UC Davis OBGYN

09/22/2021

Do you have questions regarding Pregnancy and the Covid-19 Vaccine?

Dr. Véronique Taché, Associate Professor with UC Davis Obstetrics and Gynecology, was interviewed on Good Day Sacramento Tuesday answering some of the most important questions about pregnancy and the Covid-19 Vaccine.

If you missed it, check out the video at:

Dina Kupfer talks to a local doctor about the concerns of pregnant women getting the vaccine.

09/20/2021

WELL DONE to Dr. Catherine Cansino!

Catherine Cansino, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.O.G., an Associate Professor for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC Davis, School of Medicine is featured on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists website and on their Twitter feed as part of their Women in Medicine Month celebration. Dr. Cansino is featured regarding her co-authored article, “The Path Forward: How to Use Metrics to Promote Equitable Work Environments” which was published in the Women in Medicine journal supplement, Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, September 2021.

You can see further information at the ACOG website: https://www.acog.org/news/news-articles/2021/09/the-path-forward-using-metrics-to-promote-equitable-work-environments

09/20/2021

CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Véronique Taché!

Dr. Taché, an Associate Professor and the Residency Program Director for the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC Davis, School of Medicine is an honoree for an Inspiration Award through the American Medical Association. She was nominated for the award by one of our Chief Residents, Dr. Claudia Lopez.

You can see what Dr. Lopez had to say about Dr. Taché on the AMA website: https://www.ama-assn.org/member-groups-sections/women-physicians/inspiration-award-honoree-listings-last-names-n-z

09/17/2021

08/04/2021

Congratulations to the new Diamond Doc Award Recipients!

The recipients include Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty - Dr. Maria “Pia” Anderson, Dr. Jennifer Ozeir, Dr. Debra Swanson (formerly Wright), and Dr. Yan Zhao. They join Ob/Gyn Faculty - Dr. Gary Leiserowitz, Dr. Ravi Nakrani, and Dr. Michael Trifiro, who were recognized in June with the award's creation..

“The award recognizes the voice of our patients. It celebrates physicians who demonstrated careful listening, clear explanations, and respectful partnerships and who received the 90th percentile or higher in the hospital consumer assessment of health care providers (HCAHP) survey for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2021.”

Good Job, everyone!

UC Davis Health recognized 52 doctors who received high scores from patients through the HCAHP survey with the Diamond Doc Award

05/27/2021

Claudia López, a UC Davis Health Obstetrics and Gynecology Resident led group of researchers to “examine the race and ethnicity among OB/GYN, surgical and nonsurgical residents.” The team, which includes Melissa Chen, Associate Director of the Fellowship in Complex Family Planning at UC Davis Health; and Melody Hou, Director of Medical Student Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UC Davis Health; and Machelle Wilson from the UC Davis Division of Biostatistics; feel “More work still needed to recruit, retain OB/GYN residents that reflect the diverse patient population they serve” Read more here:

To address health care disparities among minority women in obstetrics and gynecology, one approach is to increase diversity among health care providers to better reflect the patient population that they serve. But are medical residents within OB/GYN more diverse than other medical specialties?

05/19/2021

UC Davis Health Obstetrics and Gynecology Physicians and Residents are sending out A Call to Reduce Excess Opiod Pills After Hysterectomy. Check out the article here:

A UC Davis Health study urged gynecologic surgeons to prescribe the smallest effective opioid prescription after hysterectomy. Their study found that, on average, patients use only half of pills prescribed after the operation.

05/04/2021

Congratulations to mother, Martel Calabretta, and family!

When Antelope resident Martel Calabretta was pregnant with her sixth baby, she was a seasoned veteran. But early on, she realized that baby number six was a very different pregnancy and required the specialty care that UC Davis Health provides.

03/02/2021

This Black History Month we honor the Mother of Gynecology- Betsey

--Trigger Warning--This story involves sensitive content

Betsey, also 17-18yo, had gotten married the year prior to her delivery. She was owned by Dr. Harris from Lowndes County, a friend of Dr. Sims. She too had her first child around the same time as Archana and Lucy, and developed a 2-inch vesicova**nal fistula with urinary incontinence. Dr. Harris asked Dr. Sims to take her on as a case in his surgical experiments. So, she was sent alone to Sim’s home and small backyard hospital without her husband. Of her vesicova**nal fistula Sims wrote: “the base of the bladder was destroyed, and her case was certainly a very miserable one.” She was the second woman Sims operated on after Lucy.

The ownership and control of slave women’s bodies and the fact that Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey all had their first child at age 17 in the same month is no coincidence. The reproduction of slaves as property was a developed and thought-out business.*
Many things remain the same. A woman’s self-autonomy is still questioned in many places. Obstetric outcomes and maternal mortality still differ by race in America in the 21st century. Black women are 3xs more likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts! We must ask how we can learn from the past and present to improve the future. We must listen to the stories of Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey, and to the contemporary voices of our patients.

Resources:
*Roberts, Dorothy E. Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction, and the Meaning of Liberty. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997. Print.

CDC reporting on U.S. maternal mortality:
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternal-mortality/disparities-pregnancy-related-deaths/infographic.html

02/23/2021

This Black History Month we honor the Mother of Gynecology- Lucy

--Trigger Warning--This story involves sensitive content

Today we honor Lucy, a young slave mother owned by Mr. Zimmerman of Macon County, who gave birth around the same time as Archana and Betsey. Lucy had a 2-inch diameter vesicova**nal fistula. She was the first woman Dr. Sims operated on. Her first surgery lasted an hour without anesthesia. Dr. Sims left a sponge and string in her bladder to drain her bladder via capillary action while the sutures healed. Five days after her surgery she became septic and required a second surgery to remove the source of infection-the retained sponge and string. Dr. Sims wrote the following: “Lucy’s agony was extreme. She was much prostrated, and I thought that she was going to die…” After this first surgery and bacteremia, where she almost lost her life in 12/1845, it took her 3 months to fully recover. After four years of additional surgeries Dr. Sims tried an experiment using perforated slipknot sutures to aid in tying sutures in the va**na, which ultimately failed. It wasn’t until 1849 when silver metal suture was used successfully in Anarcha’s 30th surgery that Lucy would have a successful surgery, all without anesthesia.

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Resources:
For a primary source on this topic read Dr. Marion Sims autobiography:https://ia800303.us.archive.org/1/items/storyofmylif00sims/storyofmylif00sims.pdf

For information on the ethics of these operations read:
Ojanuga D. The medical ethics of the 'father of gynaecology', Dr J Marion Sims. J Med Ethics. 1993 Mar;19(1):28-31. doi: 10.1136/jme.19.1.28. PMID: 8459435; PMCID: PMC1376165. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1376165/pdf/jmedeth00286-0030.pdf)

02/23/2021

Congratulations to our Labor and Delivery team, as well as our Obstetrics and Gynecology Team!

UC Davis was listed as a Best Maternity Hospital for 2021 in Newsweek.

Great job, everyone!

Newsweek partnered with Leapfrog, a national nonprofit organization that reports on the safety and quality performance of U.S. health care facilities to help you make informed decisions about maternity care.

02/17/2021

Congratulations to 2nd Year Medical Student Erika Monasch on her receipt of the 2021 Virtual CREOG & APGO Annual Meeting, Student/Resident for Excellence in Educational Research Award. She worked on her project and poster: An Interdisciplinary Pre-clerkship TBL on Postpartum Depression Using Telemedicine and Online Teaching with our our faculty member Dr. Melody Hou.

Congratulations for a job well done!