fellows are offered a broad educational experience. Recognizing that some trainees have specific passions and career paths in mind, they have developed four unique Areas of Focus, which offer special events and focused mentoring in particular pathways; Global Health, Medical Education, Health Equity & Advocacy and Bioethics.  Many fellows have chosen to pursue these certificate programs.

Fellows may also choose to pursue individual courses or full degrees within programs such as the Master of Public Health or Master of Science in Clinical Investigation. Individual courses can be supported by the fellowship and a complete degree may be partially subsidized by the fellowship.

 Research

Northwestern University's fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine aims to develop physicians who are skilled at interpreting and conducting research. Northwestern University is a nationally-recognized leader in maternal-fetal medicine research, and opportunities for fellow participation are abundant. The focus of research conducted is at the discretion of the fellow. Fellows may pursue clinical research, perinatal epidemiology, health services research, health disparities research, public health investigation, or basic/translational research. Northwestern has ample resources to support research career development, including rigorous methods training through established courses and programs, grant writing courses, small grants programs, and opportunities for conference attendance. We offer up to 18 months of protected research time and many fellowship graduates are nationally funded MFM researchers.

Fellows will work closely with experienced research mentors to design research projects, and fellows are expected to develop a diverse research portfolio over their three-year fellowship. Mentors are available from within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (including the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Division of Clinical Genetics, and Section of Diagnostic Ultrasound), as well as other departments. Fellows are encouraged to seek multiple mentors, and past fellows have worked with faculty in the Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Center for Reproductive Sciences, among others. 

Northwestern participates in multiple major research networks, including the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, the NHLBI nuMoM2b Heart Health Study, the NIDDK GO MOMS study, and multiple HIV-focused networks. Fellows are encouraged to include work with our extensive network of collaborators in their research portfolio.

 

 Training and Curriculum

Clinical Training Overview

Inpatient, outpatient, and ultrasound training in maternal fetal medicine occurs at Northwestern Memorial Hospital/Prentice Women’s Hospital and Prentice Ambulatory Care Clinic. Prentice provides quaternary obstetric and neonatal care in conjunction with the adjacent Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and The Chicago Institute for Fetal Health (CIFH) . The annual birthing volume at this site is approximately 12,000 births per year, allowing ample exposure to a wide range of maternal and fetal conditions.

Our fellowship program is organized to optimally teach fellows the necessary skills while balancing inpatient and outpatient clinical care, teaching, and research. We believe learning to balance these activities during training is essential to continued success as academic leaders after graduation. Fellows experience graduated independence during clinical interactions as they demonstrate comfort and proficiency with clinical skills. All fellows graduate from Northwestern’s MFM fellowship capable of being competent, autonomous consultants in all aspects of maternal-fetal medicine.  

Rotations divided into 2 week blocks include the following: 

Rotation

First Year

Second Year

Third Year

Labor & Delivery/Antepartum

18 weeks

14 weeks

12 weeks

Ultrasound

8 weeks

8 weeks

8 weeks

(includes 2 weeks in fetal echo)

Genetics & CIFH

4 weeks

2 weeks

2 weeks

ICU

2 weeks in MICU,

2 weeks in Cardiothoracic ICU

-

-

Research/Elective

*4 week blocks

16 weeks

28 weeks

28 weeks

Outpatient Clinic

 

*The L&D/Antepartum  fellow also leads  weekly Women’s Infectious Diseases Program on Thursday mornings

 

HROB Diabetes & Endocrine Clinic –

Tuesday Morning all year

  *First-year fellow also spends 2 weeks in outpatient MFM practice

HROB weekly ½ day clinic

Monday or Thursday afternoon all year

HROB weekly ½ day clinic

Monday or Thursday afternoon all year


 Outpatient practice

The MFM fellows lead their own independent weekly high-risk obstetric (HROB) continuity clinics that provide both consultative support and comprehensive prenatal care for medically and socially complex patients. The first year fellow leads a diabetes and endocrine practice, and the second and third year fellows have a two-year continuity clinic involving all other aspects of MFM. Fellows also supervise resident and medical student learning in their continuity clinics with additional support from a member of the Maternal Fetal Medicine faculty. Our fellows also develop expertise in management of patients living with HIV and other infectious diseases in pregnancy through the multidisciplinary weekly Women’s Infectious Diseases Program, which is a joint multidisciplinary program with colleagues in adult and pediatric infectious disease, pharmacy, and social work. Fellows also serve as perinatal HIV expert consultants for the 24/7 Illinois Perinatal HIV Hotline.

