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Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship

Geisinger’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship program immerses you in a high-volume practice, where you’ll see a diverse patient population.  

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About the program

Helping patients have successful pregnancies and providing healthy starts for newborns is one of the most rewarding paths a physician can follow. 

If you’d like to join a team that’s committed to providing the best, most compassionate clinical care — and dedicated to training the next generation of specialists in a collegial, collaborative atmosphere — Geisinger’s three-year Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship could be a good fit for you.

The Geisinger Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) Division includes six fellowship-trained, board-certified faculty perinatologists and a team of MFM nurse practitioners, perinatal ultrasonographers and dedicated genetic counselors and nursing and support staff.  

From day one, we’ll treat you as a valued colleague and nurture your journey through our ACGME-accredited program, which has been training maternal-fetal medicine specialists since 2006.

As our Maternal-Fetal Medicine program fellow, you’ll be prepared to excel in a clinical setting and to conduct research that will support the advancement of this constantly evolving, challenging field. 

Your training will be immersive and broad. Geisinger’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division, located in a region with rural communities and two urban centers, sees a large, diverse patient population. 

We have several outpatient offices, including our primary clinics in Danville, Scranton and Forty Fort, Pa. These sites feature on-site antenatal testing units. And each year, we perform more than 5,000 Level II fetal anatomy assessments and over 5,000 fetal growth assessments. 

You’ll also train at Geisinger Medical Center, our flagship hospital and research center, where each year we perform about 1,900 deliveries, many of which are high-acuity perinatal transfers. And you’ll work with our team at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, where we also deliver about 1,900 babies each year. 

The Geisinger system also includes:

  • A state-of-the-art birthing center at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, Pa.
  • A Level IV NICU in Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital at Geisinger Medical Center
  • A Level III NICU at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center

If you’re looking for a maternal-fetal medicine fellowship that will prepare you for leadership in the field, encourage you as a lifelong learner and introduce you to colleagues who will serve as partners during and long after your training, apply to join us.

> Meet the Faculty & Fellows

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Program Overview

Our Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship program will provide you with a comprehensive education in the field of perinatal medicine using a curriculum rooted in didactic education, clinical experience and research training.

During your three years with us, you’ll complete rotations in:

  • Ultrasound
  • Genetics and genomics
  • Our outpatient clinic
  • Consultative care, including inpatient
  • Labor and delivery
  • Adult intensive care
  • Elective topics

You’ll also gain experience interacting with pathology, anesthesiology and the neonatal intensive care units.

Our approach to care is multidisciplinary and patient-focused. We believe the best doctors aren’t just great clinicians. They understand how to communicate with their patients, empathize and understand each person’s unique life circumstances.

That’s why we offer our fellows a unique opportunity to be involved in multidisciplinary patient counseling with the patient, their family and other health professionals from specialties such as neonatal intensive care, obstetrics, pediatric cardiology, pediatric neurosurgery and pediatric surgery.

During this session, the team — including the patient and their family — will review recommendations for antepartum, labor and delivery, and postpartum management. This includes discussing the expected prognosis for the child and postnatal procedures for appropriate infants, such as those with congenital anomalies. These conferences are an opportunity for multidisciplinary collaboration, and they’re unique in including the patient. Fellows see this as a valuable opportunity to learn about team collaboration, continuity of care and sensitive, effective communication.

Geisinger has a strong tradition of research and innovation, and your fellowship will be rounded out with at least 12 months of dedicated research training.

During my interview process, I was immediately impressed with the staff and attending physicians at GMC. I felt that they were interested in me as a person, and that they had a strong motivation to provide an excellent educational experience. Now, over halfway through my fellowship, I have found my initial impression to be accurate. I am pleased with the variety of educational and research experiences, and I appreciate being part of a strong and growing MFM program. As a husband and father, one of my main concerns was the health and happiness of my family. Although Danville is much smaller than where we lived previously, my wife and children are quite happy with the variety of activities, school system and overall quality of life. Given the chance, we would do it all again!

