The Department is pleased to announce our new Academic Division of Obstetric Medicine, making Brown the first in the US with such a Division. This places our department at the forefront of this field just as evidence is emerging about the link between pregnancy outcomes and risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and renal disease.

Obstetric Medicine has been a Division in the Department of Medicine at Women and Infants Hospital for 16 years. During that time it has grown into a multidisciplinary division with an international reputation that is thriving in all aspects of academic medicine.

Teaching: The Division houses the only US Obstetric Medicine fellowship, currently under the direction of Dr. Lucia Larson. The group developed the National Obstetric Medicine Curriculum for internal medicine trainees and were part of the International Committee that developed the International Curriculum and core competencies for Obstetric Internists. GI fellows on the Women's Digestive Disorders track and soon, CL fellows from Psychiatry will train with Obstetric Medicine. The Division members run the national courses in Obstetric Medicine for the American College of Physicians, the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine, the Society of Obstetric Anesthesiology and Perinatology, and have been the faculty for medical content in pregnancy at the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Society of Echocardiography and AGA.

Research/Publications/National and International Reputation
The research activity and funding in Obstetric Medicine continue to grow. Karen Rosene-Montella is the US PI for the international TIPPS trial (Thrombosis in Pregnancy Prophylaxis), the PI with Drs Larson and Miller as coinvestigators of the Pivotal study of biomarkers for prediction of Preeclampsia and a Co-Investigator on the CDC grant for statewide screening and management of hypothyroidism in Pregnancy. Silvia Degli-Esposti was recognized by the CDC for the Perinatal Hepatitis Program. Ghada Bourjeily is funded for studies on sleep disordered breathing in pregnancy, efficacy of CT-PA as a diagnostic tool for PE in Pregnancy and has had four abstracts accepted this year. Margaret Miller's work is in studying risk factors and outcomes in pregnancy that predict future cardiovascular disease, in linking pregnancy to primary care and in interpregnancy care programs. Caron Zlotnick and Teri Pearlstein are the PI's of multiple NIMH funded studies looking at depression interventions in pregnancy and post partum. The presidents of both the North American and International Societies of Obstetric Medicine are in the Division

Three books have come out of the Division this year: Medical Care of the Pregnant Patient, 2nd edition (Rosene-Montella), reviewed favorably in the NEJM, Pulmonary Problems in Pregnancy (Bourjeily and Rosene-Montella), and deSwiets Medical Disorders in Pregnancy (Powrie) is in press. The Editor in Chief (Rosene-Montella) of the new International Journal of Obstetric Medicine, the Medicine of Pregnancy is in the Division.

Clinical Activities
Obstetric Medicine is responsible for outpatient practices that see 15,000 patients annually including specialty clinics for medical problems in pregnancy and perinatal behavioral health. The Specialty Care in Pregnancy Program (SCIPP) is a tumor board style review of medical OB cases, done jointly with the other subspecialty divisions in the department. The medical and behavioral health inpatient consultation services provide 5000 consults annually and are major teaching sites for the medicine, obstetric and psychiatry residencies. The Division serves as a major resource to all of the clinical services, both at WIH and RIH for any medical or psychiatric illness in pregnant patients, and for critical care in obstetrics.

Academic Division Members

Internal Medicine
Karen Rosene-Montella, Professor of Medicine and Ob-Gyn
Raymond Powrie, Professor of Medicine and Ob-Gyn
Lucia Larson, Associate Professor of Medicine and Ob-Gyn
Margaret Miller, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Ob-Gyn
Meghan Hayes, Asst Professor of Medicine and OB-Gyn
Nika Mehta, Asst Professor of Medicine (Clinical)
Courtney Bilodeau, Asst Professor of Medicine (Clinical)

Pulmonary/Critical Care
Ghada Bourjeily, Asst. Professor of Medicine

Gastroenterology
Silvia Degli-Esposti, Associate Professor of Medicine (Clinical)

Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Teri Pearlstein, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Caron Zlotnick, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Margaret Howard, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (Clinical)