 

Inpatient practice

Fellows are active members of the inpatient labor and delivery and antepartum teams while on inpatient rotations. They receive strong clinical training in maternal and fetal antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care, including participation in operative deliveries, intensive care, and maternal and fetal procedures.

Each fellow takes 5 call shifts per month. During fellow call shifts, the MFM fellow is first call for all MFM-level care, deliveries, and consults with an MFM attending at home on back-up for the fellow, while an OBGYN generalist is in house. Fellows are protected from clinical responsibilities on post-call days.

 

Training in fetal anomalies

Chicago Institute for Fetal Health provides additional opportunities for fellows to gain exposure to ultrasound and other advanced fetal imaging techniques, prenatal diagnosis, genetic counseling, multidisciplinary collaboration with pediatric subspecialists, and joint counseling of patients and their families regarding complex fetal anomalies and fetal intervention. Fellows have the opportunity to participate in fetal therapy procedures through CIFH as well and PUBS/IUT at Prentice.

 

Conferences & Didactics

Several weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly multidisciplinary conferences and didactic sessions occur that enhance fellow learning in several specialty areas of maternal fetal medicine. Fellows are also protected to attend Departmental weekly M&M and Grand Rounds and quarterly Department-wide fellowship-focused sessions. 

Fellows are expected to attend the annual Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine meeting. Fellows are similarly supported to attend other annual national and international conferences of interest or at which they are presenting their research. For example, many fellows attend annual meetings of IDSOG, SRI, ADA , SPER ,  Conferences on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, and others.

  

Conference

Frequency

Objective

MFM Fellow Didactics

Weekly,

Wednesday afternoons

To review topics required in the ABOG Guide to Learning in MFM

MFM Journal Club

1-2 times/month,

Wednesday afternoons

To critically review the latest research in maternal fetal medicine published in major journals. Additional joint journal clubs with NICU and OB anesthesia fellows & faculty occur on alternating months.

Cardiac Conference

Every other month,

Wednesday afternoons

To review care plans for pregnant patients with complex cardiac conditions jointly with adult cardiology and OB anesthesia colleagues.

Placenta Accreta Spectrum conference

Every other month,

Wednesday afternoons

To review care plans for patients with suspected placenta accreta spectrum jointly with our GYN Oncology, OB anesthesia, radiology, and pathology colleagues.

Perinatal Morbidity & Mortality Conference

Monthly,

Wednesday afternoons

To review the antenatal and postnatal course of cases of intrauterine fetal demise and neonatal deaths with NICU and pathology colleagues.

Fetal Assessment Conference

Monthly,

Wednesday mornings

To review complex prenatal diagnosis cases including ultrasound and fetal echo imaging jointly with NICU, pediatric cardiology, radiology, and CIFH colleagues.

Lurie/CIFH Morbidity & Mortality Conference

Monthly,

Wednesday mornings

To review recent fetal therapy cases and fetoscopic interventions including selective laser photocoagulation for TTTS, radiofrequency ablation for TRAP sequence, myelomeningocele repair, shunts, etc. with  NICU and CIFH colleagues.

Perinatal Obstetric Research Group (PORG) meetings

Monthly,

Wednesday afternoons

To review research works-in-progress and other research initiatives within the division.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Morbidity and Mortality Conference

Weekly, Friday mornings

To review morbidity and mortality cases from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Grand Rounds

Weekly, Friday mornings

 

 Patient Care

The clinical program is based at Prentice Women’s Hospital, the obstetrics and gynecology pavilion of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is the primary teaching affiliate of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Our diverse and large patient population provides excellent opportunities for challenging clinical care and delivery over 12,000 patients annually.

