Welcome Message from the MFM Section Chiefs

Edmund F. Funai, M.D., Associate Professor; Co-Chief MFM, Chief of Obstetrics, YNHH; Associate Chair for Clinical Affairs
Errol R. Norwitz, M.D., Ph.D., Professor
Section Co-Chiefs, Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Mission Statement
The Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine is dedicated to its core missions of: (a) providing superior, family-centered patient care, (b) supporting and facilitating cutting-edge basic, clinical, and translational research, and (c) training and educating future leaders in women’s health. We welcome any and all feedback from our community in order to meet our goals. The Co-Chiefs of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Section in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale University School of Medicine, Drs. Errol Norwitz and Edmund Funai, are excited and honored to be leading a team of perinatologists at the cutting edge of clinical management and research in high-risk obstetrics. As a result of an aggressive recruitment campaign, we have enjoyed unprecedented growth in both faculty and clinical volume over the past two years and have every reason to believe that this trend will continue. The Division is proud to have Dr. Charles J. Lockwood, the Anita O'Keefe Young Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale University School of Medicine, as a member. Other faculty members include:

• Charles J. Lockwood, M.D., The Anita O'Keefe Young Professor of Women's Health & Chair
• Edmund Funai, M.D., Associate Professor; Co-Chief MFM, Associate Chair for Clinical Affairs, Obstetrics Clinical Services
• Errol Norwitz, M.D., Professor; Co-Chief MFM; Director of the MFM Fellowship Program
• Catalin Buhimschi, M.D., Assistant Professor; Director of Perinatal Research
• Joshua A. Copel, M.D., Professor & Vice Chair, Obstetrics; Director of the Yale Fetal Cardiovascular Center
• France Galerneau, M.D., Associate Professor
• Urania Magriples, M.D., Associate Professor
• Mert Ozan Bahityar, M.D., Assistant Professor
• Michael Paidas, M.D., Associate Professor
• Ashley Roman, M.D., Assistant Clinical Professor
• Anna Katerina Sfakianaki, M.D., Assistant Professor
• Stephen F. Thung, M.D., Assistant Professor
• Christian Pettker, M.D., Assistant Professor
• Heather Lipkind, M.D., Assistant Professor
• Antonette T. Dulay, M.D., Fellow, 3rd year
• Guoyang Luo, M.D., Fellow, 3rd year
• Sarah Lee, M.D., Fellow, 2nd year
• Mark Wehrum, D.O., Fellow, 2nd year
• Eric Hodgson, M.D., Fellow, 2nd year
• Christina Han, M.D., Fellow, 1st year
• Erika Werner, M.D., Fellow, 1st year

Clinical Services
Yale Maternal-Fetal Medicine spans Connecticut, New York and New Jersey for routine clinical management, genetic counseling, high-risk consultations, and high-end obstetric ultrasound. The outpatient service has six high-end ultrasound machines with 3- and 4-D capability. The MFM division performs about 28,000 ultrasound scans annually. In addition, we have the most active chorionic villus sampling (CVS) program in southern New England and the only CVS program for southern Connecticut. We are also the only institution in Connecticut offering multifetal pregnancy reduction and have the capacity to perform numerous invasive fetal procedures, such as cordocentesis and fetal blood transfusions. The majority of patients are drawn from the New Haven area, although referrals commonly come from further away. We see patients both in a brand-new and state-of-the-art facility on Sargent Drive and in a smaller unit at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

The High-Risk Yale Maternal-Fetal Medicine program also provides prenatal care to a growing number of women with a current prenatal census of about 500, and accepts about 150 maternal transfers per year. Deliveries number about 400 per year. An additional group of outpatients are co-managed through their prenatal care with private physicians at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Outreach consultation and ultrasound services are provided at Greenwich Hospital, Norwalk Hospital, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London (2 days per week), the Hospital of St. Raphael (1/2 day per week), and both Waterbury and St. Mary's Hospitals.

Research Agenda

The primary goal of the Perinatal Research Unit is to facilitate and coordinate basic science, clinical, epidemiologic, and translational research in the field of perinatal medicine, and to encourage and support intra- and interdepartmental research initiatives within this discipline. A further responsibility of the Perinatal Research Unit would be to ensure a safe research environment for both researchers and patients in accordance with the requirements of the Human Investigation Committee, the HIPAA regulations governing access to PHI, and IACUC at Yale University School of Medicine, OSHA, and the individual funding organizations.

The Section's interest in improving antenatal surveillance and prenatal care is evidenced by studies that include Doppler analysis of fetal blood flow in growth restriction and Rh isoimmunization, improved non-invasive identification of Down syndrome fetuses, and outcomes of new methods of providing prenatal care (NIH funded, U. Magriples). New areas of interest currently include a randomized trial of steroids for fetal congenital heart block (NIH funded, J. Copel).

The elusive etiopathogeneses of both preterm labor and preeclampsia is also an interest of the section. Studies include an evaluation of intraoperative ultrasound at cesarean section, functional MRI in preterm fetuses, assessment of uterine contractility and myometrial physiology during labor (WHRH Scholar C. Buhimschi) and investigation of the relationship between preeclampsia and long-term cardiovascular disease (NIH funded, E. Funai). The Division is also involved in an ongoing NIH and March of Dimes-funded initiative to improve our understanding of the oxidative imbalance in preterm labor (Basil O'Connor award, I. Buhimschi) and pathophysiology of preterm labor and birth (C. Lockwood, E. Kuczynski).

Recent basic science research also initiatives include examination of the relationship between inherited thrombophilias and adverse pregnancy outcome (M. Paidas), transcriptional regulation of placental genes (E. Norwitz), placental physiology and regulation of matrix proteins in IUGR (NIH funded, S. Guller), and the use of proteomic technology to diagnose and understand pregnancy-related diseases (NIH funded, I. Buhimschi).

Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship