Obstetric Anesthesiology Fellowship

Obstetric & Women's Anesthesiology Division 

The Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital (MWH) offers two tracks in our Obstetric (OB) Anesthesiology Fellowship:

• Track 1: Clinical (one-year ACGME accredited)

• Track 2: Clinical Investigator (one-year clinical, two-year research)

MWH is one of the leading Womancare Centers in the country, performing more than 10,000 OB deliveries annually. The program offers fellows participation in state-of-the-art anesthetic care for low-and high-risk OB patients. The OB anesthesiology rotation is the essence of the fellowship. Two-week rotations in both Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) are integral, along with the unique opportunity for a one-month elective rotation in Neurology and Transfusion Medicine. The elective focuses on two of the most problematic issues in OB anesthesiology: postpartum headache and neurological deficits. OB anesthesiologists face challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions. Maternal morbidity increasingly occurs with OB hemorrhage and more women face transfusion-related complications.  

Research opportunities, in collaboration with key faculty mentors, are provided and encouraged.  One month of uninterrupted time is allotted for research with two additional months of research time dispersed throughout the fellowship year. The comprehensive curriculum includes didactics presented by experienced faculty members from the Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, MFM, and the NICU, in addition to members of UPMC’s Risk Management Department, MWH’s Case Management Department, and others. Research-focused didactics include such topics as processes of clinical trial design and implementation, funding, and the principles and ethics of research in pregnant women, their fetuses, and neonates. Lecture topics involving legal, ethical, and social issues are provided. Fellows participate in the education of residents with informal lectures and take part in weekly departmental presentations, including OB anesthesia case conferences, quality assurance and patient safety meetings, and proceedings from national conferences. 

Fellows participate in an OB patient education session entitled “Meet the Anesthesiologist.” The session is an interdisciplinary effort coordinated to include doulas and nurse midwives to provide patients with childbirth education. An attending anesthesiologist stays alongside for the fellows’ initial involvement in the session. Sessions are held six times a year and provide fellows the opportunity to improve their communication skills with patients outside of the traditional medical setting. Patients view an educational video on epidural anesthesia, which is followed by a question and answer period conducted by the fellows. The session has proven successful and is received quite favorably by patients.

• ACGME Accredited: Yes
• Participate in San Francisco Match: Yes
• Duration of Program: Clinical only (1 year), Clinical Investigator (3 years)
• Positions Available: 2

Candidates must be graduates of a US ACGME-accredited anesthesiology residency program.