John Ross, DO

The Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at Geisinger was exactly what I was looking for in a fellowship. It is very well structured and builds on your skills as you progress through your three years to ensure that when you graduate, you are a competent MFM. Beyond the month of ultrasound in our first year, we continue to build on our ultrasound skills by having twice-a-month ultrasound days with a designated ultrasound sonographer to help us. We have designated research months in which we can spend time on various research projects. We have wonderful support from our faculty and through the Henry Hood Center for Health Research to assist us in the development, structure and completion of our projects. We really work as a team here, and whether we are in clinic or covering the MFM service, we have a team of nurse practitioners, genetic counselors, residents and attendings all working together to give our patients the best care.

Meike Schuster, DO

Research

For up-to-date lists, visit:‬‬‬

Peer-reviewed publications by our faculty & fellows:

  • Mackeen AD, Quinn S, Movva V, Berghella V, Ananth CV. Intracervical balloon catheter for labor induction after rupture of membranes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Obstet Gynecol, 2021 Jun.
  • King LJ, Mackeen AD, Nordberg C, Paglia MJ. Maternal risk factors associated with persistent placenta previa, Placenta, Symons Downs D, Pauley AM, Leonard KS, Satti M, Cumbo N, Teti I, Stephens M, Corr T, Roeser R, Deimling T, Legro RS, Pauli JM, Mackeen AD, & Bailey Davis L. Obstetric physicians’ beliefs and knowledge on guidelines and screening tools to reduce opioid use after childbirth. Obstet Gynecol, 2021 Feb 1.
  • Mackeen AD, Young AJ, Hetherington V, Lutcher S, Mowery J, Symons Downs D; Bailey-Davis L. Encouraging appropriate gestational weight gain in high-risk gravida: a randomized controlled trial. Obesity Science & Practice, 2021.
  • Sullivan M, Cunningham K, Angras K, Mackeen AD. Duration of postpartum magnesium sulfate for seizure prophylaxis in women with preeclampsia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med, 2021.
  • Strassberg ER, Fisher SM, Mackeen AD, Sun H and Paglia MJ. Comparison of Different Methods of Patient Education on Preeclampsia: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med, 2020 Jul 6;1-5.
  • Khalifeh A, Fleisher J, Gressel G, Berghella V, Leiby B, Mackeen AD. Patient preferences for method of cesarean skin closure: secondary outcomes from a randomized trial. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med, 2020 Feb.
  • Strassberg E; Schuster Meike; Rajaram A; Paglia MJ; Neubert AG; Ross JW; Sun H; Mackeen AD. Comparing diagnosis, management and outcomes of fetal growth restriction using different growth curves. J Ultrasound Med, 2019.
  • Power ML,  Lott ML, Mackeen AD, DiBari J, Schulkin J. Associations between maternal body mass index, gestational weight gain, maternal complications, and birth outcome in singleton, term births in a largely non-Hispanic white, rural population. J Women's  Health, 2019 Apr.
  • Ross JW, Betz A, Paglia MJ, Feng W, Neubert AG, Mackeen AD. Short- and long-term growth as a function of abnormal Doppler flow in growth-restricted fetuses. Prenatal Cardiology, 2019 Dec 31; 8(1): 76-79.
  • Power ML, Gaspar-Oishi M, Gibson K, Kelly L, Lott ML, Mackeen AD, Overcash R, Rhoades C, Turrentine M, Yamamura Y, Schulkin J. A survey of women and their providers regarding gestational weight gain. J Women’s Health, 2019 Apr 30. [E pub ahead of print]. PMID: 31038383.
  • Mackeen AD, Ross JW, Betz A, Bringman JJ, Feng W, Paglia MJ. Interartery discordance in fetuses with growth restriction. Prenatal Cardiology, 2018. [In press].
  • Rajaram AM, Strassberg ER, Paglia MJ, et al. Comparing Diagnosis, Management, and Outcomes of Fetal Growth Restriction Using Hadlock vs. Fenton Growth Curves [14OP]. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2017;129 Suppl 1:5S-5S.
  • Strassberg ER, Rajaram AM, Neubert AG, et al. 132: Comparing diagnosis, management and outcomes of fetal growth restriction on two different growth curves. AJOG. 2017; 216:S92.
  • Reed MJ, Schuster M, Strassberg ER. Preeclampsia, Eclampsia and HELLP Syndrome. In: Hyzy RC, ed. Hyzy’s Evidence Based Critical Care: A Case Study Approach. 1st ed. New York, NY: Springer
  • Strassberg ER, Power M, Stark L, Schulkin J, Paglia MJ. Patient Attitudes Toward Influenza and Tdap Vaccination in Pregnancy. Obstetrics & Gynecology. 2016; 127 58S
  • Schuster M, Madueke-Laveaux OS, Mackeen AD, Feng W, Paglia MJ. The effect of the MFM obesity protocol on cesarean delivery rates. AJOG, 2016 Oct;
  • Schuster M, Jaramillo L, Wild J, Mackeen AD, Paglia MJ. The impact of minor trauma on pregnancy and neonatal outcomes. Trauma, 2016.
  • Schuster M, Mackeen DA. Fetal Endometriosis: a case report. Fertility and Sterility. 2015 Jan: 103(1): 160-2.
  • Mackeen AD, Packard RE, Schuster M, Ross JW. Oral Prostaglandin E2 for induction of labour. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 2015.

