High Risk Obstetrics - Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Updated: September 10th, 2024
Program Director:
Dr. Noor Ladhani
Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Assistant Professor, University of Toronto
Contact:
Dennis Varhanicek
Tel: (416) 480-5163
Email: obgyn@sunnybrook.ca
Site: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Application Deadline: Submit Application Form by July 1st of each year
To All Applicants:
If you have also applied to the U.S match through the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP), please be advised that the University of Toronto is a participating institution and adheres to the match policy. The policy states that "Applicants who have matched to a program or have accepted a position during the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP), shall not apply for, discuss, interview for, or accept a concurrent year position in another program prior to the NRMP granting the requested waiver." More information is accessible at http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/2018-MPA-Specialities-Matching-Service.pdf.
Program Information
Many thanks for your interest in the Maternal Fetal Medicine and High Risk Obstetrics hospital-based Fellowship at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. This is a 1-year funded fellowship position and is associated with, but not the same as, the University of Toronto's 2-year fellowship which also rotates through Sunnybrook. Below, you will find information regarding details of the fellowship as well as some information about the hospital itself.
Objectives
The overall goal of the Fellowship is to gain experience related to contemporary North American Maternal Fetal Medicine practice as it applies to the assessment, management and postpartum care of high risk pregnancies.
This will include exposure to: high risk antepartum patients presenting with various complications of pregnancy to the triage area of the birthing unit, the intrapartum management of these women, the surgical management of deliveries, the use of intrapartum ultrasound, the use of clinical consultation with colleagues (i.e. paediatrics, anaesthesia, genetics, internal medicine) the use of diagnostic and interventional tools (i.e. medical imaging, interventional radiology, laboratory services etc.) and care of a subset of these women admitted on the High Risk Obstetrical Unit of the hospital. This will also include exposure to outpatient clinical management of high risk pregnancies as well as potential for exposure to diagnostic imaging of fetal anatomy, fetal anomalies, biophysical assessments, and Doppler ultrasound.
The Setting: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
From our beginnings as a hospital for Canadian veterans, Sunnybrook has flourished into a fully-affiliated teaching hospital of the University of Toronto, evolving to meet the needs of our growing community.
Today, with 1.2 million patient visits each year, Sunnybrook has established itself as the largest single-site hospital in Canada, with four strategic areas of focus, including the Women and Babies Program (others include heart and stroke, cancer, trauma/emergency/critical care).
Sunnybrook's Women and Babies Program (W&BP) covers the broad spectrum of care related to pregnancy, labour and delivery; care of premature babies and women's reproductive health. Our W&BP has an international reputation for excellence in caring for women with high-risk pregnancies, multiple births and neonatal intensive care. The 120,000 square foot facility opened its doors officially on September 12, 2010, following a relocation of our highly recognized programs at the Women's College campus, downtown Toronto. Our new facility houses a birthing unit; a new neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); a neonatal follow-up clinic, the most comprehensive and progressive program of its kind in Canada; and the largest breastfeeding clinic in the country.
On the obstetrical and neonatal front, Sunnybrook is home to the second largest high-risk birthing centre in Ontario. High-risk maternal and neonatal intensive care is a strategic priority of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. At Sunnybrook, high-risk maternal care is defined as quaternary and tertiary antenatal care (i.e. medically complex births) or emergency transfers to Sunnybrook based on imminent maternal or fetal risk. Of the 4,000 infants we deliver each year, one quarter are high-risk deliveries and require specialized critical care. Our high risk antenatal obstetrics unit has 23 beds. Our NICU has 48 beds and is the most comprehensive interdisciplinary model of care in North America. We are also home to an internationally renowned Multiples-Clinic, the first of its kind in Canada specializing in care for women expecting more than one baby.
Through our internationally renowned Centre for Mother, Infant and Child Research, we have engaged centres from developing and emerging countries in numerous clinical trials in obstetrical management of complications in pregnancy. The findings from these trials have changed clinical practice throughout the world in the areas of post-term pregnancy, prolonged rupture of membranes at term, management of twin delivery, and breech presentation in late pregnancy.
Finally, Sunnybrook's ground-breaking research changes the way patients are treated around the world. Our over 200 scientists and clinician-scientists conduct more than $100 million of breakthrough research each year.