In the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, we pride ourselves on extraordinary patient care, research and education. Those areas will be bolstered for years to come thanks to an exciting new collaboration with the Allegheny Health Network and Highmark Health, highlighted in this newsletter.

Through this collaboration, we have formed one of the largest single-site research initiatives — combined, we perform nearly 20,000 obstetric deliveries and 20,000 gynecologic surgeries a year — which will allow us to look at best practices and outcomes, and cooperate on clinical trials. We will have the chance to apply our Precision Medicine Analytics Platform (PMAP) to women’s health on a scale that has not been done before, which will allow us to seek connections between treatments and outcomes that we wouldn’t see with a smaller data set. We will share knowledge through combined subspecialty conferences. We at Johns Hopkins will learn about Allegheny’s value-based care and workflow efficiencies, and we will welcome their residents to our research labs.

Most importantly, with such a robust set of data, what we find will directly impact our patients as well as theirs.

Regarding our mission of excellence in education, we are also pleased that our efforts have been recognized by U.S. News & World Report, which ranked us #2 in Best Obstetrics and Gynecology Programs in its Best Grad Schools rankings.

Though we are not defined by such accolades, it is wonderful to see the tremendous effort and innovation of our faculty and staff acknowledged — which is why I am equally glad to share Edward E. Wallach was recently presented with a lifetime achievement award by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

And finally, I am delighted to announce that we recently named two new endowed professorships in the department. Valerie Baker, who is leading our new fertility center (featured on page 1), was named the first Richard W. TeLinde and Edward E. Wallach Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics. This professorship is supported by the family of Howard and Georgeanna Jones. And, thanks to a generous donation by the Drew family, Victoria Handa was named the first Drew Family Professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics. The professorship will focus on urogynecology.

Andrew J. Satin, M.D.
Director,
Johns Hopkins Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics