URMC / Family Medicine / Fellowship Opportunities / Maternal Child Health Fellowship / Program Highlights

Program Highlights

High volume of surgical obstetrics
- Surgical-track fellows will perform at least 140 cesarean deliveries
- Advanced obstetrics fellows will learn the role of 1^st assist through at least 20 cases
Management of normal and high-risk labor at Highland Hospital’s Family Maternity Center, a high volume labor & delivery unit with 3000 deliveries annually
At least 1 month, with an opportunity to extend to 2 months, practicing full-spectrum rural primary care, including maternity care, in the community of Wellsville, NY
Opportunities for vacuum-assisted vaginal deliveries, immediate postpartum IUDs, and other obstetrical and postpartum inpatient procedures
Enhanced ultrasound training (to obtain proficiency in Level I US and experience in Level II US)
Experience in managing high-risk prenatal care and family medicine high-risk and surgical obstetrics consultations
Outpatient office-based gynecologic procedures
Care of newborns with common complications in the Special Care Nursery and NICU
Experience in options counseling and medical first trimester termination is available
Teaching opportunities that include education of residents and medical students on the labor deck and precepting residents in the outpatient clinic
Diverse patient population and a mission focused on the underserved. We care for a very diverse patient population, including many refugees from Eastern Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. An important part of our mission is caring for underserved women and children.
30 board certified obstetricians and 8 family physicians who conduct their private practices at Highland

Popular Electives Available In Our Program

Additional experiences in the Special Care Nursery and NICU
High-risk maternal-fetal medicine clinic
Lactation training with our lactation service
Inpatient medicine
Global health with our department’s biannual teams to Honduras (not a maternity care experience)
Research/scholarly projects

Graduate Highlights

Fellows will be well-trained in family medicine obstetrics
The majority of graduates practice in either rural or urban underserved communities
A listing of former fellows is available for serious candidates to contact

More about the Tracks

The fellowship offers 2 tracks:

Surgically-focused track: Two (2) fellows each year, one to start in July and the second to start in late fall/winter

Advanced obstetrics track: Two (2) fellows each year, one to start in July and the second to start in late fall/winter

Generally, we expect that applicants will NOT be applying to both tracks, since the anticipated incoming skill set, fellowship competencies, and intended career paths are different:

	*Surgically-focused track*	*Advanced obstetrics track*
Applicant’s skills and experiences (Note: we do not have quantitative prerequisite requirements)	Some exposure and hands-on surgical experience in cesarean deliveries. Competence or near-competence in low-risk routine vaginal deliveries	Some exposure to vaginal deliveries and perinatal care during residency training (and sometimes seeking out extra experiences), but applicant may have trained at a program with limited obstetrical opportunities
All applicants should have:	Demonstrated interest and experience in family medicine obstetrics Excellent communication skills Motivation and ability to learn at a fast pace Desire to contribute as a member of an interprofessional team
Surgical skills taught during fellowship	Primary surgeon role during cesarean delivery (primary and repeat), including routine surgical cases and common complications	Basic surgical skills and 1^st assist during cesarean deliveries
Curriculum in both tracks includes:	Care of common obstetrical conditions Labor management and complications Postpartum care Vacuum assisted vaginal delivery Newborn care and common newborn conditions Rural competencies Treatment in opioid use disorder Telehealth
Intended future practice	Full spectrum primary care with high-risk and surgical obstetrics, often in rural underserved practice with other FM-OB and/or OBGYN colleagues, and may serve as consultant or surgical back-up for non-operative FM-OB	Primary care with non-operative obstetrics, including care of underserved patients with high-risk conditions, and the ability to be 1^st assist for cesarean deliveries
By the end of fellowship, fellows will be well prepared to:	Provide high-quality, evidence-based maternal and child health care to underserved communities