The mission of the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship at Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) is to train the next generation of perinatologists to be clinicians, leaders and academicians.
We aim to do this by producing highly skilled physicians who will excel in the delivery of comprehensive and compassionate perinatal care in an academic or community-based practice. Graduates of our program will also be adept in clinical research and education of residents and medical students. Our mission is accomplished through a dedicated faculty that delivers high-quality perinatal care for a diverse regional patient population. This commitment includes a large prenatal diagnosis and fetal care program, several unique inpatient and outpatient multidisciplinary programs for pregnant women with medical and surgical complications of pregnancy, and sizable outreach and transport programs, all of which contribute to a robust clinical experience. Inpatient clinical experience will take place at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest and LVH–Muhlenberg. Outpatient clinical experience will take place at LVPG Maternal Fetal Medicine offices in Allentown and Easton.
LVHN is a quaternary academic community medical center with a wide depth and breadth of clinical programs and a commitment to clinical research and education. There are a variety of residency and fellowship programs in the institution, including a longstanding obstetrics and gynecology residency program that trains six residents per year. LVHN also serves as a branch medical campus for the University of South Florida. The population served is of mixed socioeconomic makeup and provides high volume and all levels of acuity.
The institution also serves as a regional perinatal center with an active maternal transport program. Maternal fetal medicine (MFM) fellows will play an intermediate role between the residents and MFM faculty. Their role will include coverage of inpatient services including labor and delivery and the antepartum/perinatal unit. Fellows will gain experience with challenging cases, learn to function in a supervisory faculty role with residents and simultaneously be trained to perform advanced and focused obstetric procedures.
In the MFM office, fellows will actively participate in our large prenatal diagnosis program, including ultrasound, fetal echocardiogram and procedures, including amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling. They will also participate in counseling patients with chronic medical conditions and obstetrical complications and supervise residents in a high-risk obstetrics and gynecology clinic. Dedicated off-service rotations for MFM fellows will also provide educational opportunities that will include interaction with non-obstetrical faculty members.
LVHN is known for the quality and depth of our intensive care units, including our shock/trauma ICU, medical/cardiac/neurological ICU and burn units. We anticipate that rotation of our MFM fellows in these environments will provide a rich learning experience in care of the critically ill patient that will be invaluable in subsequently caring for the critically ill obstetrical patient.