Innovations in Review 2024

Women's Health

Obstetricians and gynecologists at Columbia and Weill Cornell Medicine advance the health and well-being of women throughout their lives by delivering personalized, compassionate, and multidisciplinary care. Over the past year, our experts developed new research and treatment plans for highrisk pregnancy care and improved standards of care for routine pregnancy by addressing prenatal RSV vaccination, VBAC assessments, and other facets of labor and delivery care.

Women's Health
Women's Health

Approaching Maternal Health with Comprehensive Care

From devising detailed care plans for complex pregnancies to providing mental health and wellness resources, care teams at the Mothers Center at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Columbia and the Iris Cantor Women’s Health Center at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine are helping people achieve healthy pregnancies and births through an innovative, collaborative model. Both programs coordinate across disciplines to care for women during pregnancy, including patients with preexisting conditions, to develop comprehensive care approaches from preconception through conception and into the postpartum period.

Approaching Maternal Health with Comprehensive Care

Eliminating Racial Bias in Assessments for VBAC

Deciding who is an appropriate candidate for vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) requires weighing the patient’s unique medical history and their future childbearing plans. In the past, race and ethnicity were factored into calculations to predict success of VBAC in patients, but in 2021 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists highly encouraged clinicians to remove these factors. Julia Cron, MD, FACOG, vice chair of obstetrics and gynecology at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, conducted a survey to understand how aware clinicians were of the updated calculations. She found that 23% of surveyed physicians were unaware of the 2021 update, and 35% of respondents were not using any form of VBAC calculator, highlighting an opportunity to educate clinicians about the VBAC calculator and the importance of mitigating unconscious racial bias.

Eliminating Racial Bias in Assessments for VBAC

Making Motherhood Possible for a Congenital Heart Disease Patient

Experts at NewYork‑Presbyterian regularly help women with complex conditions achieve their dream of becoming mothers. For patients with congenital heart disease (CHD), pregnancy is typically not recommended due to the stress it can put on the patient’s heart. They are also at risk for miscarriage, stroke, bleeding, and other complications. In one particular case, Stephanie Purisch, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and co-director of the Mothers Center Heart Program at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Columbia, brought together a multidisciplinary team, including specialists in cardiology, hematology, hepatology, and anesthesia, to care for a patient with CHD, duodenal varices, and thrombocytopenia. Dr. Purisch and team helped this patient successfully navigate through preconception, pregnancy, and postpartum with minimal complications.

Making Motherhood Possible for a Congenital Heart Disease Patient

New Study Confirms Prenatal RSV Vaccine Is Safe

The FDA approved a new vaccine in 2024 for pregnant patients at 32–36 weeks gestation to reduce their newborn’s risk of contracting respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Among eligible patients at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, 35% received an RSV vaccine during the 2023– 2024 RSV season, well above the national average of 18%. New results from a study led by Moeun Son, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, indicated that the RSV vaccine was not associated with increased risk of preterm birth or other adverse perinatal outcomes. This confirmation provided reassurance that the vaccine is safe to give to pregnant patients to prevent RSV-associated hospitalization and mortality in newborns.

New Study Confirms Prenatal RSV Vaccine Is Safe

Delivering Transformation: Reducing Maternal Mortality through Systemic Change

With maternal mortality and morbidity on the rise in the U.S., Dena Goffman, MD, vice chair for quality and patient safety at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Columbia and associate chief quality officer for obstetrics for the NewYork‑Presbyterian healthcare system, is focused on systemic change to improve maternal care. On the Advances in Care podcast, she discusses her role in the FDA approval of an anti-hemorrhage device, and how she has developed new guidelines and training simulations to enhance essential skills for labor and delivery, helping reverse the trends in maternal mortality across the country.

Advances in care podcast featuring Dr. Dena Goffman

The Surgical Robot: Advancing Medicine with Robot-Assisted Technology

Robotic approaches to surgery are becoming more common as they create opportunities for precise, minimally invasive procedures that allow for improved surgical accuracy and faster recovery times than traditional approaches. On the Advances in Care podcast, Tamatha Fenster, MD, a gynecologic surgeon at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Weill Cornell Medicine, discussed how surgical robots are rapidly advancing gynecological procedures, and how she has developed a 3D MRI solution—SmartHER—to assist surgeons in planning and execution. She was joined on the podcast by two other surgeons who share their key takeaways on how robotics are enhancing clinical practice across specialties and will play a major role in the evolution of patient care.

Advances in care podcast featuring Dr. Tamatha Fenster

Advancing Transabdominal Cerclage Through Robotics

Arnold Advincula, MD, chief of gynecologic specialty surgery at NewYork‑Presbyterian and Columbia, is leading the field in helping patients with cervical insufficiency achieve healthy pregnancies through the use of robotic-assisted transabdominal cerclage. This minimally invasive technique allows for more surgical accuracy and precision, while leading to quicker recovery times and improved outcomes. In this video, Dr. Advincula discusses how this technique is transforming gynecologic surgery and allowing women to achieve their reproductive goals.

Advancing Transabdominal Cerclage Through Robotics