Maternal-Fetal Medicine is a subspecialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology
dealing with the management of high-risk pregnancies. The Division of
Maternal-Fetal Medicine conducts a full schedule of teaching, clinical patient
care, and research. All of our MFM physicians are board certified.
Our MFM physicians also collaborate with the University’s network of Area
Health Education Centers (AHEC), to provide consultations to local obstetricians
and family medicine practitioners through sophisticated interactive video
connections. Through a new partnership with the Arkansas Medicaid Program, known
as “ANGELS”, (Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System),
an innovative consultative service to family practitioners and obstetricians in
Arkansas, the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine is developing model guidelines
for high-risk obstetrics and providing even more expansive support and
continuing education for local obstetricians and family medicine practitioners.
The clinical program also collaborates with Arkansas Children’s Hospital, a
highly renowned institution that is the teaching hospital affiliate for the
Department of Pediatrics in the UAMS College of Medicine.
A rich research program in high-risk obstetrics and follow-up pediatric care
is another part of the program’s strength. Physician-investigators in the
division have developed SARA, a unique, multi-million dollar, first of its kind,
medical scanning device that detects fetal brain activity while the fetus is
still in the womb. Other ongoing investigations include studies of placental
function in hypertensive pregnancies, research into the causes of
fetal malformations as a result of diabetes, clinical improvements for the
management of diabetes in pregnancy and the role of viral infection in pregnancy
loss. Collaborative researchers in the College of Medicine are doing related
work on the care of fragile newborns, working both in the UAMS Neonatal
Intensive Care Unit and at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
