Julianna Schantz-Dunn, MD MPH
Fellowship Program Director
Global health is a rapidly expanding field, with particular need for expertise in global women’s health and specifically in obstetrics and gynecology. Many of the biggest problems which affect women on a global scale relate to pregnancy and childbirth.
Women experience serious, and sometimes life-threatening, maternal health complications around the work. These include maternal mortality due to postpartum hemorrhage, infectious diseases, pre-eclampsia and obstructed labor), or a lack of adequate screening (such as cervical cancer) and surgical services (such as lack of access to basic procedures such as hysterectomy and cesarean section). There are few providers however who are adequately trained in the best ways to participate in women's global health.
Our hope is that a global obstetrics and gynecology fellowship will allow for further training and experience of an obstetrician gynecologist, while giving an international partner site a skilled OB/GYN who is capable of providing clinical care, training and/or research support to support the local need. Ultimately, our mission is to train providers who will develop expertise and contribute to advancements in the field of global obstetrics and gynecology.
The Global Women's Health and OB/GYN Fellow will be credentialed as a fellow and serve as a functioning member of the Global OB/GYN Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The fellowship will last for 24 months, during which time the fellow will provide clinical care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital as a general OB/GYN for a total of 4 months in the first year, work internationally at a pre-approved site for a total of 12 months during the first/second year, return for 4 months of clinical work at the Brigham, and complete a fully funded Master’s in Public Health over the course of 2 intensive summers.
The additional training provided by the Global OB/GYN fellowship will include clinical training as a general ob/gyn focused on working in underserved communities. The fellow will be seeing patients both as a teaching faculty for the residents in the general obstetrics practice and under the supervision of the attending in the specialty clinics (Spanish, African and Infectious Disease clinics).
They will take labor and delivery calls (covering both the general obstetrics and maternal-fetal medicine service) and will gain additional ultrasound training. They will provide gynecologic care in the outpatient and inpatient setting and will be operating on patients who need open and minimally invasive surgical procedures. One week will be spent with the obstetric anesthesia team learning how to place spinals and manage obstetrical patients from an anesthesiologist’s perspective. The experience working as a general OB/GYN at the Brigham will help prepare the fellow for clinical work in a resource-limited setting.
In addition, the fellow will be expected to carry out a research project that focuses on a relevant global OB/GYN issue. The project can be formulated in the first year, refined during the first summer during the Clinical Effectiveness Course at the Harvard School of Public Health, and completed during the second year. The expectation will be for one publication in an academic journal and a presentation at an international conference during their fellowship. The fellowship will purposefully culminate with clinical time at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to help prepare the fellow for their next career move.
Fellows are given an appointment at Harvard Medical School as a Clinical Fellow and are actively involved in teaching medical students and residents and are active staff physicians at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, requiring the acquisition of an unrestricted license to practice medicine in Massachusetts. The attending physician has ultimate responsibility for providing supervision and teaching of residents and Harvard Medical students assigned to the clinic.
Julianna Schantz-Dunn, MD MPH
Program Director
Nawal, Nour, MD MPH
Chair Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Julianna Schantz-Dunn, MD MPH
Medical Director, Ambulatory Obstetrics Practice
Khady Diouf, MD
Division Director, Ambulatory Obstetrics and Gynecology, Reproductive Infectious Disease Clinic
Chiamaka Onwuzurike, MD, MPH
Global Faculty
The fellows are evaluated following each rotation and semi-annually during meetings with the Program Director. All evaluations are reviewed with fellows by the Director during the bi-annual meeting. Fellows anonymously evaluate each faculty member yearly.
Salary for incoming a first-year fellow is $95,150 for the academic year 2023-2024. Fringe benefits include health insurance, a fund which can be used for travel, books and other academic expenses, four weeks of vacation, and two weeks of conference time. Vacation and conference requests must be approved in advance.
Applicants must complete a four-year ACGME approved residency program in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and be eligible to obtain a license to practice medicine the State of Massachusetts.
If you are interested in applying to the Global Obstetrics & Gynecology Fellowship Training Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, please submit your CV and letter of interest to Linda Kruse. The deadline for all application materials will be September 3, 2024.
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