OBSTETRIC ANESTHESIOLOGY FELLOWSHIP

Program director Welcome

We thank you for your interest in the Obstetric Anesthesia Fellowship Program at the University of Chicago and welcome you to learn more about our program. We pride ourselves in our longstanding history of providing the highest quality obstetric anesthesia care for pregnant patients on the South Side of Chicago.The strength of our program lies in the diversity of our high-risk patient population who entrust us with their care, and in the renowned obstetric anesthesia faculty that provide an academically stimulating environment for our fellow.

As the sole fellow in our program, you will benefit from one-on-one mentorship to develop your expertise as a consultant in obstetric anesthesia in our ever-changing field. Our strong multidisciplinary relationships with Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Neonatology, and Transfusion Medicine allow for an unparalleled training experience across the breadth of obstetric anesthesia. This collaborative approach fosters the fellow’s personal and professional development, while allowing for opportunities in public service, quality improvement, teaching, research and advocacy.

We are truly proud of the fellowship experience we offer at the University of Chicago and welcome you to explore what makes us unique.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Chad Dean, M.D.

Program Director, Obstetric Anesthesia Fellowship

About our FELLOWSHIP

The Family Birth Center at the University of Chicago serves as the sole tertiary, academic medical center serving pregnant patients and their families on the South Side of Chicago. We also draw from a wide breadth of patients hailing from across Chicagoland, the state of Illinois, and the Midwest including Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, and more recently for patients from as far away as Texas and the Southeast. The closure of multiple labor and delivery units in our community on the South Side of Chicago has also increased our volume with an average of ~ 3,000 deliveries per year. Due to both our unique location and patient population, the obstetric anesthesia fellow at the University of Chicago has an unparalleled opportunity to train in a challenging, rewarding, and dynamic practice at the cutting edge of obstetric anesthesia. We offer one position per year in our 12 -month ACGME-accredited Obstetric Anesthesia Fellowship program that commences on July 1.

The Divisions of Obstetric Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine jointly offer a dual two-year training opportunity where the fellow would complete both Obstetric Anesthesia Fellowship and Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Chicago. Interested applicants will apply through the San Francisco Match. Please email the program directors for obstetric anesthesia, Dr. Chad Dean, (cdean@uchicago.edu) and for critical care, Dr. Allison Dalton (adalton@uchicago.edu) for more information.

The Obstetric Anesthesia section at the University of Chicago is comprised of seven fellowship-trained anesthesiologists. Alongside educators from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology including the General Division, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Family Planning, Gynecologic Oncology, as well as Critical Care Medicine, Cardiology, Transfusion Medicine, Cardiology/Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Cardiac Anesthesia and Neonatology, our multi-disciplinary team is foundational the fellow’s clinical experience.

Our Facilities

  • Comer Children's Hospital

    Located on the third floor of Comer Children’s Hospital in Hyde Park, the Family Birth Center is a state-of-the-art unit that offers 5 OB triage rooms, 2 operating rooms, 9 labor suites, and 5 antepartum rooms. In addition, the proximity to the pediatric hospital allows for one additional “flex” operating room for backup obstetric cases. The NICU is located just below Labor and Delivery, allowing for close proximity for families and the highest level of care for mothers and their newborns.

    The Family Birth Center performs the largest number of deliveries on the South Side of Chicago, approximately 3,000 per year. The majority of patients are high risk in nature. Our payor mix is 50% Medicaid and 50% private insurance. Our labor neuraxial rate is 75% and our cesarean delivery rate is 27.1%.

  • Center for Care and Discovery at UChicago Medicine

    The Center for Care and Discovery opened in 2013 and is the flagship hospital of the University of Chicago Medicine in Hyde Park. There are 436 private beds including over 50 ICU beds and over 30 operating rooms and interventional procedure suites. Pregnant patients delivering at the Family Birth Center benefit from all of the cutting edge technology available at our connected facilities including imaging, interventional procedures, critical care units, and consultation with specialist clinicians. The fellow staffs the care of pregnant patients for non-OB surgery in the main operating rooms at the Center for Care and Discovery.

  • Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine

    The Duchossois Center for Advanced Medicine (DCAM) houses the ambulatory surgery center, outpatient clinics, and laboratories. Pregnant patients who require referral to Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Cardiology, or the Anesthesia PreOperative Clinic will be seen alongside supervising physicians in each field. The fellow participates in clinics, planning the anesthetic, and referring for additional testing within the DCAM. For pregnant patients who require outpatient non-obstetric surgery, often orthopedic in nature, the fellow staffs these cases alongside a primary anesthesiologist and resident in the DCAM operating rooms.

