Thank you for your interest in the Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery Fellowship Program at UMass Chan Medical School, and clinical partner UMass Memorial Medical Center. Our program's mission is to educate and train fellows to deliver high-quality, prompt, accessible, cost-effective, and compassionate care to the diverse population of individuals in central Massachusetts who suffer from pelvic floor disorders. Fellows are an intrinsic part of our team alongside the physician, advanced practice clinician and nursing faculty of our division while being trained to be the next generation of well-rounded clinicians, educators, researchers, and leaders in the field.
Dr. Tiffany A. Moore Simas
Dear Applicant,
I am thrilled to share information with you about our Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery fellowship training program – I am writing as Department Chair and as a proud alumna of one of our GME training programs (Ob/Gyn residency). I can state unequivocally that we have an excellent program with dedicated faculty that offer, and continuously iterate, improvements in all aspects of our curriculum – improvements driven by changes in standards of care, regulations, education theory, and resident/fellow/faculty input. Our mission is to not just train, but to inspire the next generation of subspecialists in Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery to be compassionate and outstanding clinicians, educators, researchers, advocates, leaders, and lifelong learners.
Our fellowship is committed to training competent academic urogynecologists who are clinically and surgically skilled and excel as teachers and researchers. Our Urogynecology fellowship has a proud 20+ year history.
The Division of Urogynecology at UMass Chan Medical School was founded in 1990 by Dr. Stephen Young who was its director until 2010. The mission of the division is to provide high quality, prompt, accessible, cost-effective, and compassionate care to people who suffer from pelvic floor disorders as well as to provide high quality, comprehensive training of fellows in the evaluation of, treatment of, and research into female pelvic floor disorders.
Fellows are well-integrated into the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and essentially act as junior faculty which fosters healthy relationships with residents – fellows are given ample opportunities to hone their teaching skills in the clinical setting and in formal didactic lectures. The department supports the research of our fellows with funding that can be requested via application. In addition, fellows are invited to participate in the faculty book club on anti-racism and diversity. The recognition of our fellows as junior teaching faculty and rising staff attendings further solidifies the support that the department has for our fellows and their development.
I have worked here at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester for more than 10 years and can attest to the unwavering support the institution has for our trainees and faculty. With recent initiatives to consciously promote diversity, decrease disparities, and prioritizing respect in the workplace, UMass Memorial is a dynamic and safe place to grow and contribute to our local community.
Michael Flynn, MD MHs
Cynthia D. Hall, MD, FACOG
Dear Applicant,
Welcome to the UMass Chan Medical School, Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery. We are excited that you are here and want to be a part of this rapidly growing specialty. Our group at UMass provides the best care to our patients and the best training for our fellows. We pride ourselves in supporting patient autonomy and respecting the multicultural backgrounds of our racially diverse patient population in counseling regarding their pelvic floor disorders.
Intrinsic to this process is having to be able to offer all treatment to patients, including conservative and surgical approaches. The division provides comprehensive evaluation and treatment for the full spectrum of female pelvic floor dysfunction including pelvic organ prolapse, urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, fecal incontinence, defecatory dysfunction, and urethral diverticula. We perform leading-edge innovative therapies including robotic and laparoscopic surgery for prolapse, transvaginal vaginal reconstruction, minimally-invasive slings for incontinence, Burch urethropexies, sacral neuromodulation, Botox for overactive bladder, and percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation. To round out the training experience, fellows can travel to Rwanda with me to perform obstetric fistula repairs and anal sphincteroplasties on women who suffer from devastating birth injuries.
We, the resident physicians in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the leadership of the OBGYN residency program at the academic health sciences center formed by the UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center, take a strong stance to condemn the racism, violence, oppression, and racial injustice towards Black and Brown people that have plagued our country for years. We condemn the murders of three unarmed Black Americans, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, at the hands of excessive force by law enforcement. We grieve their deaths, as well as the countless other Black and Brown persons who have been victims of racial hate crimes.
We recognize and stand against the pervasive systemic racism towards people of color caused by white privilege and white supremacy. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already had a disproportionate impact on people of color and their health and well being, recent events of racially based violence only heighten already evident disparities in health care for Black and Brown people.
We are heartbroken for our colleagues, neighbors, and patients of color, and we offer our solidarity and support in light of these unspeakable atrocities.
As OBGYNs, we are committed to serving our community by providing comprehensive and culturally competent reproductive health care, including caring for those members of our society who are marginalized and suffering from systemic racial injustices. In order to reduce the racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, we need to speak up at moments of great social injustice. We know that silence is not an option — not now, not ever.
In this moment and always, we pledge to provide un-biased, excellent clinical care to our patients. We pledge to recognize and acknowledge our own biases and privilege in order to be able to fully support and care for our patients of color. We are committed to our community, our patients, our colleagues, and our medical students. We pledge to uphold the tenets of diversity, inclusion, and equity and stand against intolerance, hatred, and racism.
In solidarity,
The OBGYN Department Residents, Fellows, Faculty, and Staff
Worcester, known as the “Heart of the Commonwealth” is located in Central Massachusetts
