Pregnancy after 35
Read about what it means to get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy in your late 30s or early 40s with insights from Lisa Luther, MD, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Contact Information
55 Fruit Street
Boston,
MA
02114
Email: jroysmith@mgh.harvard.edu
Emily Von Bargen, DO
Fellowship Program Director
Youngwu Kim, MD
Associate Program Director
The Urogynecology & Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery Fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital aims to train female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery (URPS) leaders in an environment that maximizes everyone’s potential and leverages available opportunities within our clinically and academically rich institution, providing broad and balanced training. This allows our graduates to be:
We aim to support a collaborative and multidisciplinary environment where fellows participate in level-appropriate experiences and sharpen their teaching and mentoring skills by working with students and residents.
We promote lifelong scholarly practices through a year-long basic science training that includes all aspects of designing, executing, analyzing and presenting a hypothesis-driven research project.
We aim to establish lifelong evidence-based clinical practices through teaching system-based analysis and quality improvement, critical thinking, and research interpretation.
We strive for an environment that promotes diversity, wellness, resiliency, and the achievement of personal goals through mentoring.
The Urogynecology & Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery Fellowship is an ACGME-accredited program that started in 2012.
The program structure includes:
One position is offered each year. We accept urology and gynecology resident applicants.
The primary site of the fellowship is Massachusetts General Hospital's main campus in Boston, MA. Mass General is a tertiary care center with approximately 1,000 beds and more than 1,000 physicians. Fellows will evaluate and manage patients in the outpatient setting on the main campus, as well as Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Major surgical cases and same-day surgical cases are performed on the main campus. Same-day surgical cases can also be performed at Newton-Wellesley Hospital.
As a fellow, you will learn how to evaluate, manage, and treat patients with primary pelvic organ prolapse and bladder control problems as well as complex pelvic floor disorders, including urethral diverticulum, vesicovaginal or rectovaginal fistula, and pelvic floor myofascial pain.
Fellows are trained to perform the full scope of surgical procedures, including:
In addition, we perform concomitant surgical procedures with our colorectal colleagues, such as laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy with rectopexy.
Fellows will also work within our active Center for Pelvic Floors Disorders, which is a multidisciplinary service composed of URPS, colorectal, urology, and gastroenterology faculty and physical therapists. We work closely with our colleagues to manage patients who have complex pelvic floor disorders. We meet monthly to discuss the evaluation and management of patients with complex pelvic floor disorders.
During the third year of fellowship, fellows rotate through colorectal, urology, and physiatry electives. Fellows can also spend time with pelvic floor physical therapists.
Fellows take home pager calls, covering the URPS service only. Call is split between the three fellows with a faculty member also assigned to the call. Fellows do not have any in-house call, and do not do any obstetrics.
Mass General complies with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) duty-hour requirements.
Moonlighting is allowed with permission of the program director and must comply with ACGME duty-hour requirements. Moonlighting must not interfere with any fellowship responsibilities.
Fellows spend 12 consecutive months in research during their 2nd year of fellowship. While on this rotation, the fellow’s time is protected for research but he or she may be available for up to 4 hours of clinical duties weekly to maintain surgical skills and continued clinical learning. Fellows are also given research time while on clinical rotations, on average a half day weekly. In accordance with guidelines from ABOG and ACGME, all fellows develop a thesis project, which they defend in their third year of fellowship.
In these dedicated 12 months of research, fellows conduct basic science research with Dr. Caroline Mitchell within the Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology. As part of this lab, they contribute to the ongoing understanding of interactions between the human microbiome and reproductive health. They receive personalized mentorship to develop skills in reading and writing basic science literature and pursue their own projects while also being an active part of the lab. In addition to bench research, fellows also have access to a multitude of courses and conferences through Massachusetts General Hospital’s Clinical and Translational Research Institute, which they have ample opportunity to explore during these protected 12 months.
Fellows are supported to present their scholarly work at conferences, including the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS), International Urogynecological Association (IUGA), and other appropriate conferences. In addition, each fellow is given a stipend to fund the purchase of textbooks, research software programs, society memberships, and travel to meetings upon pre-approval of the Program Director.
Fellows complete an applied biostatistics course through Harvard Catalyst during their research year. They also have the opportunity to take courses at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, the Mass General Research Institute/Division of Clinical Research, and other entities throughout the Mass General Brigham system.