  • Mitchell Hospital

    Bernard A. Mitchell Hospital is a six-story hospital located adjacent to Comer and the DCAM on our Hyde Park Campus. Mitchell houses patients on our antepartum service, as well as the postpartum Mother-Baby unit on the third floor of Mitchell. The fellow supervises the residents in the care of post-partum patients after cesarean delivery or labor neuraxial, and will be the provider for any post-partum hemorrhages or complications. The Simulation Center is also located in Mitchell, with a mockup ICU located on the 6th floor and a mockup OR located in the basement. The fellow will lead the residents in monthly crash cesearean simulations on the last Friday of the rotation.

Fetal Anesthesia Elective

In conjunction with the GME of Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital and the University of Chicago, we are pleased to offer fellows the opportunity to rotate on the Maternal-Fetal Anesthesia Service at the Pavilion for Women at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, TX. The one month Maternal-Fetal Anesthesia elective will focus on the unique anesthetic considerations for the parturient who elects to undergo fetal interventions. Common procedures include fetal neural tube defect repairs, placement of in utero shunts, intrauterine transfusions, and laser ablations for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome alongside the skilled maternal-fetal anesthesiologists and fetal surgeons. This elective originated from a former fellow’s connections to pediatric anesthesia and Texas Children’s, and is an option for fellows who want to have primary, hands-on experiences managing these patients from the pre-operative clinic through their anesthetic and maternal ICU course. If you are interested in this rotation, please notify Dr. Dean early to make preparations for your time away in Houston.

Fellowship experience

  • The obstetric anesthesia fellow is expected to run the Obstetric Anesthesia service at the Family Birth Center in Comer Children’s Hospital. The fellow supervises all medical students and residents during neuraxial procedures and cesarean deliveries, in addition to daily teaching to trainees. The fellow works alongside the generalist obstetricians, MFMs, cardiologists, and nursing staff to create dynamic plans for our ever-changing and high-risk patient population. The fellow will also be responsible for the care of both antepartum patients in defining the anesthetic plan that compliments their mode of delivery, as well as the management of post-partum patients on the Mother-Baby unit. Throughout the year there will be a plethora of opportunities for the OB anesthesia fellow to staff cases in the main ORs for pregnant patients requiring non-obstetric surgery, in addition to being the obstetric anesthesia provider for patients with accreta spectrum disorder.

    The fellow spends one month each in the SICU and NICU, a month on Maternal-Fetal Medicine, two weeks each on the transfusion medicine service and the adult congenital heart disease clinics. Fellows have the opportunity to learn Focused Cardiac Ultrasound and practice TTE alongside our cardiac anesthesia team and cardiologists.

    Throughout the year the fellow sees pregnant patients in the Anesthesia PreOperative Medicine Clinic and in consultations throughout the antepartum and ICU services with the goal of developing anesthetic plans that address the nuances of each patient’s clinical picture. The fellow staffs the OB anesthesia consults with the obstetric anesthesia attending on service.

  • The obstetric anesthesia fellow benefits from mentors who are leaders in the field of obstetric anesthesia. There are currently 7 fellowship trained obstetric anesthesia faculty at the University of Chicago, the majority of whom trained outside the institution. The goal of the fellowship is to foster the fellow’s professional growth through frequent meetings with the section Chief and Program Director to guide the fellow in preparing for a career in academic obstetric anesthesia through participation and attendance at regional and national conferences.

  • We provide our fellow daily feedback to help them refine their clinical practice, teaching skills, supervision of medical students and residents, and help transition them to attending practice. The program director meets quarterly with the fellow to ensure the fellow is meeting the appropriate academic milestones, as well as go over 360 evaluations from the general obstetricians and nursing staff, in addition to the evaluations submitted by faculty.

    Our program also actively participate in a Senior Residents as Teachers (SRATs) Curriculum in Anesthesia, which makes use of Feedback Fridays for trainees. The fellow leads individual Feedback Friday sessions with the trainees at the 2 week mark of the rotation in order to set goals and find ways to improve the trainee experience, and provide final cumulative feedback to each trainee at the end of the 4 week rotation block.

