Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship

The Corewell Health – Grand Rapids/Michigan State University Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship is committed to providing the best academic and clinical training program for our fellows. This three-year ACGME-accredited program prepares our fellows for certification by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Corewell Health in West Michigan has the highest-volume obstetrical program in Michigan as reported in the 2022 World and News Report. Fellows learn in state-of-the-art facilities providing innovative obstetric care. Our teams lead in-utero procedures, accrete specialized surgery, advanced ultrasound technology, ICU cardiac/intensivist level obstetric services, and university-based research with statistical and academic guidance. Our physicians and clinical teams are experienced in blending individualized patient plans with a complete dedication to quality outcomes.

Welcome to the Corewell Health – Grand Rapids/Michigan State University maternal-fetal medicine fellowship!

We have the highest-delivering hospital in the state of Michigan and the sixth largest in the country. Our team is unique and adored. The front office staff, medical assistants, prenatal genetics team, nurses, sonographers, nutritionists, APP, and physicians all work together and support each other as a family.

Support is one word I would use to describe our team here at our maternal-fetal medicine practice in Grand Rapids. We support each other’s research, and patient care plans and we learn from each other every day. We share literature and bring new ideas to the table as we instruct evidence-based medicine to nearly 80 residents throughout the region. We also support our referring obstetric teams through the state of Michigan. We are humbled by the task and honored by the responsibility.

We want our fellows to feel at home’ for their three years of training. A subspecialty program requires long hours and quite a bit of self-study to obtain the level of proficiency required to assess, treat, and manage the complexities of the high-risk obstetric patient. The family environment that we have created here at Corewell Health in West Michigan supports the learner in a positive space allowing personal, relational, and independent growth.

If you are interested, read on to learn about our academic program:

Corewell Health in West Michigan provides incredible patient volume, pathology, teaching faculty, and support staff creating an ideal learning environment for a comprehensive training program. Our trainees will be exposed to maternal complications of pregnancy, obstetric anomalies, research, fetal diagnosis and therapy, genetics, and translational science with a compassionate and humanistic approach. Fellows are trained to assess and treat the maternal and fetal effects of these disorders and manage pregnancies complicated by primary fetal conditions and primary maternal conditions, including complex maternal cardiac disease and placenta accreta spectrum. They will learn fetal echocardiography, critical care obstetrics, obstetric anesthesia, infectious disease, advanced obstetric diabetic care, epidemiology, and biostatistics.

Fellows learn high‐risk pregnancy management through a wide range of conferences, didactic lectures, and hands-on experience. Our Fetal Care Center team consists of a large cohort of subspecialists and fellows who interact daily with our maternal-fetal medicine faculty, prenatal genetic counselors, neonatologists, pathologists, anesthesiologists, and pediatric subspecialty groups through Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital (part of Corewell Health Grand Rapids Hospitals). Additionally, fellows obtain significant hands‐on experience and the opportunity to make independent decisions, in outpatient and inpatient settings, under the guidance of faculty. Fellows will be fully trained in advanced ultrasound skills and intrauterine procedures.

We look forward to sharing our pride in our program. We are dedicated to the education of Maternal-Fetal Medicine subspecialists who are eager to learn and are excited to join our team.

Warmly,

Lisa Thiel, DO, FACOOG
Maternal-fetal medicine fellowship program director, Corewell Health - Grand Rapids/Michigan State University
Section of obstetrics and gynecology, Corewell Health
Clinical assistant professor Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine
Former lieutenant commander; Veteran US Navy