The UC San Diego Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences works collaboratively to discover and share new knowledge, provide outstanding clinical care to our patients and advance health care equity and justice to individuals within and beyond our institution. It is an honor to serve as the Interim Department Chair, following in the steps of UC San Diego Department Chairs who have left extraordinarily strong legacies.
Our department mission builds on a strong legacy of dedication to creation of new knowledge, without which health care can cannot progress. The research programs have increased in depth and breadth, with new sources of funding and a broad spectrum of trainees. The scope of research includes basic and mechanistic science, translational science, prevention science, clinical research and community/population-based studies. The impactful work being done by the UC San Diego Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences researchers is very impressive. Please take time to learn their areas of scientific focus. (https://medschool.ucsd.edu/som/obgyn/research/Pages/default.aspx).
The opportunity to share knowledge provides our patients, faculty and staff with the ability to influence the lives of others, especially those training to be clinicians and/or investigators in our field. We welcome medical students, resident physicians and subspecialty fellows to partner with our faculty to provide health care in compassionate ways that meet the needs of each individual patient. Our medical student clerkship provides a strong obstetrics and gynecology foundation for all future physicians, inspiring quite a few to enter the field. Our UC San Diego residency program prepares individuals for independent practice or further subspecialty training. UC San Diego residents flourish in a supportive program that helps each resident reach their highest potential with awareness of the privileges and responsibilities they have as physicians. Our subspecialty fellowship programs provide highly specialized training for skills in academic medicine, including advancing research, education and subspecialty technical skills.
Early-career faculty have the opportunity to develop their skills with resources and support within and beyond our department. Collegial support and mentoring are provided for all department faculty (https://medschool.ucsd.edu/som/obgyn/education-training/Pages/Faculty-Mentor-Training-Program.aspx).
Department clinicians provide medical care in a variety of settings distributed in a growing network of community sites throughout the San Diego region.
Encinitas
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/encinitas/1200-garden-view-road
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/encinitas/781-garden-view-court
Rancho Bernardo
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/san-diego/16950-via-tazon
Sorrento Valley
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/san-diego/4910-directors-place
La Jolla
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/la-jolla/8910-villa-la-jolla-drive
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/la-jolla/4520-executive-drive
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/la-jolla/9333-genesee-ave
Kearny Mesa
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/san-diego/3750-convoy-st
College Area
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/san-diego/6719-alvarado-road
Hillcrest
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/san-diego/4168-front-st
https://healthlocations.ucsd.edu/san-diego/200-w.-arbor-drive-7000-02001
High-quality surgical care is offered through UC San Diego Health hospitals at Jacobs Medical Center, the Koman Outpatient Surgical Pavilion and Hillcrest.
Preparations for our new permanent chair are occurring in a time of significant turmoil in our country. As the search for the next permanent chair progresses, we will prioritize thoughtful consideration of these issues as we work to foster an equitable, resourceful, inclusive and creative environment. Please take time to explore our Department website which describes activities of the faculty and staff of the UC San Diego Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences as they work diligently to advance our academic mission of research, education and clinical care.
Linda Brubaker, M.D.
Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences
University of California, San Diego
E-mail: librubaker@health.ucsd.edu
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News and Highlights
New Service Offered
The UCSD Perinatal Biorepository provides access to resources for clinical and translational studies on human pregnancy. High quality biospecimens and clinical data from rigorously adjudicated healthy and complicated pregnancies are available to investigators at UCSD and other institutions. For prospective studies, assistance with study design and preparation of regulatory documents, study subject recruitment and enrollment, and a variety of study procedures are available. The Biorepository currently contains:
- Placental tissue samples compatible with molecular and histologic studies for over 2,500 cases.
- Maternal serum, plasma, and urine from over 1,000 cases.
- Cord blood (serum and plasma) from over 300 cases.
Analytical services available include:
- Detailed histological evaluation of placental tissue
- Nucleic acid extraction from tissue and biofluid samples.
- Next-generation sequencing library preparation (including small RNAseq, long RNAseq, single-cell RNAseq, whole genome DNAseq, and whole genome bisulfite sequencing).
- Analysis of next-generation sequencing data.
The Biorepository is co-directed by Drs. Louise Laurent and Mana Parast. Dr. Laurent is a Maternal Fetal Medicine subspecialist with expertise in genomics, stem cell biology, and extracellular RNA biomarker discovery. Dr. Parast is a Perinatal Pathologist with expertise in placental and stem cell biology.
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Congratulations to Dr. Brooke Sanders, who was named House Officer of Year for 2020. Dr Sanders is a PGY-4 in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.
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Congratulations to
Ramez N. Eskander, MD,
Daphne (Yvette) LaCoursiere, MD, and
Christine B. Miller, MD for being named "Top Docs" in San Diego Magazine's 2019 annual "Physicians of Exceptional Excellence" survey.
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Congratulations! In her first political outing, Akilah Weber, MD, our department's faculty member and pediatric gynecologist, bested two incumbents with the most votes in La Mesa, where two City Council seats were being chosen.
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Congratulions to Pamela Mellon, PhD for receiving the 2017 Bernice Grafstein Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Mentoring. The award recognizes an individual who has shown dedication to mentoring female neuroscientists and to facilitating their entry or retention in the field. Pam has successfully trained and mentored more than 200 faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and masters and undergraduate students.
Congratulations to Mimi Lukacz, Linda Brubaker and their urology colleagues, Mike Albo and Yahir Santiago-Lastra for their excellent review article on Urinary Incontinence published in
October 2017's JAMA. This article took a tremendous effort by these faculty members and is a truly valuable clinical reference for anyone taking care of women with incontinence. Please join us in congratulating them.