Welcome to Progress Notes!

Oct. 16, 2024
A Message from the Chair
Eva Pressman White Coat

Welcome to Progress Notes, the official e-magazine of the University of Rochester Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology!

I'm Eva K. Pressman, and I’ve had the honor of serving as Chair of the Ob/Gyn Department since 2013.

Over the past decade, the world has changed in unexpected ways, but at its core, our department has stayed true to its mission. In my first Annual Report, I wrote:

“[A]nd so we continue to do what academic and community-affiliated Ob/Gyn departments do best. We provide excellent patient care … [w]e train the best medical students, residents, and fellows … [w]e continue to do innovative and groundbreaking research … and finally, we continue to recruit faculty to support and advance our services.”

A decade later, these words still ring true. I take great pride in the stability of our institution and its unwavering commitment to patient care, research, and education.

That said, while the big picture shows remarkable consistency, the view from the ground tells a story of rapid progress and innovation.

Faculty and trainees in our department are leading the way in medicine, finding new ways to image the uterus and placenta, creating paths to pregnancy for people with cancer, linking environmental exposures to birth defects, exposing the roots of health inequities, and uncovering the causes of vulvar pain, to name just a few.

And that’s in addition to the education we provide in the medical school curriculum, our Ob/Gyn residency, and through our five fellowship programs:

  • Complex Family Planning
  • Gynecologic Oncology
  • Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
  • Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery

While our faculty often publish in journals and speak at conferences, these platforms can feel siloed, limiting the chance for others to see the full scope of our work.

That’s where this digital magazine comes in. Through Progress Notes, we can regularly and openly share the expertise that makes our department so special.

Every week, we’ll publish an article that highlights an area of our work in Ob/Gyn.

We chose the name Progress Notes because healthcare professionals will recognize its reference to the daily notes used to document patient care, while also speaking to the progress of our department over time. Although we aim to make our content accessible, we’ll speak directly to those healthcare professionals, both within and outside of Ob/Gyn, who want to follow along and learn from our experts.

I hope you’re as inspired by the passion, dedication, and innovation of my colleagues as I am, every day.