Through McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University fellows are offered a broad educational experience. Recognizing that some trainees have specific passions and career paths in mind, they have developed four unique Areas of Focus, which offer special events and focused mentoring in particular pathways; Global Health, Medical Education, Health Equity & Advocacy and Bioethics.  Many fellows have chosen to pursue these certificate programs.

Fellows may also choose to pursue individual courses or full degrees within programs such as the Master of Public Health or Master of Science in Clinical Investigation. Individual courses can be supported by the fellowship and a complete degree may be partially subsidized by the fellowship.

Northwestern University's fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine aims to develop physicians who are skilled at interpreting and conducting research. Northwestern University is a nationally-recognized leader in maternal-fetal medicine research, and opportunities for fellow participation are abundant. The focus of research conducted is at the discretion of the fellow. Fellows may pursue clinical research, perinatal epidemiology, health services research, health disparities research, public health investigation, or basic/translational research. Northwestern has ample resources to support research career development, including rigorous methods training through established courses and programs, grant writing courses, small grants programs, and opportunities for conference attendance. We offer up to 18 months of protected research time and many fellowship graduates are nationally funded MFM researchers.

Fellows will work closely with experienced research mentors to design research projects, and fellows are expected to develop a diverse research portfolio over their three-year fellowship. Mentors are available from within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (including the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Division of Clinical Genetics, and Section of Diagnostic Ultrasound), as well as other departments. Fellows are encouraged to seek multiple mentors, and past fellows have worked with faculty in the Institute for Public Health and Medicine, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Center for Reproductive Sciences, among others. 

Northwestern participates in multiple major research networks, including the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network, the NHLBI nuMoM2b Heart Health Study, the NIDDK GO MOMS study, and multiple HIV-focused networks. Fellows are encouraged to include work with our extensive network of collaborators in their research portfolio.

Clinical Training Overview

Inpatient, outpatient, and ultrasound training in maternal fetal medicine occurs at Northwestern Memorial Hospital/Prentice Women’s Hospital and Prentice Ambulatory Care Clinic. Prentice provides quaternary obstetric and neonatal care in conjunction with the adjacent Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and The Chicago Institute for Fetal Health (CIFH) . The annual birthing volume at this site is approximately 12,000 births per year, allowing ample exposure to a wide range of maternal and fetal conditions.

Our fellowship program is organized to optimally teach fellows the necessary skills while balancing inpatient and outpatient clinical care, teaching, and research. We believe learning to balance these activities during training is essential to continued success as academic leaders after graduation. Fellows experience graduated independence during clinical interactions as they demonstrate comfort and proficiency with clinical skills. All fellows graduate from Northwestern’s MFM fellowship capable of being competent, autonomous consultants in all aspects of maternal-fetal medicine.  

Rotations divided into 2 week blocks include the following: 

 Outpatient practice

The MFM fellows lead their own independent weekly high-risk obstetric (HROB) continuity clinics that provide both consultative support and comprehensive prenatal care for medically and socially complex patients. The first year fellow leads a diabetes and endocrine practice, and the second and third year fellows have a two-year continuity clinic involving all other aspects of MFM. Fellows also supervise resident and medical student learning in their continuity clinics with additional support from a member of the Maternal Fetal Medicine faculty. Our fellows also develop expertise in management of patients living with HIV and other infectious diseases in pregnancy through the multidisciplinary weekly Women’s Infectious Diseases Program, which is a joint multidisciplinary program with colleagues in adult and pediatric infectious disease, pharmacy, and social work. Fellows also serve as perinatal HIV expert consultants for the 24/7 Illinois Perinatal HIV Hotline.

Inpatient practice

Fellows are active members of the inpatient labor and delivery and antepartum teams while on inpatient rotations. They receive strong clinical training in maternal and fetal antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum care, including participation in operative deliveries, intensive care, and maternal and fetal procedures.

Each fellow takes 5 call shifts per month. During fellow call shifts, the MFM fellow is first call for all MFM-level care, deliveries, and consults with an MFM attending at home on back-up for the fellow, while an OBGYN generalist is in house. Fellows are protected from clinical responsibilities on post-call days.

Training in fetal anomalies

Chicago Institute for Fetal Health provides additional opportunities for fellows to gain exposure to ultrasound and other advanced fetal imaging techniques, prenatal diagnosis, genetic counseling, multidisciplinary collaboration with pediatric subspecialists, and joint counseling of patients and their families regarding complex fetal anomalies and fetal intervention. Fellows have the opportunity to participate in fetal therapy procedures through CIFH as well and PUBS/IUT at Prentice.

Conferences & Didactics

Several weekly, monthly, and bi-monthly multidisciplinary conferences and didactic sessions occur that enhance fellow learning in several specialty areas of maternal fetal medicine. Fellows are also protected to attend Departmental weekly M&M and Grand Rounds and quarterly Department-wide fellowship-focused sessions. 

Fellows are expected to attend the annual Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine meeting. Fellows are similarly supported to attend other annual national and international conferences of interest or at which they are presenting their research. For example, many fellows attend annual meetings of IDSOG, SRI, ADA , SPER ,  Conferences on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, and others.

The clinical program is based at Prentice Women’s Hospital, the obstetrics and gynecology pavilion of Northwestern Memorial Hospital, which is the primary teaching affiliate of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Our diverse and large patient population provides excellent opportunities for challenging clinical care and delivery over 12,000 patients annually.

This large obstetric volume affords the opportunity for substantial ultrasound experience with our MFM faculty interpreting and counseling on over 37,000 scans annually. The MFM faculty provides ultrasound and clinical counseling through multidisciplinary care conferences at Chicago Institute for Fetal Health including pediatric cardiology, neonatology, fetal surgery, pediatric surgery and many other pediatric subspecialists.

The MFM faculty practice provides full service obstetric care for high risk patient and fetal conditions. Each fellow has a high-risk continuity clinic throughout fellowship.  Fellows also rotate on the inpatient clinical service and reproductive genetics practices.

Fellows also have exposure to our specialty clinics. They provide care and support for patients who are living with or at risk of HIV or other infectious diseases through the multidisciplinary Women’s Infectious Diseases Program. They also provide consultation for the 24/7 Illinois Perinatal HIV Hotline to assist providers throughout Illinois in management of patients at risk of perinatal transition. Northwestern also has an obstetric endocrine clinic which encompasses MFM, endocrinology, diabetic nurse educators and dietitians to best care for patients with complex endocrine care such as diabetes, thyroid disease and adrenal conditions. Additionally, there is an obstetric hematology program that aims to optimize are for pregnant patients with hematologic conditions, such as thrombophilias.

The Northwestern MFM Fellowship supports reproductive justice. Fellows are trained in counseling on the full range of reproductive choices, including abortion and all contraception options. Fellows are expected to participate in reproductive choice counseling and care. Faculty and fellows work closely with partners in the Section of Family Planning and Contraception to provide comprehensive reproductive health care.

MFM Fellowship Application Information

Housestaff training through McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University provides diverse and challenging clinical experiences and world-class education located in the heart of the beautiful city of Chicago. Learn more via the links to the McGaw website below.

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