2017 Bridge Fund and 2018 SMFM/AAOGF Scholar Recipients

Pictured above (left to right): Dr. Emily Miller has been selected for the 2017 ABOG Bridge Fund Award Recipient and Dr. Nandini Raghuraman has been selected for the 2018-2021 Foundation for SMFM/AAOGF Scholarship Award.

Dr. Emily Miller, Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern University, is the recipient of the 2017 Foundation for SMFM Bridge Funding Award sponsored by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology Education Foundation. Dr. Miller’s project aims to understand the immunologic mechanisms that are associated with antenatal depression to ultimately understand the mechanisms that lead to adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes. She recently completed the Women’s Reproductive Health Research program and has an overarching career goal of becoming an independently funded translational physician-scientist with a focus on the impact of mood disorders on obstetric outcomes. Directly in alignment with the mission of the SMFM, this research holds promise to inform the development of novel treatments to avoid the maternal and neonatal complications of maternal depression.

Learn more about the Bridge Funding Award here.

Dr. Nandini Raghuraman's project is entitled “Risks of intrapartum maternal oxygen supplementation: Mechanisms for harm in the mother and neonate” and she is currently a third-year fellow in maternal-fetal medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed her medical training at the University of Alabama and her residency training at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. Her mentors for this project include Drs. Alison Cahill and Methodius Tuuli from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Dr. Christopher Smyser from the Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics. Dr. Raghuraman’s primary research interests are in peripartum maternal and neonatal morbidity and her research will study the effect of maternal oxygen supplementation in labor on maternal and umbilical cord malondialdehyde, a free radical-mediated marker of oxidative stress. Her team will also use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the effect of intrapartum hyperoxia on the neonatal brain. She received the Thrasher Foundation Early Career Award in 2017 and has been first author on peer reviewed publications. The Foundation for SMFM and the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Foundation would like to congratulate Dr. Raghuraman and look forward to supporting and guiding her to further her training in the conduct of her research.

Learn more about the SMFM/AAOGF Scholarship here.