Division of Research and Special Projects

The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has participated in numerous research activities of great importance in the field of women's health. Some major accomplishments include:

Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trial Group - This study focuses on the reduction of perinatal transmission of HIV from mother to child during pregnancy. This study helped establish management of HIV positive women during pregnancy. During the study, HIV positive women were treated with antiviral medication. This resulted in the percentage of babies born with HIV to decrease from 40 to 8%.

MIRIAD (Mother Infant Rapid Intervention at Delivery) - This study implemented rapid HIV testing for all pregnant women of an unknown status. The recommendation was to test them right away with the goal to decrease fetal HIV transmission. This multi-site study sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control helped develop rapid HIV testing guidelines on labor and delivery settings in the United States.

The Women’s Health Initiative Study - This multi-site study initiated in 1992 and completed in 2005, studied over 160,000 participating women. Approximately 90,000 women were in an observational study, with the remaining women enrolled in randomized control trials of estrogen alone, estrogen plus progesterone, calcium and Vitamin D, and a dietary modification. To date, this study has resulted in numerous publications including well known studies that concluded that hormone replacement did not reduce coronary heart disease but increased risk of stroke and progressive cognitive disorders, estrogen and progesterone increased risk of breast cancer, hormones decreased hip fractures and did not affect the incidence of colorectal cancer, and Calcium and Vitamin D had no effect on risk of hip fractures. The study was extended by the NIH (National Institute of Heart and Lung) to 2010 to further determine the impact of discontinuing the hormone dietary modification and Calcium Vitamin D trials. This is the largest study ever conducted of post menopausal women ages 50-80. For more information on the results of the Women's Health Initiative Study, click here.

Research Interests

The Department’s Division of Research, directed by JoNell Potter, Ph.D., has identified various federal, industry, foundation, state and local venues for research funding.

Our areas of interest include:

  • Perinatal HIV
  • Gestational Diabetes
  • Cervical Cancer
  • Menopause
  • Infertility
  • Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
  • Family Planning
  • Prematurity
  • Sexually Transmitted Diseases
  • Minimally Invasive Laparoscopy
  • Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

If you would like to help fund research, please visit our Make a Gift page.