Frequently asked questions

Do your fellows participate in resident education?

Yes, our fellows are active in teaching our residents. They participate in daily rounds, supervise the residents in the maternal-fetal medicine clinic and on labor and delivery, mentor residents in research, give lectures throughout the year and facilitate resident presentations of obstetrics morbidity and mortality conferences.
Do your fellows take call?

Compliant with ACGME guidelines, MFM fellows on their research month will take in-house labor and delivery call up to three days per four weeks with an in-house MFM attending. These are typically 12-hour call shifts. Our fellows are required to take weekend call about every third weekend. During weekend call, they are present in person for labor and delivery sign-out, and the remainder of the call is pager call from home. The call schedule is determined by the fellows.
Is there a NICU at Geisinger?

Yes, we have a Level IV NICU with 40 beds at Geisinger Medical Center and a Level III NICU with 12 beds at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center.
How are evaluations handled?

Fellows are evaluated by faculty after every rotation. Twice each year, our fellows are evaluated by all staff. All these evaluations are reviewed by the Clinical Competency Committee (CCC), and the results are presented in a meeting with the fellowship program director. Twice a year (and as needed), fellows will meet with the program director to review their progress, strengths and areas for improvement as reflected through monthly evaluations. During these meetings, our fellows can evaluate training opportunities, rotations and faculty. Fellows evaluate MFM faculty twice annually and the results are reviewed with the faculty.
How accessible is the program director to the fellows?

The program director is available to fellows at any time, and they have monthly scheduled meetings. Fellows also work clinically with the program director while they’re seeing patients.
Is your faculty academically active?

Yes, our faculty members work on research projects that include management of fetal intrauterine growth restriction, management of gestational diabetes, decreasing complications of pregnancy associated with obesity and approach to induction after rupture of membranes. All MFM faculty meet with the fellows every four to six weeks to review their research progress. Our previous program director is the director of research, and as part of this role, they’ve created a Resident and Fellow Research Curriculum to help improve the research and mentoring experience.
When can I expect to hear about the status of my Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship application submitted through ERAS?

Applications are reviewed by the program director, and final interview offers will be sent in early June.

About Geisinger

Geisinger serves more than 1 million people in central and northeast Pennsylvania. We’ve been nationally recognized for innovative practices in quality, delivery models such as ProvenCare® and the use of an award-winning electronic medical record, Epic®. Our physician-led system has about 24,000 employees, including nearly 1,700 physicians, 10 hospital campuses, two research centers and a health plan with more than half a million members, all of which boost our hometown economies by $7.1 billion annually.

Location

Danville, Pa., is a unique and wonderful place to train. Opportunities for outdoor recreation are endless, the cost of living is low and traffic is almost nonexistent. We’re also close enough to Philadelphia, New York City and Washington, D.C., to make weekend getaways easy. 

Danville PA
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