Under the supervision of obstetric anesthesia faculty, fellows are expected to manage the labor and delivery suite. This includes direct patient care, as well as supervision and teaching of junior residents. During the fellowship, you will rotate in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), the Maternal Fetal Medicine service, and the Blood Bank. The strong relationship we share with the maternal fetal medicine team and all the obstetricians fosters a collaborative care effort and provides for a busy consultation service where we become involved with our most challenging patients from early on in their pregnancies.

In addition to the clinical rotations, fellows participate in an active consult service in which patients who have an array of medical conditions that may impact their ability to receive neuraxial anesthesia are evaluated antepartum. These conditions include thrombocytopenia, factor XI deficiency, prior back surgery with instrumentation, cardiac disease, and intracranial lesions. The fellow will evaluate the patient along with the attending to develop a delivery plan.

Our fellowship includes a curriculum composed of didactic lectures, journal clubs, and conferences to help you master the subspecialty of obstetric anesthesia. There are also opportunities for interdisciplinary educational initiatives with our obstetric colleagues, residents, and nurses. Fellows learn a broad range of obstetric anesthesiology topics, including:

• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation and advanced cardiac life support of pregnant patients
• Embryology and teratogenicity
• Ethical issues during pregnancy
• Fetal and placental physiology and pathophysiology
• Maternal physiology and mortality
• Medical disease and pregnancy
• Neonatal physiology and resuscitation
• Non-obstetric surgery during pregnancy
• Obstetric management of labor
• Postpartum tubal ligation
• Tocolytic therapy

Fellows also participate in quality initiatives on the labor and delivery suite. This entails engaging in performance improvement meetings, peer review of medical records, developing obstetric anesthesia policy, and leading a quality-related project.

Fellows participate in the ongoing research projects on the labor and delivery suite. In addition, fellows are encouraged to develop their own projects, write review articles, and submit case reports. Participation in research projects should lead to presentation at a national anesthesia meeting. As part of the Journal Club, we meet bi-monthly to review and discuss recent publications. Past research project topics by fellows have included platelet patterns in women with preeclampsia, the utility and characterization of platelet mapping and function in preeclampsia, and the assessment of coagulation profiles in women with recent fetal demise.

To support fellows’ research efforts, fellows are allowed up to five days of conference time to attend one national meeting per year in the area of obstetric anesthesiology, in addition to meetings where the fellow is presenting an abstract. Fellows can receive up to $2,700 to cover expenses.

We accept applications through the SF Match between Monday, January 15 and Saturday, June 1. We conduct interviews on a rolling basis starting in early March. Fellowship training begins Monday, July 1 or Thursday, August 1 (must be pre-approved).

Applicants must be graduates from an ACGME-accredited residency program; a Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada-accredited or The College of Family Physicians of Canada-accredited program located in Canada; or approved as an exceptionally qualified international graduate applicant who does not satisfy the eligibility requirements but has Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) certification.

Applicants interested in completing a dual fellowship at Icahn Mount Sinai in Obstetric Anesthesiology and, for example, Cardiothoracic or Critical Care: please complete applications for both fellowships via SF Match and indicate your interest where appropriate in the application. Please also directly message our program coordinators for each specialty via email to notify us regarding your intentions. Per ACGME, the fellowships are separate single-year fellowships, performed in succession for a total of 24 months of fellowship training.