Surf Department News

Donor Spotlight
Drs. Nissi & Ajit Varki donate $300k in support of Glycobiology Research and Training Center and vision of Co-Directors Dr. Amanda Lewis and Dr. Kamil Godula to nucleate initiative – the GLycoscience Of Women’s health (GLOW).
Featured Department News

2023-2024
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UC San Diego Health Receives Highest Award for Obstetric, Infant Care. (UC San Diego Newsroom).
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We’ve Got You, Baby! UC San Diego Health Delivers Top OB/GYN Care to Community. (UC San Diego Today).
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Tri-City to Partner with UC San Diego Health in Delivering World-Class Medical Care. (UC San Diego Today).
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US Maternal Mortality is Unacceptably High, Unequal, and Getting Worse–What Can be Done About It?. (JAMA).
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America's Best Maternity Hospitals. (Newsweek).
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Addressing Inequities in Affordability of Care to Promote a Culture of Health. (Academy Health).
- Modeling Sustainable Health Care at UC San Diego Health. (UC San Diego Today).
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Early vs Interval Postpartum Intrauterine Device Placement: Randomized Clinical Trial. (JAMA).
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IUD Placement at Two to Four Weeks Postpartum Noninferior. (Health Day).
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UC San Diego Department of OBGYN & RS ranked #3 in NIH funding for OBGYN departments nationwide by the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research. (BRIMR).
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Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman Named President-Elect of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. (UC San Diego Today).
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Maternal deaths in the U.S. keep climbing. (Science News).
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A love letter to Black birthing people from Black birth workers, midwives, and physicians. (OB Management).
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The Culture and Justice Quorum at University of California, San Diego: A Departmental Approach to Dismantling Structural Racism. (Academic Medicine).
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Pembrolizumab plus Chemotherapy in Advanced Endometrial Cancer. (NEJM).
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Study: Endometrial Cancer Treatment Has Significant Results. (UC San Diego Today).
Marni Jacobs, PhD and Louise Laurent, MD, PhD bring in an NIH award for Multi-Omics for Human Health and Disease Study Site New Research Consortium "Multi-Omics for Maternal Health after Preeclampsia."
Ukachi Emeruwa, MD, MPH received the Robert A. Winn Career Development award and Kathleen Fisch, PhD awarded NIH/NICHD grant for Genomic Dissection of Placental Lesions in Preeclampsia.
David Schlaepfer, PhD garners V Foundation Translational Award Grant for "Overcoming Ovarian Cancer Immune Resistance."
Irene Su, MD, MSCE awarded NIH grant for Cancer Research and Education to Advance Health Equity (CREATE).

Award Spotlight
Yvette LaCoursiere, MD, MPH receives the 2023 Faculty Excellence in Mentoring Award at the UC San Diego SOM Mentoring Excellence Celebration for outstanding contributions to inclusive mentoring of junior faculty and future leaders in academic medicine and OB/GYN.
Congratulations
DEPARTMENT OF OBGYN & RS RECOGNITION
- Yvette LaCoursiere, MD, MPH recognized as a 2023 UCSD Health Sciences Excellence in Mentoring Awardee for showing dedication to inclusive mentorship as an extraordinary mentor (October 2023).
- Erica Vu, CNM, MS won CNM of the Year at UC San Diego Health's Advanced Practice Providers Award Ceremony (October 2023).
- San Diego Magazine's 2023 Top Doctors:
- Gynecologic Oncology: Pratibha Binder, MD and Ramez Eskander, MD
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Andrew Hull, MD, Thomas Kelly, MD, and Thomas Moore, MD
- Obstetrics & Gynecology: Yvette LaCoursiere, MD, MPH, Christine Miller, MD, and Mariana Ramos-Rivera, MD
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Maryam Tarsa, MD
- Marianna Alperin, MD, MS has been elected Co-Chair for the 2023-2024 term of the Women First Research Coalition (WFRC). This appointment is a testament to leadership and expertise in the field of women’s health research (August 2023).
- Sheila Mody, MD, MPH has been invited and accepted to become a member of the Complex Family Planning Certifying Examination Subcommittee for ABOG senior candidates (August 2023).
- Maureen Ries, MD has been recognized at the 2023 Council for Resident Education in Obstetrics & Gynecology (CREOG) Education Retreat for being part of the new generation of Program Directors innovating residency (August 2023).
- David Schlaepfer, PhD received the V Foundation Translational Award Program Grant for "Overcoming Ovarian Cancer Immune Resistance" (July 2023).
- Emily Lukacz, MD, MAS received the 1st annual Pamella Mellon Excellence in Mentorship Award (June 2023).
- Rebecca Racow-Penner, MD, PhD, Anders Dale, PhD, and Michael McHale, MD received the Curebound Cure Prize for developing advanced diffusion-weighted MRI ovarian cancer screening to detect healthy vs. malignant ovarian tissue for women at high risk for the disease (June 2023).
- Murrieta Gyn Oncology Clinic staffed by Pratihba Binder, MD received the 2023 Patient Experience Highest Achievement Award which recognizes clinics and units with the highest Likelihood to Recommend Percentile Ranks in 2022 (May 2023).
- Maryam Tarsa, MD has been elected as the incoming Vice Present of the Medical Staff (May 2023).
- Sarah Averbach, MD lead RCT Author: JAMA | A Randomized Clinical Trial: Early vs. Interval Postpartum Intrauterine Device Placement (March 2023).
- Ramez Eskander, MD lead RCT Author: NEJM | Pembrolizumab plus Chemotherapy in Advanced Endometrial Cancer (March 2023)
- Castle Connolly's Top Doctors in San Diego 2023, Modern Luxury Magazine San Diego:
- Gynecologic Oncology: Ramez Eskander, MD, Michael McHale, MD, and Cheryl Saenz, MD
- Maternal-Fetal Medicine: Andrew Hull, MD, Thomas Kelly, MD, and Thomas Moore, MD
- Obstetrics & Gynecology: Pamela Deak, MD, Jessica Kingston, MD, Kathryn Macaulay, MD, Christine Miller, MD, and Shira Varon, MD
- Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility: Sanjay Agarwal, MD
- Urogynecology/Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery: Marianna Alperin, MD, Emily S. Lukacz, MD, and Charles W. Nager, MD
- Cynthia-Bannerman, MD, MS was elected to The American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for 2023 joining members from 49 institutions representing UCSD Health excellence across the breadth of academic medicine.