Academic medicine has three main functions: Education, patient care and research. Our faculty members are chosen to balance these functions, providing residents a robust and rigorous learning experience.
Consultations with our clinical and basic science specialists are readily available to residents. Residents also collaborate in caring for the patients of our full- and part-time faculty members. In addition to our 45 full-time teaching faculty members, part-time faculty are private physicians who contribute to the training program.
Our teaching faculty conduct patient care and research in the following areas; learn more about each area of expertise below.
The program trains residents to appreciate the integral role of fertility control in women’s lives and prepares residents to provide expert consultation to other medical specialties regarding family planning and reproductive health issues of women with complicated medical histories.
Family planning faculty:
The Division of General Obstetrics and Gynecology maintains a strong presence in both clinical practice and education. The division accounted for >10,000 patient visits in 2018, bringing the residents experience caring for a wide variety of obstetrical and gynecologic patients. Faculty routinely staff the resident outpatient clinics and their inpatient gynecologic service.
General ob/gyn faculty:
The Genetics Division provides genetic counseling services for over 1,400 families per year and is among the largest genetic referral centers in the United States. Prenatal diagnostic services include teratology consultation, genetic amniocentesis, first trimester chorionic villus sampling, maternal serum aneuploidy screening, cell-free fetal DNA testing, and sonographic diagnosis of fetal structural malformations. Residents are exposed to many of these patients during their rotations at Barnes-Jewish Hospital (north and south).
During their first year, residents rotate through the outpatient service learning genetic counseling and ultrasound with the division. The division has its own cytogenetics laboratory which performs 1800 chromosome analyses per year. Active research interests include the development of new techniques for the first trimester diagnosis of genetic disease and mapping of genes to specific chromosomes.
Genetics and ultrasound faculty:
The Gynecologic Oncology Division provides care for women requiring extensive surgical procedures for pelvic malignancies as well as treatment of cancer with radiation, with the assistance of the staff in Radiation Oncology.
The oncology division is one of the busiest in the nation with over 750 new gynecologic cancer patients each year. Our colposcopy and chemotherapy clinics provide diagnosis and therapy for gynecologic malignancies. Research in immunology and molecular biology is conducted on both the causation and therapy of cancer.
Gynecologic oncology faculty:
The department has the faculty and facilities for the delivery of health care to women with high risk pregnancies (i.e. women with hypertension, pre-eclampsia, diabetes mellitus, renal disease, etc.). We provide fetal and maternal surveillance throughout pregnancy. The perinatal staff works closely with pediatric neonatologists in research and in the delivery of comprehensive care to the infant and mother at risk before, during, and after birth.
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Department of Pediatrics each staff and maintain basic science and clinical laboratories in perinatal biology. Full-time faculty who specialize in OB Anesthesiology assure that the best anesthesia care is provided for both fetus and mother.
Maternal-fetal medicine faculty:
Minimally Invasive Surgery is a third year rotation which is an opportunity to improve your laparoscopic skills and learn the appropriate pre-operative evaluation and counseling as well as perioperative management of minimally invasive surgery patients. Your time will be spent operating with the MIS attendings, seeing patients in clinic at the COH and in their private offices, and working the skills lab.
Minimally invasive gynecology faculty:
The Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology (PAG) clinical rotation is an opportunity for the first-year resident to interact with children and teens and their families in a clinical outpatient setting. Typical issues include disorders of puberty, menses, vulvar complaints, and congenital anomalies of the reproductive tract. Prevention of STIs and unplanned pregnancy counseling is emphasized along with supporting self-esteem for young women. Senior residents provide consultation for the inpatients and emergency department at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and cover the surgical procedures for these young patients (ovarian torsion, laparoscopic cystectomies, genital trauma, and surgery for obstructive anomalies).
Pediatric and adolescent gynecology faculty:
The Reproductive Biology group investigates the relationships between morphology and function in tissues of the female reproductive tract. The effects of infection, hormones and contraceptives on cervical and endometrial cells are studied by light and electron microscopic techniques and also by cytochemical and radioautographic methods. Investigators involved in uterine physiology study tubal transport, the electrophysiology of myometrial contraction, and the rise of progesterone and prostaglandins in the initiation of labor. Many are involved in NIH project grants to study hormonal regulation of the reproductive tract.
Basic science research faculty:
The clinical group in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, together with the laboratory of Reproductive Biochemistry, provide medical and surgical management of infertility, including artificial insemination, endoscopic surgery, and in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The division conducts research on both basic and clinical problems in reproductive physiology. Hormone assays are performed by the laboratory group to assist in the diagnosis and management of gynecologic endocrinopathies.
Reproductive endocrinology and infertility faculty:
The Urogynecology / Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery (FPMRS) rotation is a dedicated six-week block during the third year. The clinical rotation includes experiences on the inpatient and outpatient urogynecology services and pelvic floor physical therapy. Both surgical and non-surgical approaches to treatment are emphasized, and residents participate in the various surgical procedures including abdominal, vaginal, and laparoscopic/robotic approaches to treating pelvic floor disorders.
Urogynecology faculty:
Research
The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has a long history for outstanding contributions to the field of reproductive health, and research training is incorporated throughout the residency. Our residents are exposed to highly talented research and clinical faculty in a superior integrative environment.
Next: See research opportunities for residents »
Application process
Medical school graduates can enter the Obstetrics and Gynecology residency program immediately after graduation, applying through ERAS or ECFMG.