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Our Faculty
The research faculty in our department do incredible work regarding generating new knowledge and practice, and how that research impacts healthcare around the world. We continue to be at the forefront of innovative breakthroughs in healthcare and, despite drastic budget cuts in the past several years at the federal agency level. We continue to be at the top of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding lists for Obstetric and Gynecology departments around the country. In addition to the NIH, our investigators are funded by the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), federal agencies such as the Department of Justice, and numerous industry and foundation partners.

The NCT Reference Table

Divisions
Basic Science Faculty Labs
The Menon Lab
The Vincent Lab
The Depaoli Taylor Lab
The Ahmed Lab
The Kammala Lab
The Richardson Lab
Clinical Research Teams
The Vincent Team
The Berenson Team
The Saade Team
The Rodriguez Team
The Temple Team
In the News
  • 2024 CIRWH Spring Lecture Series

    February 22, 2022, 13:57 PM by UTMB

    On Behalf of Dr. Abbey Berenson and Dr. Ramkumar Menon, please join us for the upcoming lecture series on February 16, 2024 and April 15, 2024 and May 23rd, 2024.

  • Congratulations Dr. Lauren Richarson

    November 17, 2023, 11:45 AM by Richardson

    RO1 Project Titled Developing trimester-specific placenta organ on chips to model healthy and oxidative stress/inflammation-associated pathologies.

  • Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Richardson

    August 17, 2023, 16:24 PM by UTMB News

    Congratulations to Dr. Lauren Richardson on being selected as one of only 4 podium speakers at the annual meeting this year. There are 76 BIRCWH scholars in the US so this is a huge honor! Her research focuses on bridging the gap between bench-to-bedside research by merging advanced engineering and biology concepts. The goal is research is twofold: One, to utilize microfluidic devices to collect underutilized biological fluids for biomarker screening, and two, to develop novel organ-on-chip devices that physiologically recreate in utero organs and organ systems. These devices are primed to replace traditional research approaches, limit animal models for research, and speed up preclinical experiments to get the drugs to clinical trials at a much faster pace.

  • Congratulations to Dr. Menon and team

    November 11, 2022, 17:13 PM by UTMB News

    The team, led by Dr. Ramkumar Menon, professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, used these devices to successfully test drugs for conditions like preterm birth and pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. This breakthrough in preclinical research is expected to reduce the use of animal models for pregnancy drug trials, expediting clinical trials and the drug approval process. Animal models are often criticized as unreliable because they do not resemble human pregnancy.

  • BioABerenson2

    Congratulations again to Dr. Abbey Berenson.

    February 18, 2022, 09:55 AM by CPRIT

    CIRWH received a new research grant from CPRIT. The new award is for a study to examine the efficacy of using only two doses of the HPV vaccine in women 27-45 years of age. The award amount is approximately $2 million dollars. HPV is associated with cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, anus, oropharynx, and penis. Fortunately, a vaccine is available which has the potential to markedly reduce, or even eliminate, these cancers. The CDC recommends that it be administered at age 11-12 years although it may be given as young as 9. For those not vaccinated at a younger age, it was originally recommended up to age 26. This was recently extended to age 45. The CDC estimates that 80% of those eligible need to be completely vaccinated to reach herd immunity. However, this goal remains out-of-reach as vaccine completion rates are extremely low in the US, especially among adults.

Research Overview

The Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology has a long history of encouraging physician-scientists to participate in clinical studies to continually improve the health outcomes for women and their infants at UTMB and across the word. Many of our clinicians participate in studies funded by governmental, industry, and private agencies, with an eye to determining risk factors during pregnancy, as well as establishing safe evidence-based treatments for women during pregnancy.

The department has earned spots in a national collaborative research networks, the Multicenter Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network (MFMU). Our Maternal-Fetal Pharmacology and Bio-development Laboratories are perhaps unequaled in their range of specialties for investigating the interaction between therapeutic drugs and pregnancy. Of particular note, UTMB Department of Ob/Gyn is home to three (3) University Centers: The Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Health, a university-wide organization funded by the National Institutes of Health to promote, stimulate, and support interdisciplinary research related to women’s health across the life span. The Obstetric-fetal Pharmacology Research Center funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver  National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to support specialized research to improve the safety and efficacy of medication use during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. The most recent addition is the Center for Violence Prevention, which was established to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, couples, families, communities, and societies through the prevention of violence.
Behavioral Health
We are a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and public and mental health professionals dedicated to research on the behavioral and psychosocial aspects of adolescent and women’s health across the lifespan. 
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Obstetrics
We are a multi-disciplinary team of researchers and educators investigating and bringing to the bedside tools and techniques to bring healthy babies and mothers to full term deliveries.
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Research Centers

We are home to the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Health, a university-wide organization funded by the National Institutes of Health to promote, stimulate, and support interdisciplinary research related to women’s health across the lifespan. 
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Drug Discovery
TBD 
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Cancer
TBD 
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Gynecology

Our Research focuses on women's health issues surrounding the prevention and treatment of related cancers, HPV vaccinations and even menopause. We also support specialized research to improve the safety and efficacy of medication use during pregnancy and while breastfeeding..
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Basic and Translational Research
The research division is focused on improving women’s Health, primarily pregnant women’s health, through various bench-based discovery science research.
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HIV & Sexually Transmitted Infection Protection

Identifying pathways associated with Chlamydia and the impact of STIs on adverse pregnancy outcomes.

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School-Based HPV Prevention Program
School-Based vaccination programs can dramatically improve HPV vaccination rates in the RGV, with HPV vaccine initiation rates increasing to 65.5%–69.0% and completion rates increasing to 41.5%–43.1%.
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Contraception
TBD 
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