The fundamental goal of the training program in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at OU is to train physicians in the clinical, research, and academic principles required to:
- Have advanced knowledge of obstetrical, medical, and surgical complications of pregnancy and their effects on both mother and fetus
- Be skilled with prenatal ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis
- Care for directly or function as a consultant to obstetricians caring for women with complicated pregnancies
- Have advanced knowledge of newborn adaptation
- Function effectively in the arena of basic and clinical research in MFM in order to advance the field and remain current despite practicing in a rapidly changing field
All inpatient clinical training occurs in Oklahoma Children’s Hospital. Outpatient training occurs in our clinic, the Prenatal Diagnostic Center, which is located in the atrium of Oklahoma Children’s Hospital. Currently, of the 36 months of the training program, 12 months are spent on dedicated research months, and fellows choose to either do clinical or basic science research. There is a month-long critical care rotation. Two months are spent as L&D supervisor mentored by MFM faculty. The remaining 21 months are spent doing clinical services, every other week either in our ultrasound clinics or rounding on the inpatient antepartum service and working in our high-risk obstetrics clinic. As our fellowship increases from three to six total fellows (two fellows start August 2022 and we are interviewing for two positions to start in 2023 and annually going forward), there will be additional time in the schedule for electives, based on the interests and career goals of individual fellows. As our fellowship increases from three to six total fellows (two fellows start August 2022 and we are interviewing for two positions to start in 2023 and annually going forward), there will be additional time in the schedule for electives, based on the interests and career goals of individual fellows.
We have a weekly lecture series that is led by faculty. Quality improvement projects take the form of twice monthly clinical guideline revision or development. We also review new patients to the practice on a weekly basis. Other regularly scheduled learning and quality improvement opportunities include twice monthly journal clubs, a monthly ultrasound conference, a monthly joint conference with neonatology and pediatric surgery, and a monthly joint conference with pediatric cardiology and neonatology. Fellows have the opportunity to participate in the new course, “Basic Training, A Course in Reproductive Medical Genetics”. Also, fellows spend a week in the cytogenetics laboratory on campus.
Fellows choosing the basic science route spend time in the laboratory of Dean Myers, PhD. Completion of a Master of Science degree in Physiology is an option with completion of graduate coursework and defending a thesis written from the basic or translational research project. Such fellows are encouraged to also conduct one or more clinical research projects during fellowship.
Fellows choosing to do clinical research work with one or more faculty mentors to design, implement, analyze and report multiple clinical research studies. Such fellows audit graduate courses in statistics and epidemiology. Their thesis is chosen among their clinical projects and presented to the MFM faculty.