Obstetrics | Penn Today

Can texting new parents to report their blood pressure help address maternal mortality? Penn thinks so

The Heart Safe Motherhood program, created by Sindu Srinivas and Adi Hirshberg of the Perelman School of Medicine, helps new mothers follow up on high blood pressure screenings with text reports rather than in-person visits.

Tua the endangered orangutan gives birth to a baby at Philadelphia Zoo

A Penn Medicine obstetrician partnered with a team at the Philadelphia Zoo to help a critically endangered orangutan give birth.

Ashlee Rineer (right) is holding Eleanor who is two years old this month and her partner Lauren (left) is holding Edie.

Welcoming the first babies from Penn Fertility in Lancaster

The Penn Fertility Care practice is the first and only fertility clinic in Lancaster County that has an embryology lab, allowing patients outside of the Philadelphia metro area equal access to the full range of Penn Fertility services and treatments.

Florida’s new law will let women have C-sections outside of hospitals, but doctors warn of deadly complications

Alice Abernathy of the Perelman School of Medicine says that Florida’s new birthing centers represent a bad band-aid on a chronic issue that will make outcomes worse rather than better.

Florida to allow doctors to perform C-sections outside hospitals

Alice Abernathy of the Perelman School of Medicine says that Florida’s “advanced birth centers” are a poor substitute for quality obstetrical care, though they’re being billed as something that gives people more choices.

Meet the women who pioneered the development of IVF

Wanda Ronner of the Perelman School of Medicine explores the history of the women scientists who played a crucial role in the development of IVF.

talicia sitting on her door step with children

Helping Black families to grow and thrive

To reverse the nationwide trend of serious harm and death before, during, and after childbirth for Black and other parents from marginalized groups, Penn Medicine is taking bold action to improve maternal health and eliminate racial disparities.

Pregnant person laying in a bed with an IV drip in their arm.

For pregnant people in states with most restrictive abortion policies, higher rates of cardiovascular complications

New research from Penn Medicine finds that states with tighter restraints on abortion may be tied to higher maternal morbidity and mortality, the effects of which may extend beyond pregnancy.

Pregnant person standing on a floor scale.

High pregnancy weight gain tied to higher risk of death in the following decades

Findings from a Penn Medicine study, which analyzed 50 years of data, highlights the health risks tied to conditions like heart disease and diabetes that can occur when more weight is gained in pregnancy than recommended.

Top row, from left to right: Kurt Thomas Barnhart, Christopher B. Forrest, and Susan L. Furth. Bottom row, left to right: Desmond Upton Patton and Robert H. Vonderheide.

National Academy of Medicine elects five new members from Penn

Kurt T. Barnhart, Christopher B. Forrest, Susan L. Furth, Desmond Upton Patton, and Robert H. Vonderheide are among 100 new Academy members elected this year, one of the highest honors in health and medicine.

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