University of illinois at chicago department of obstetrics

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International Impact There is a war taking place in the heart , of Africa, in the Democratic Republic of . Congo, and more people have died there than in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur combined. It is the bloodiest war since ." WW II, claiming 1000 lives a day. The .- most frequent targets of this hidden war are women. It is, in fact, a war against women, and the weapon used to destroy them, their families, and whole communities,is rape. (CBSNews, 13-Jan 2008). The remarkable violence against women is what prompted Dr. App to get involved. In November of 2007, Dr. App volunteered, in conjunction with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, Panzi Project, and spent time in the African nation of Congo giving lectures to doctors and working in the clinic or operating room, seeing up to 20 patients a day. "It was very overwhelming, a never-ending river of women" says Dr. App. She performed one or two surgeries a day, mostly repairing fistulas caused by brutal rapes. The injuries caused incontinence,which resulted in victims being ostracized. Dr. App would like to go back, "I'd like to bring residents with me to help teach and operate. I'd like to see it put into curriculum.That is my dream". Family Planning in India Bryna Harwood, MD and Stacie Geller, PhD have developed an international family planning partnership through the Partnership for Education and Excellence in Reproductive Health (PEER)program funded by the national Family Planning Fellowship. The PEERprogram has been established to link Family Planning Fellowship sites to medical schoolsin developing countries to help developing country hospitals, medical schools,and departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology establish or expand reproductive health services and improve training programs for residents and medical students through existing U.S. Fellowship sites. Drs. Harwood and Geller were successfulin creating a partnership with faculty at Jawarharlal Nehru Medical College in Karnataka, India and UIC faculty interested in family planning and international women's health, including Drs. Allison Cowett, Tracy Irwin and Sherry Nordstrom. They propose to work with their partners in India to strengthen and expand the family planning curriculum and training both at the college and particularly at the surrounding health care centers. This will initially focus on expanding early safe abortion techniques offered. The concept proposal has been approved and this February, Drs. Harwood and Geller will travel to India for the initial site visit in preparation of the full proposal. Thispartnership will be fully funded by the funder up to $150,000 per year and is intended for 3-5 years of funding. OB/GYN NEWS & ACHIEVEMENTS Discoverer of the Benefits of Antenatal Visited by MFM Division Faculty Member On December 1st, Dr. Laurence Burd, MD, from the Division of MFM, accompanied by his wife Kathy, was warmly greeted into the home of one of the world's most outstanding research scientists and physicians, an icon in the field of perinatal medicine, Professor Sir Graham (Mont) Liggins. Dr. Burd, who was traveling in New Zealand, had arranged to meet Dr. Liggins, a long admired hero, to personally thank him for establishing a sheep fetal model to investigate the physiology and endocrinology surrounding the onset of labor. In 1969, Dr. Liggins, using this model, discovered that it was the fetus, and not the mother (as it had been previously believed) that started the labor process. Dr. Burd, using the Liggins animal model, furthered the significance of these findings by demonstrating that fetal signaling also initiated maternal milk production so that newborns would have adequate nutrition at the time of birth. Dr. Liggins' discovery, while being of great scientific significance, also led to one of the most important therapeutic findings available to obstetricians today: that maternal corticosteroids reduce the risk of development of respiratory distress syndrome (RDS)in premature newborns. It was Dr. Liggins himself who made this discovery by serendipity after he observed that fetal lambs, born prematurely, survived and had less RDSwhen their mothers received steroids before birth. He translated his research findings into clinical practice in 1972 where a study confirmed these findings. Dr. Burd commented, upon his return, that 'he had met an individual that had fulfilled his ideal of the perfect physician. Dr. Liggins is a person who was motivated by his deep compassion to improve the health of mankind. He achieved his goal with diligent study, a deep understanding of the scientific method, a keen senseof observation and the courage and skill to apply his findings in a well controlled study. The results of his work have saved the lives of millions of babies worldwide. It remains for all of us to learn from the example of this outstanding physician scientist". Antenatal steroids remain one of the few interventions that obstetricians have that significantly improves neonatal outcome.
I am happy to announcethat as of January 1st, I started at my new practice. Prior to that time, I was in solo practice but in a call sharing arrangement. I was offered the opportunity to take over another physician's practice. I still have privileges at the same hospital, which is great since I love my hospital. This new group is well established and very busy and is located in Central Austin, just a few blocks away from my first office. My partners are top notch and absolutely brilliant. The highlight of my summerwas hiking the Inca Trail up to Machu Picchuin Peru. I have attached a picture that shows Machu Picchuin the background. We reached the plateau above the ruins mid afternoon the last day of the hike. Hope all is well with the UIC crew. Nora Smith C/O 2006 I have moved to St. Petersburg, FL and I am in private practice with OB.GYN Associates. Previously I was a full time faculty with OB.GYN residency at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg. I have been married for 35 years to Keith Bensonand have two daughters: Lisa (26 years old) and Stephanie (20 years old). I do most of the pediatric and adolescent gynecology in the area and have been named BestDoctor every year since 2001. Beth Benson C/O 1982 Since I left UIC in the summerof 2004 I have been in Knoxville, Tennessee,but that is going to change in Junewhen my family and I move to Cleveland, OH. Wes will be doing a Minimally Invasive Urology Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic for one year and I will join the OB.GYN generalists there. While in Knoxville, I have kept busy trying to balance motherhood (see picture of Jackson,now 16 months),practice, and research. My research interests remain in family planning and I am very proud of several studiesthat I have completed with the residents here that have gone on to be presented at meetings (and hopefully published). Our pilot study on self-retaining retractor for post-partum tubals won the Young Investigator Award at ARHPand our analysis of how Mirena's have impacted the post-partum sterilization rates won BestPresentation bya fellow at the ACOG District VII meeting. Bestof all, I am heading to Hawaii this week to present a seminar at the APGO meeting based on my project as an APGOjSOLVA Y scholar; Creating and Validating Surveys. I missUIC and hope to see many of you at meetings in the future! Nikki Zite Family Planning Fellowship C/O 2004 My current position is Clinical Instructorof Obstetrics and Gynecology at Feinberg Schoolof Medicine at Northwestern. Javier Fajardo C/O 2006 I just signed a contract with Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, IL. I will be starting there in three weeks. Ericka Searles C/O 2006
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Page 3: Volume 2, Issue 3 A definite "DON'T
Page 7: Bryna Harwood, MD, MS, Director of

University of illinois at chicago department of obstetrics

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