Maternal-Fetal Medicine & Reproductive Genetics Fellowship

Director: Teresa Sparks, MD

Associate Director: Marya Zlatnik, MD

Clinical Training

Inpatient and outpatient teaching of Maternal-Fetal Medicine occurs at both the UCSF Mission Bay campus and Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG). The UCSF Mission Bay site provides “quaternary” obstetric and neonatal care, with a range and depth of subspecialty care available, including the Fetal Therapy program. The outpatient program at Mission Bay includes Prenatal Diagnosis, Fetal Cardiology, Fetal Therapy, the Pregnancy and Cardiac Team (PACT), the Diabetes in Pregnancy Program, and the Center for Complex Maternal Care. At ZSFG, the inpatient high-risk obstetrics unit provides care to underserved patients in San Francisco County. As the only Level 1 trauma center in San Francisco and northern San Mateo counties, ZSFG also cares for all pregnant trauma patients. Outpatient obstetric care at ZSFG includes a high-risk pregnancy clinic that cares for high risk patients, many of whom have medical and social co-morbidities complicating their pregnancies.

Rotations include the following:

• Labor and Delivery supervisor: 2 months (in 3 years)
• Outpatient (Mission Bay and ZSFG): 3 months per year
• Prenatal Diagnosis Center (PDC): minimum 1 month per year (typically more)
• Fetal Cardiology (echo): minimum 2 weeks (in 3 years)
• Antepartum: 1-3 months per year
• ICU Parnassus: 1 month (in 3 years)
• Research: 1–5 months per year (at least 12 months in 3 years)
• Fetal Treatment Center: minimum 1 month (in 3 years)
• Clinical Genetics: 2 months (in 3 years)
• Electives
  • Any of the above required rotations can be done as elective, including additional research
  • Women’s options
  • Neonatology
  • Obstetrical anesthesia
  • Reproductive environmental health

Fellow night call is in-house obstetrics-only at UCSF Mission Bay with approximately two to three calls per month, which counts towards with the 80-hour work week. Fellows are supervised by faculty who are in-house and immediately available.

Research Training

MFM fellows have twelve months of protected research time distributed throughout the three years of fellowship. All fellows take a six-week summer course called Training In Clinical Research (TICR), which provides coursework in designing clinical research, introductory biostatistics, and database management. They also participate in monthly MFM Division Research meetings where they have the opportunity to present their ongoing work, monthly journal clubs, and conference-specific brainstorming and preparatory sessions. MFM fellows have the opportunity to complete clinical research, translational, and basic science projects depending on their areas of interest.

The fellowship leadership team works with each fellow to identify research mentors both inside and outside of the division. The Research Oversight Committee, comprised of several core faculty members who oversee the research development of MFM fellows, also meets with fellows at least twice yearly to provide support, guidance, and mentorship. These meetings are in addition to more frequent meetings that occur between fellows and their project mentors.

MFM fellows are very successful in their research, and typically present at multiple national and international conferences throughout their fellowship. The entire MFM Division participates actively in the yearly Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) conference. 

Although our fellows work with many research faculty throughout the division, department, and institution, the following are the main MFM faculty that provide research mentorship.

• Mary Norton, MD
• Miriam Kuppermann, PhD, MPH
• Susan Fisher, PhD
• Juan Gonzalez, MD, MS, PhD
• Teresa Sparks, MD MAS
• Stephanie Gaw, MD, PhD
• Melissa Rosenstein, MD, MPH
• Nasim Sobhani, MD, MAS
• Tracey Woodruff, PhD, MPH

Didactic Lectures and Conferences

The main didactics for MFM fellows occur every Wednesday morning. These lectures cover the requirements from the ABOG Guide to Learning in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and are delivered live by UCSF faculty and guest lecturers to enhance the learning experience. Additional lectures and conferences include:

• OB-Neonatology morbidity and mortality (M&M) conference
• Fetal Treatment Center (FTC) interdisciplinary meeting
• Maternal Fetal Medicine Clinical meeting
• OB/GYN Departmental Grand Rounds
• Obstetrical ultrasound conference (joint with Radiology)
• Pregnancy and Cardiac Team (PACT) meeting
• Diabetes in Pregnancy Program (DAPP) meeting
• MFM/Genetics Clinical meeting
• Journal Club (with joint opportunities OB/GYN residents and other fellowships)
• MFM Division Research meeting
• MFM fellow Creasy chapter review
   

Application Requirements

• Completion of an ACGME accredited residency
• Complete online Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) application (link here)
• Register at National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) (link http://www.nrmp.org/.)
• Register at Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM)
• Three letters of recommendation (two of them from your current program)
• Personal statement that indicates your interest in MFM

Important Dates

• Application Deadline: April 28, 2025
• Interview Invitations: May 19, 2025
• Interview Accept/Decline date: May 27, 2025
• Applications & Rolling invitations: continued per program discretion and ERAS deadlines
• Interview Dates: July 8, July 15, July 29, 2025

See SMFM Applying for Fellowship webpage for MFM Fellowship important dates and additional applicant info.

Recruitment and Selection Process

The Fellowship program selects and appoints trainees in accordance with the University of California and GME policy, and in compliance with all Federal and State laws. We select eligible applicants on the basis of aptitude, preparedness, academic credentials and career goals.

It is the policy of UCSF and its affiliated hospitals that programs do not discriminate against qualified applicants based upon gender, ethnicity, race, age, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, marital status, or veteran status.

UCSF does not use race, gender, sex or other protected categories or proxies for protected categories in the selection process.

UCSF Fellowship Director
Nicola Sequeira

GME/CME Education Coordinator
Patrick Canio

Maternal-Fetal Medicine & Reproductive Genetics Division Analyst
Jaqueline Wren