Harvard Catalyst/The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center is dedicated to improving human health by enabling collaboration and providing tools, training, and technologies to clinical and translational investigators. Harvard Catalyst is a shared enterprise of Harvard University, its 10 schools, and its 17 Academic Healthcare Centers (AHC), as well as the Boston College School of Nursing, MIT, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and numerous community partners. Harvard Catalyst offers more than a dozen courses and training programs, ranging from short courses on translational and clinical research to degree-granting multi-year advanced education and training programs.
The Mass General Clinical Research Program (CRP) provides support for investigators and study teams and education for all involved in clinical research to ensure the best clinical research practices. Courses ranging from hour-long seminars to semester-long commitments are available on a wide range of topics such as IRB submission, obtaining informed consent, basic biostatistics, human genetics, clinical trial design, grant writing and research budget management. Most of these courses are free of charge, but for those with fees, the fellowship will provide tuition on a case-by-case basis.
All fellows are required to complete a quality improvement project prior to graduation. Mass General is a part of Mass General Brigham enterprise that offers training in CPIP: Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program. Fellows are encouraged to participate in this program which gives them tools to evaluate and improve processes as part of a team over four months.
The Treadwell Library, health sciences library for the Mass General community, is easily accessible through its vast electronic resource center. In addition, fellows have access to Harvard Medical School’s Countway Library, which offers major journals from all medical specialties, as well as specialty-specific journals including the International Urogynecology Journal, Urology, the Journal of Urology, and Neurourology and Urodynamics.
For fellows interested in retrospective reviews, our electronic medical records provide ample opportunity for this type of research, as well as the available staff at the Medical Records offices.
Fellows attend a comprehensive schedule of didactic lectures, including:
Applicants must have satisfactorily completed either an:
The program will adhere to the AUGS Fellowship Training Committee’s standardized process for interviews with dates updated in accordance with the AUGS Fellowship Application calendar:
Candidates should apply through the ERAS Fellowships online application service. All applications through ERAS Fellowships must include:
The following items should be sent via email to Jessica RoySmith (jroysmith@mgh.harvard.edu), to be added to your ERAS Fellowship Application locally, as they are not accepted by ERAS for scanning:
Mentoring partnerships with an experienced faculty offer our fellows the opportunity to learn how to evaluate, manage and treat patients a variety of pelvic issues.
Milena Weinstein, MD
Division Chief, Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery
Emily Von Bargen, DO
Program Director, Fellowship in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery
Youngwu Kim, MD
Associate Program Director, Fellowship in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery
May Wakamatsu, MD
Vice Chair, Gynecology, OB/GYN
Lori Berkowitz, MD
Vice Chair, Education & Wellbeing, OB/GYN
Caroline Mitchell, MD
Director, Vulvovaginal Disorders Program, OB/GYN, Mass General
Liliana Bordeianou, MD, MPH
Chief, Colorectal Surgery Program
Co-Director, Pelvic Floor Disorders Center
As the largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, Mass General trains the next generation of providers in state-of-the-art care. Our department’s fellowship programs provide advanced training to physicians in specialty areas of urogynecology, fertility, obstetrics, gynecologic oncology and general gynecology.
Milena Weinstein, MD, Division Chief, Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery, describes the urogynecology fellowship including collaboration with the Center for Pelvic Floors Disorders and Transgender Health Center.
Jeffrey Ecker, MD, chief of the Mass General Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and other department leaders including Lori Berkowitz, MD, MBA, Allison Bryant, MD, MPH, and Mark Clapp, MD, MPH welcome prospective applicants to the various fellowship programs.
Hear from recent graduates of Mass General’s OBGYN Fellowships in gynecologic oncology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, and maternal-fetal medicine.
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mass General has advanced the science and the quality of care for patients since 1891.
The state-of-the-art research conducted in the OB/GYN Department is focused on improving obstetric and gynecologic care for women across the lifespan.
Learn from residents, fellows and program leaders about the exceptional learning experiences offered at Mass General.
Mass General and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion are building the leaders of tomorrow.
Read about what it means to get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy in your late 30s or early 40s with insights from Lisa Luther, MD, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Read about what it means to get pregnant and have a healthy pregnancy in your late 30s or early 40s with insights from Lisa Luther, MD, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Mass General Brigham researchers found that getting vaccinated on the early side of the recommended window was best for transferring maternal antibodies to the fetus.
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