Hospital wins maternal-fetal fellowship

The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) approved the North Shore-Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Health System's maternal-fetal medicine fellowship.
It is the first of 64 fellowships, or graduate medical education programs, approved for a health system without its own medical school. Although LIJ is affiliated with a medical school it does not have its own yet.
The fellowship will begin in July 2007 and will admit one fellow per year. Currently, there are only seven such programs throughout the state of New York.
&#8220It's a very important program because many fellows are turned down,” said Christine Metz, Ph.D., director of obstetrics and gynecology at North Shore University Hospital (NSUH). &#8220There's not enough.”
The training program, directed by Burton Rochelson, MD, chief of maternal-fetal medicine at NSUH, is a collaborative effort of NSUH and LIJ Medical Center. Candidates require 18 months of research and will be under the direction of a mentor from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research.
&#8220The opportunity to train young physicians is very exciting,” said Dr. Rochelson.
According to the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, an MFM specialist, or perinatologist, must have completed two or three years of fellowship to provide &#8220care or consultation for both mother and fetus (unborn baby) in a complicated pregnancy. In addition, he or she provides education and research concerning the most recent approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of obstetrical problems.” There are currently only about 1,500 MFM specialists in the United States.
Patients who are seen by maternal-fetal medicine specialists are often those undergoing therapeutic procedures during pregnancy; women having medical disorders such as heart disease or high blood pressure; and healthy women whose pregnancy is at risk for adverse outcome, including triplets and abnormal AFP blood test, according to the society's website.
According to NSUH, approximately ten percent of pregnancies are considered high-risk possibly because of medical history or difficulties in earlier pregnancies.
&#8220When you better understand these diseases, you can better treat the diseases,” said Dr. Metz. &#8220If we can improve one aspect, it'll be tremendous.”