At the Graduate Medical Education (GME) level, the department is accredited for six residents (four positions for our main obgyn residency track and two for the rural residency) per year for the four-year obstetrics and gynecology residency. The residency includes training in the depth and breadth of the specialty, including inpatient and outpatient experiences. Particular strengths of the residency include the Ryan Family Planning program, a variety of gynecologic surgery, training in minimally invasive surgery, and the presence of fellowship training programs in four subspecialty areas.
The rural track is a separate NRMP match from the standard track. Candidates may apply for both the standard track and rural track. Preference of the rural track residency is given to a candidate with demonstrated interest in rural practice in Iowa. The residents who match into the rural track currently spend the equivalent of 1/8 of their residency training in community hospitals. Their residency research is also focused on the disparate health outcomes of our rural population.
Tuesday mornings from 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., are devoted to resident teaching sessions which include Grand Rounds, Practice Based Learning and Improvement (PBLI) and maternal morbidity and mortality conferences, followed by didactic teaching presentations from a core curriculum, given by departmental faculty, UI faculty and guest speakers.
Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks, MD, is the site director for the Ryan Family Planning resident training program and provides routine presentations throughout the year.
Each resident is required to pursue a scholarly project while in residency, which may be a research project, an educational project, or a quality improvement project.
Residency Program Director: Megan McDonald, MD, MHPE
Associate Program Directors: Kelly Ward, MD, and Lauren Coyne, MD
Program coordinator: Nanci Wieneke
Research program: Mark Santillan, MD, PhD and Donna Santillan, PhD