This large obstetric volume affords the opportunity for substantial ultrasound experience with our MFM faculty interpreting and counseling on over 37,000 scans annually. The MFM faculty provides ultrasound and clinical counseling through multidisciplinary care conferences at Chicago Institute for Fetal Health including pediatric cardiology, neonatology, fetal surgery, pediatric surgery and many other pediatric subspecialists.

The MFM faculty practice provides full service obstetric care for high risk patient and fetal conditions. Each fellow has a high-risk continuity clinic throughout fellowship.  Fellows also rotate on the inpatient clinical service and reproductive genetics practices.

Fellows also have exposure to our specialty clinics. They provide care and support for patients who are living with or at risk of HIV or other infectious diseases through the multidisciplinary Women’s Infectious Diseases Program. They also provide consultation for the 24/7 Illinois Perinatal HIV Hotline to assist providers throughout Illinois in management of patients at risk of perinatal transition. Northwestern also has an obstetric endocrine clinic which encompasses MFM, endocrinology, diabetic nurse educators and dietitians to best care for patients with complex endocrine care such as diabetes, thyroid disease and adrenal conditions. Additionally, there is an obstetric hematology program that aims to optimize are for pregnant patients with hematologic conditions, such as thrombophilias.

The Northwestern MFM Fellowship supports reproductive justice. Fellows are trained in counseling on the full range of reproductive choices, including abortion and all contraception options. Fellows are expected to participate in reproductive choice counseling and care. Faculty and fellows work closely with partners in the Section of Family Planning and Contraception to provide comprehensive reproductive health care.

 How to Apply

MFM Fellowship Application Information

IMPORTANT DATES

The Northwestern MFM Fellowship is now seeking applications for the position starting July 2025.  We look forward to applications for the first year position for July 2025, which will be available in the Winter 2023/Spring 2024.  


APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

1) Applicants must be completing a four-year OB/GYN residency program in the United States accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or a five-year OB/GYN residency program in Canada accredited by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and be eligible to take the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) written exam.

2) Must have completed and passed USMLE steps 1, 2 and 3 on your first attempt

3) ECFMG certificate date (if applicable)

4) Current Visa & Citizenship papers (if applicable)

5) Personal statement

6) CV (ERAS-created CV is acceptable)

7) Medical School Transcripts

8) 3 Letters of Recommendations is required; 4th is optional (One from the current Residency Program Director is required)

9) Completed Application through ERAS (link below)

10) Photo 

11) Register at the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) link http://www.nrmp.org/

INTERVIEW DATES FOR APPLICANTS

In response to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding COVID-19 and in compliance with ACGME and SMFM recommendations, we will be holding this year’s interviews virtually.  

Northwestern University does not discriminate or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, genetic information or any other classification protected by law in matters of admissions, employment, housing or services or in the educational programs or activities it operates.

 Why Northwestern?

Millennium Park in ChicagoHousestaff training through McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University provides diverse and challenging clinical experiences and world-class education located in the heart of the beautiful city of Chicago. Learn more via the links to the McGaw website below.

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Meet Our Team

Program Director

Program Director

Lynn M. Yee, MD, MPH

Thomas J. Watkins Memorial Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Associate Professor with tenure

Associate Chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine for Research

MFM Fellowship Program Director

Associate Program Director

stetson_bethany-_md_20180801_mpp5926_1669761177.jpg 

Bethany T. Stetson, MD

Assistant Professor of Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Chief of Obstetrics

Associate Fellowship Program Director

Contact Us

For more information regarding our fellowship program, please contact our fellowship coordinator, Gladys Soto @ gsoto@nm.org

 

Physician-Scientist Training & Resources

We offer a wide range of resources, mentorship opportunities and training to help our residents and fellows excel as physician-scientists. Explore all of the resources and hear from housestaff who are making research a major part of their career development plans.

Visit the Starzl Academy Site