  • The fellow sits on the Family Birth Center Quality Improvement Committee, which meets quarterly, as well as the monthly FBC Throughput Committee. The fellow is expected to identify one quality improvement area and propose an implementation strategy through the use of QI mechanisms including multiple PDSA cycles. The FBC Throughput Committee allows the fellow an opportunity to identify problems and suggest solutions for improving FBC efficiency and patient care from a multi-disciplinary approach.

  • The expectation at the University of Chicago is for the fellow to actively be involved from inception to completion in research projects throughout the course of the entire academic year. As a result, the fellow will be given 1-2 protected, non-clinical days per week, the equivalent of 90 days of research per the ACGME, to study, prepare presentations, continue research projects and focus on academic pursuits. The fellow is expected to design, implement, analyze and present an original scholarly project that is suitable for publication in a journal and presentation at SOAP.

  • Lead by Dr. Jennifer Paul, one of our general obstetricians, the fellow leads the multi-disciplinary simulations with the OB and anesthesia residents, L&D nurses and mother-baby nurses, as well as scrub techs while on service.

    In addition, the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care has an Airway Lab and ECHO Simulator on the sixth floor of the Center for Care and Discovery adjacent to the main operating rooms. The fellow can make use of this space to practice novel airway techniques, as well as learning bedside POCUS and TTE.

CURRICULUM

The fellow didactic series is structured to critically appraise the current literature to prepare for a career as an educator, scholar and expert in obstetric anesthesia. The fellow participates actively in daily resident lecture. It is expected that the fellow prepare at least one “chalk talk”, which is an attending-level presentation per month to be given to the trainees. The fellows also have protected one-on-one didactic time with faculty both within and outside the division of obstetric anesthesia. The fellow will be expected to participate in OB Mortality and Morbidity conferences, in addition to preparing a presentation for the “White Sheet” conference, Fetal Center Conference, and Cardio-Obstetrics Conference , which all include multi-disciplinary learning discussions of complex patient cases. The fellow will also be able to avail themselves of weekly departmental Grand Rounds, bimonthly journal clubs, and coordinating hemorrhage and crash general cesarean delivery simulations for the residency program.

It is also expected that the fellow become certified by the American Board of Pediatrics/AHA Neonatal Resuscitation Course, as well as complete the Perinatal Network Fetal Heart Rate Interpretation Course.

rotations:

Labor & Delivery

  • 8 months - The fellow will spend 8 months working on labor and delivery in the active management of healthy and high risk pregnant patients. Sign out rounds take place twice per day at 7 AM and 6 PM in our shared workspace between Obstetric and Anesthesia trainees and supervising faculty within both divisions. The fellow and faculty member will then lead daily lectures immediately after board signout, as well as round on all the patients on L&D. Research will be ongoing during the 10 months on L&D, with approximately 1-2 non-clinical days scheduled per week.

CRITICAL CARE

  • 1 month - The fellow will spend one month in the Surgical Intensive Care under the supervision of faculty from the Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care. The fellow will not be required to take on a patient care role, and will instead provide consultation and supervision of trainees in the placement of central lines, arterial lines, airways and ultrasound guided techniques. The goal of the rotation is to acquire an in-depth understanding of post-obstetric complications, including the need for massive transfusions and peripartum cardiomyopathy. The fellow also participates in a weekly Critical Care POCUS ultrasound lecture with the critical care faculty and fellows.

NICU

  • 2 weeks - One of the largest NICUs in the Midwest, the NICU Comer Children’s Hospital has 47 Level III beds and 18 Level II convalescent beds, admitting approximately 1000 babies per year with prematurity or congenital malformations. The fellow will spend two weeks per year shadowing the NICU team on daily rounds and as they perform critical procedures in order to better understand the management of neonatal conditions and the implications maternal comorbid conditions and delivery on neonatal outcomes.

TRANSFUSION MEDICINE

  • 2 weeks - An integral portion of our fellowship program, transfusion medicine is both unique and vital to providing the safest care to women at the Family Birth Center. The fellow will join the Transfusion Medicine team in the Pathology Lab, and will learn from Pathology housestaff and faculty about the hands-on process of blood typing and crossmatching, the appropriate storage and mindful usage of blood products, as well as develop an understanding of the immunologic mechanisms that underpin these laboratory tests. The fellow will also participate in didactics within the Pathology department so as to better plan the management of complex surgical cases requiring massive transfusion.

