The 40th Annual High Risk Obstetrics Seminar has opened registration! Taking place on December 5th in Franklin, TN, the seminar features 10 guest speakers giving talks and workshops on topics ranging from Electronic Fetal Monitoring to Obesity in Pregnancy. The event is sponsored by Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and accredited by the American medical Association's Physician Recognition Award and Credit System. Click for more details!

The Vanderbilt Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is pleased to announce the addition of a new faculty member: Dr. Christopher Sizemore! Dr. Sizemore received his D.O. from Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 2005. He will be joining our General Obstetrics and Gynecology division and the team at the Vanderbilt Franklin Women's Center.

Vanderbilt University hopes to enroll about 400 women in a national study to evaluate the effectiveness of a new model of group prenatal care designed to improve the health and well-being of mothers and babies during pregnancy, birth and infancy. The program, called Expect With Me, offers prenatal care in the group setting based on clinical guidelines from the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Nurse Midwives. The program provides valuable social and emotional support in addition to standard prenatal care, education and skills.

To advance the understanding of preterm premature rupture of membranes ( PPROM), Kimberly Fortner, M.D., assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and colleagues examined membrane thinning and the presence of bacteria in membrane samples from women who had just given birth and had PPROM, preterm birth for other reasons or full-term birth. The researchers found that the chorion (the fetal membrane outer layer) was thinner at the site of rupture compared to a distant site in all groups, and that PPROM samples had more pronounced thinning overall.

The Vanderbilt Center for Women’s Health began serving patients at its new outpatient clinic at NorthCrest Medical Center in Springfield this week. The integrative Vanderbilt Center for Women’s Health at NorthCrest will provide gynecology, urogynecology, obstetrics, high-risk obstetrics and infertility services by physicians and certified nurse midwives.

Since January, Vanderbilt has been offering family-centered cesarean sections to give families the opportunity to view the birth of their baby, if they desire, as well the chance to hold and bond with the baby in the operating room shortly following birth. More than 170 families have taken advantage of the program and been able to have skin-to-skin contact with their newborn.

The Vanderbilt Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is pleased to announce the addition of a new faculty member: Dr. Jennifer Thompson! Dr. Thompson received her M.D. from the University of Toledo in 2007, performed her Residency at Beaumont Hospital, and has recently completed a Fellowship at Duke University Health System. She will be joining our Maternal Fetal Medicine division.