Program Description

The UCLA Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship is designed to train exceptional clinicians, researchers, and leaders in our field.

Program Director: Neil S. Silverman, MD
Associate Program Director: Rashmi Rao, MD
Training Sites: Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica

SMFM Annual Meeting
Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Annual Meeting. From Left: Yalda Afshar, MD (Former Fellow, Current Faculty), Rashmi Rao, MD (Former Fellow, Current Faculty), Christina Han, MD, MFM Fellowship Program Dir., Emily Scibetta, MD (Former Fellow).

Clinical Training

In our quaternary care, regional transfer center, fellows will learn to care for the highest risk pregnancies from both the maternal and fetal standpoint.  The clinical training is concentrated in the first 18 months of the program, with the fellows experiencing ownership and continuity of care of patients from both the high-yield high-risk obstetrical clinic and the faculty practice.  In the second half of clinical training, fellows can design and personalize a variety of clinical rotations that meet their particular interests. 

Research Training

The fellows will be assigned a primary research mentor during their first year.  We encourage a variety of research exposures during the three years, with former fellows having conducted research in clinical, epidemiology, basic science, and translational research. Each fellow is encouraged to design and conduct at least one randomized-controlled clinical trial and one quality improvement project during their training. 

In accordance with ACGME, our fellowship accommodates the requirements of various research training programs by strictly minimizing the clinical activities to no more than 10% of the fellow's time in the second half (18 months) of training. The training program is designed to provide the experience that is critical to the development of a successful academic career in maternal-fetal medicine. 

Leadership Training

Our fellowship emphasizes the role of the MFMs as leaders in education, clinical practice, and in the community, with the understanding that fellowship is the ideal time to build these skills.  Our fellows have the opportunity to lead in QI initiatives during their L&D Supervision rotations, in resident and student education, and in speaking engagements in the community. We also strongly encourage our fellows to participate in committees at the national and regional level.   

Education Fund

As with all UCLA post-graduate training programs, designated educational funds have been set aside for each fellow to pursue academic and research interests.  In addition, as part of the fellowship, you will have clinical coverage to attend the following conferences and courses:

  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 1st year Fellow Retreat (PGY-5)
  • Gottesfeld-Hohler Ultrasound Conference (once during fellowship; Florida)
  • Medical Genetics Course at UCLA
  • Biostatistics Course at UCLA
  • Conferenences where fellows are first-author on abstracts

Application

To complete your application, our program requires at least two letters of recommendation; one from your present chief of service and the other from someone who knows you well and can assess your clinical abilities and potential for a leadership role in Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

UCLA’s application timeline is as follows:

  • April 28, 2024 – deadline for applications to be included in the first notification
  • May 20, 2024 – single notification date for interviews
  • May 28, 2024 – initial deadline to accept or decline interviews

Contact

Valeria Montoya Ramirez
Fellowship Education Coordinator
Email: [email protected]

Please note, unless it is an emergency, please do not call the office to check the status of your application as we do not have the staff to field such a large volume of calls. You will be notified of the status of your application by e-mail.