Maternal- Fetal Medicine

  • 2 weeks - The fellow will join the MFM team on daily inpatient rounds on the Antepartum service under the guidance of our Maternal-Fetal Medicine faculty. The goal of this rotation is to understand the delicate balance in obstetric decision-making between continued management versus delivery. The fellow will be expected to discuss anesthetic considerations with the MFM team, and formulate patient-specific plans for high risk pregnancies. The fellow will also attend High Risk OB Clinic with the MFM faculty, and attend lectures and didactics alongside the MFM fellows including High Risk and Cardio-Obstetric Conference.

Adult congenital heart disease

  • 1 month - During the SICU rotation the fellow will attend Adult Congenital Cardiac Disease Clinic with Dr. Michael Earring, the Division Chief of Pediatric Cardiology. In this capacity, the fellow will staff see both pregnant and non-pregnant patients alongside Dr. Earring to better understand these patients’ lesions, physiology, medical and pharmacologic management and apply these same principles in the setting of pregnancy. Our Pregnancy Heart Team comprised of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Adult Congenital Heart Disease, Cardiac Anesthesia, Mechanical-Circulatory Support and Cardiac Surgery team, follows pregnant patients via a monthly joint Cardiac Conference.

Meet our Obstetric Anesthesiologists

  • Naida Cole, MD

    SECTION CHIEF, DIVISION OF OBSTETRIC ANESTHESIA

    CLINICAL DIRECTOR OF FAMILY BIRTH CENTER

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

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  • Chad Dean, MD

    FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM DIRECTOR

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

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  • Sarah Nizamuddin, MD

    ASSOCIATE RESIDENCY PROGRAM DIRECTOR

    ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

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  • Leziga Obiyo, MD MPH

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

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  • Caroline Thomas, MD

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

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  • Mariana Montes, MD MPH

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

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Meet our Multi-Disciplinary Team

  • Abbe Kordik, MD

    MEDICAL DIRECTOR, FAMILY BIRTH CENTER

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY

  • Andrew Rausch, MD

    PERINATOLOGIST

    MATERNAL-FETAL MEDICINE PROGRAM DIRECTOR

    ASSISTANT PROFESSO OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE

  • Allison Dalton, MD

    VICE CHAIR FOR EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL MEDICINE

    ANESTHESIA CRITICAL CARE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM DIRECTOR

    ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE

  • Michael Earring, MD PHD

    CHIEF, PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGY

    MEDICAL DIRECTOR, ADULT CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE

    PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS

    PROFESSOR OF CARDIOLOGY

  • Geoffrey Wool, MD PHD

    ASSISTANT MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BLOOD BANK

    ASSOCIATE MEDICAL DIRECTOR, COAGULATION LABORATORY

    ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PATHOLOGY

PREVIOUS FELLOWS

  • DAVID ARNOLDS, MD PHD

    ASSITANT PROFESSOR OF OBSTETRIC ANESTHESIOLOGY

    UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

  • F. Arran Seiler MD

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF OBSTETRIC ANESTHESIOLOGY

    UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

  • IOANNIS ANGELIDIS, MD MSPH

    CARDIAC ANESTHESIOLOGY FELLOW

    NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER

  • Mariana Montes MD MPH

    ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE

    UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Benefits

Why UChicago?

We believe we offer an unparalleled clinical training experience in Obstetric Anesthesiology at the University of Chicago. By virtue of our location on the South Side of Chicago and our mission to care for a high-risk, disenfranchised patient population, our fellows are exposed to the highest complexity clinical scenarios. We pride ourselves in shared-decision making with our patients, our collaborative work environment with our Obstetric and MFM colleagues and nurses, and in practicing the highest quality, trauma-informed Obstetric Anesthesia care. We are proud to have received the Society of Obstetric Anesthesiology Center of Excellence at the Family Birth Center, and will continue to push the boundaries of taking care of our most vulnerable patients - pregnant patients and their babies.

Application Process:

Register on the San Francisco Match at SFMatch.org as an applicant to Obstetric Anesthesiology fellowship. The application fee is $75 dollars for an unlimited number applications to programs. Download and complete the SOAP common application, which can be found here. Once your application is complete, we may ask you to answer supplemental questions.

contact us:

 

UChicago Medicine

Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care

5841 S. Maryland Avenue

E408
Chicago, IL 60637

Fellowship Coordinator:
Tiffany Schmidt

Email:

tschmidt@uchicagomedicine.org

Fellowship Program Director:
Chad Dean, MD

Email:
cdean@uchicago.edu

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