The Division of Obstetric Anesthesiology is made up of a diverse and energetic group of physicians and nurse anesthetists dedicated to providing the highest standard of clinical excellence, maintain an outstanding OB anesthesia fellowship and resident teaching program, and lead an energetic and innovative translational research program using human and animal models for clinically important and focused scientific inquiry.
Our clinical rotations are conducted at Barnes-Jewish Hospital which serves as the tertiary referral center for a large geographical area. With approximately 3,900 deliveries per year, our high-risk patient population provides the full spectrum of both co-morbid medical conditions and obstetric and fetal complications.
The OB anesthesiology group provides care for the full complement of obstetric procedures and plays a critical academic and clinical collaborative role with perinatology, obstetrics, neonatology and nursing. We are making plans to move into our new hospital on the Washington University campus, which will consolidate and modernize the Women & Infants program, and co-locate all obstetric services with the neonatal ICU at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.
Research Program
We are developing both basic science and clinical research programs that address the following topics:
- non-invasive hemodynamic and metabolic monitoring of the fetus;
- the use of anesthesia-related procedures as antenatal interventions to improve utero-placental blood flow and intrauterine fetal growth and development;
- mechanisms and therapies for acute pain, with particular (although not exclusive) focus on labor pain;
- and maternal and fetal effects of oxytocin.