Institute for Maternal-Fetal Health

Recognizing that many childhood diseases and defects can be prevented or ameliorated through early intervention, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles and affiliated University of Southern California physician groups have established the Institute for Maternal-Fetal Health.

The Institute provides integrated, comprehensive and multi-disciplinary care to expectant mothers, fetuses and infants, starting during pregnancy and continuing through birth, neonatal and long-term follow-up periods for mother and child. Focusing on high-risk pregnancies, the Institute offers state-of-the-art, evidence-based diagnostic and treatment services, including fetal surgery, to address a wide range of complex maternal and fetal medical, genetic, metabolic and developmental abnormalities.

The cornerstone of this endeavor will be the critical approach taken by the Institute in the innovation of new knowledge and high-risk therapies by performing appropriately designed and supervised clinical trials and applying evidence-based medicine when available.

Medical and surgical sub-specialists from Childrens Hospital and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Southern California work collaboratively to treat an estimated 10,000 high-risk births each year.

By caring for such a large number of mothers and children, Childrens Hospital will be in a unique position to conduct epidemiological, health services, and health outcomes research. Extensive research opportunities exist at all levels and are integral to improved outcomes and the innovation of new therapies.

Many individuals from various disciplines have completed the groundwork. Focused efforts began with a group of visionaries meeting weekly beginning in early 2002. They have been drafting plans for the Institute and have evolved into the Steering Committee.

Current members include:

• Istvan Seri, MD, PhD - Childrens Medical Director
• David Miller, MD - USC Medical Director
• Sharon Suncin, RN, BSN - Perinatal Administrator
• Roberta Williams, MD
• T. Murphy Goodwin, MD
• Robert Adler, MD
• Mark Sklansky, MD
• Linda Randolph, MD

The clinical services fall into three general areas: clinical diagnostic services, clinical intervention services and non-clinical services. The Institute views the mother and fetus both as patients. For the best outcomes, mothers who are experiencing high-risk pregnancies require coordinated healthcare services in order to integrate the numerous disciplines that are necessary to appropriately manage their own and their children’s conditions.

Introduction of these services by the Institute occur in a tiered fashion during the first five years of program development, with the least complicated and most frequently required services culminating with the development of the most complex leading edge interventions, such as fetal surgery and possibly stem cell therapy. These services require extremely sophisticated and highly integrated resources.

To enhance integration, multi-disciplinary case management will be utilized for each mother-fetus pair that is treated. It will be the glue that ties the services together for patient, specialists and referring physicians. The multi-disciplinary management will integrate the diagnostic and interventional services provided to the Institute's patients through coordinated case planning and face-to-face caregiver and patient interaction.

The Institute promotes significant societal benefits including a decrease in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality resulting in a reduction in the Years of Productive Life Lost (YPLL) from high-risk pregnancy.