Departmental Research

The department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has an active research program wherein physician scientists and clinicians are engaged in basic science, translational, and clinical research taking full advantage of the outstanding research infrastructure at Baylor College of Medicine. The areas of research are broad and encompass studies on the developmental origins of adult onset disorders, complications of pregnancy such as stillbirth, preterm labor and twin-two-twin transfusion syndrome, reproductive genetic disorders, developmental disorders, gynecologic malignancies, and endometriosis. Investigators in the department occupy a total of 7500 square feet of laboratory space on the Baylor College of Medicine main research campus and in the Feigin Center at Texas Children’s Hospital. They have active ongoing research collaborations with investigators from other Departments and Research Centers at Baylor College of Medicine, including the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, the Human Genome Sequencing Center, the Department of Pathology, the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and The Department of Molecular and Human Genetics. Investigators in the department are also active in multi-center trials such as the Human Microbiome Project, a trial to study the use of array comparative genomic hybridization in prenatal diagnosis, funded by the Eunice Kennedy Schriver National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, among various ongoing projects. Other research is also funded by the National Institutes of Health, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, and various private foundations.

The emphasis on translational research also extends into active research training at the post-doctoral level, at the junior faculty physician-scientist level through the department’s Women's Reproductive Health Research Career Development Program in collaboration with the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center department of Gynecologic Oncology. Residents in the Department pursue a research project with departmental faculty, culminating in presentation at a yearly departmental Resident’s research Day.