Women's Health

Photo: Stewart Martin Susan Cu-Uvin

Mission

THE MISSION of the Brown University/Women & Infants Hospital National Center of Excellence in Women's Health is to foster participation and contributions from the greater community to improve health and health care for all women.

This mission will be accomplished through promoting equal representation of women from all backgrounds in leadership positions, enhancing professional education, expanding innovative research, educating the community and providing a model of clinical care for all women.

Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, Director
Denise Flinn, Project Coordinator
www.womenshealthri.org

Outstanding Faculty Mentor
Susan Cu-Uvin, MD

Congratulations to Susan Cu- Uvin, MD, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and medicine, this quarter’s Outstanding Faculty Mentor. Brenna Anderson, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and E. Milu Kojic, MD, assistant professor of medicine, submitted letters in support of her nomination, highlighting the qualities that make Dr. Cu-Uvin deserving of this recognition. Dr. Anderson wrote: “When I came to Brown two years ago from Pittsburgh, I knew Susan’s name from her well-established work in HIV and the genital tract. Although she is located at The Miriam Hospital and I am at Women & Infants’, she immediately took me under her wing. She never questioned whether she would logistically be able to function as my mentor. She is an absolutely tireless physician committed to advancing research and women’s health. Since I have been at Brown, every success that I have had has been guided by her mentorship. She has provided me with opportunities for publication by being involved in her research.

Susan takes mentoring very seriously and clearly measures her own accomplishment based on the success of her mentees. While we meet regularly, we are in contact almost daily and sometimes many times a day trying to work through various projects. I always feel that I have access to her even though she is across town. She not only encourages career development but also acknowledges the incredible strain that academic life puts on individuals. She allows me to not lose sight of ‘the big picture’ and to do what I love. I cannot express how grateful I am to Susan for providing me with the opportunities that she has thus far in my career. I have no doubt that any future success that I have will be due to her unrelenting support.”

Dr. Kojic said, “Dr. Cu-Uvin’s work ethics reflect everything a true mentor should be. She is an excellent clinician and teacher, always available to answer questions with her door open at all times despite a busy schedule. Despite her own busy career as a clinician, researcher, clinic director, and academician, she has always focused on mentoring many junior faculty members with amazing determination. Personally, I would not have pursued the career that I currently have without the mentorship of Dr. Cu-Uvin. She has made academic medicine interesting and challenging work and an exciting career.”

Dr. Cu-Uvin will be recognized and presented with a plaque at the CoE’s fall networking event. To read excerpts from the other nomination letters, please visit www.womenshealthri.org.

Recognizing that good mentors are valuable resources, the CoE highlights outstanding mentors on a quarterly basis. We are looking for faculty members to be nominated for the Outstanding Faculty MentorAward from the CoE. The guidelines for submitting a nomination can be found at www.womenshealthri.org.

Bench to Bedside

The Brown/Women & Infants’ Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) program is an initiative funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Donald R. Coustan, MD, serves as principal investigator and Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, is program director of this K12 program developed in response to concerns about the decreasing number of physician-scientists and specifically, obstetrician-gynecologist physician-scientists. The award supports the career development of ob-gyns pursuing careers as women’s health researchers. The WRHR program is currently in the fourth year of funding and supports three junior faculty members, providing them with protected time to develop their research careers. The following are current WRHR scholars.

• Brenna Anderson, MD, MSCR, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and attending physician in the Division of Maternal Medicine at Women & Infants’, is completing her second year as a WRHR Scholar. Her WRHR research project is “Defining the Maternal Immune Response to Pregnancy Compared to the Nonpregnant State.” The purpose of this study is to provide preliminary data for future investigations that aim to examine the effect of a variety of risk factors on the cascade of immune mediators and the subsequent risk of preterm birth. Dr. Susan Cu-Uvin serves as Dr. Anderson’s primary mentor. • Kristen Matteson, MD, MPH, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and attending physician in the Division of Research, is in her third year as a WRHR Scholar. Dr. Matteson’s research focus is treating dysfunctional uterine bleeding. She is developing a large-scale clinical trial to compare the effectiveness of monophasic oral contraceptive pills, OCP tapers, and placebo in the treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Dr. Matteson’s primary mentor is Melissa Clark, PhD, and other mentors include Maureen Phipps, MD, MPH and Donald Coustan, MD. • Vivian Sung, MD, MPH, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology and attending physician in the Division of Urogynecology and Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery, is in her second year as a WRHR scholar. Dr. Sung’s WRHR research project, “Graft-augmented rectocele repair: A randomized surgical trial,” focuses on estimating the effect of porcine-derived small intestine submucosa graft augmentation on improving surgical success in rectocele repairs. Among many other research initiatives, Dr. Sung is also involved in examining patient decision making in the area of pelvic floor disorders. Melissa Clark, PhD, and Deborah Myers, MD, serve as her mentors.

Read more about the WRHR program, including its eligibility requirements and application instructions.

Office of Women in Medicine

The Office of Women in Medicine held its fourth annual Professional Development Conference, Women’s Advancement: Charting a New Course for Success in 2008 and Beyond, on May 1. The program was devoted to the acquisition of skills and strategies for career advancement. Plans for next year’s professional development activities are under way. The Office invites faculty, fellows, residents, alumni and staff to e-mail their suggestions for speakers and topics to officeofwomeninmedicine@brown.edu.

The Office co-sponsored a reception with the Alumni and Parents Program for alumni and their families on May 24, as part of Reunion Weekend. The gathering preceded The Charles O. Cooke, MD, Distinguished Visiting Lecture presented by Ingrid A. Rodi ’76 MD’79, P’09. Dr. Rodi, director of the Fertility Center at Parker, Rosenman and Rodi Medical Group, delivered “Fertility: What Women Need to Know.”

The offices of Graduate Medical Education, Women in Medicine, and Biomedical Advancement sponsored a “Welcome Reception” on June 19 to introduce new house officers to the Brown community. Deans Adashi and Cyr presided at the event and formally welcomed the group to Alpert Medical School. In addition to introductions and conversation, the evening featured a raffle with a grand prize of an orchid contributed by Fred Jackson, manager of the Brown greenhouse. The Office of Advancement, the Sciences Library, and the Office of BioMedical Faculty Affairs provided informational resources for the new house officers at the event.