Maternal-Fetal Medicine

The Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center is a comprehensive program which exposes trainees to all aspects of this sub-specialty, including maternal complications of pregnancy, obstetric complications, fetal diagnosis and therapy, genetics, and clinical, basic science, and translational research.

One of the largest programs in the country, the MFM Fellowship trains specialists to provide care and consultation for patients with obstetric, medical, and surgical complications during pregnancy. Fellows are trained to assess and treat the maternal and fetal effects of these disorders and to manage pregnancies complicated by primary fetal conditions, including structural and functional abnormalities, or primary maternal conditions, including complex maternal cardiac disease and placenta accreta.

Fellows learn high‐risk pregnancy management through a combination of didactic lectures and conferences given by MFM, human genetics, neonatology, pathology, and anesthesiology faculty. Fellows also obtain significant hands‐on experience and the opportunity to make independent decisions, in outpatient and inpatient settings, under the guidance of MFM faculty members.

Fellows have a breadth of opportunities that can be focused to individual interests, including genetics, infectious disease, critical care, biostatistics and epidemiology, and fetal echocardiogram. Our fetal therapy program continues to expand, and fellows have exposure to advanced procedures such as radiofrequency ablation or laser coagulation for complication monochorionic, diamniotic twin gestations. Fellows are all trained in amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling.

In order to assist with fellow research, our department has a team of biostatistician/epidemiologists that assist with study design and analysis. Weekly divisional research meetings enable fellows to get guidance from internationally renowned researchers on a regular basis. Fellows are able to perform clinical, translational, or basic science research and publish their work in top-tier journals within our field. With the world-class Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, some of our fellows have chosen do additional coursework in the areas of epidemiology or biostatistics.

The fellowship follows all required guidelines and is certified by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). In order to meet these guidelines, the division enlists specialists in MFM, neonatology, ultrasonography, fetal echocardiography, obstetrical critical care, diabetes, infectious diseases, genetics, obstetrical anesthesia, and the basic sciences. The department also utilizes faculty from Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health to ensure that fellows have an education in epidemiology and biostatistics.

Combined training programs in MFM/Genetics or MFM/Critical Care are possible if desired.

Upon completion of fellowship, our graduates have superb clinical and research skills and are prepared for a variety of career options.