Obstetrics & Gynecology

News and Events

Programs and providers of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine are often the focus of news stories and features appearing in major national media. We invite you to review some stories that typify the breakthrough accomplishments of our remarkable team and highlight the impact our care has had on patient’s lives.

Innovators Encourage Scientists and Physicians to Dive into Technology Commercialization

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When Dr. Tamatha Fenster received a call from a young patient requesting a refill on her Oxycodone for pelvic pain, she was faced with a dilemma: letting the patient remain in pain or refill a prescription and perpetuate an opioid dependency.

With few other pain-relief options, she refilled the prescription. “I had to think of an alternative for pelvic pain for women,” said Dr. Fenster, assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and an obstetrician and gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. And she did just that.

Dr. Fenster, along with other researchers and physicians, recounted their technology development and commercialization journeys at the annual Dean’s Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, hosted by Enterprise Innovation Dec. 18 in Uris Auditorium. In its eighth year, the symposium celebrates innovation and Weill Cornell Medicine’s entrepreneurial spirit, while encouraging and motivating the next generation of innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs.

Diet, Microbes and Fat: A New Pathway Controlling Levels of Body Fat and Cholesterol

pink fat droplets in liver tissue with a chemical structure superimposed on it

Beneficial gut microbes and the body work together to fine-tune fat metabolism and cholesterol levels, according to a new preclinical study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University’s Ithaca campus.

The human body has co-evolved with the beneficial microbes that live in the gut (termed the microbiota), resulting in mutually favorable relationships that aid in the digestion of food and absorption of essential nutrients required for survival of the host and the gut microbes. A central aspect of these relationships is the production of bioactive molecules that promote the breakdown of food, enabling nutrient absorption by the host. One of the most important groups of such molecules are termed bile acids (also known as ‘bile’) which are produced from cholesterol in the liver and then delivered to the intestine where they promote fat digestion.

Scientists have known for some time that gut bacteria modify bile acids into a form that stimulates a receptor called FXR, which reduces bile production. The new study, published Jan. 8 in Nature, reveals that an enzyme produced by intestinal cells converts bile acids into a different form that has the opposite effect. This altered form, called bile acid-methylcysteamine (BA–MCY), inhibits FXR to promote bile production and help boost fat metabolism.

Weill Cornell Anesthesiologist Selected for 2024 HHMI Hanna H. Gray Fellowship

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Dr. Jim Castellanos (M.D. ’20, Ph.D. ’18), an instructor in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been selected as a 2024 Hanna H. Gray Fellow by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Dr. Castellanos is one of 25 early-career scientists in the United States selected this year for this prestigious program, which aims to recruit and retain scientists from gender, racial, ethnic and other groups underrepresented in the life sciences. Hanna H. Gray Fellows receive up to $1.5 million over the span of eight years, providing funds for the remainder of their postdoctoral training and also during their early years as independent faculty. In addition to financial support, the program also includes professional development, mentoring opportunities and active involvement in the HHMI community.

“I finished my clinical residency a few months ago and now I want to tackle a big, important scientific question,” said Dr. Castellanos, who is an anesthesiology fellow at Weill Cornell Medicine and a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Elaine Fuchs’ lab at The Rockefeller University. “It’s validating that HHMI believes in the importance of my project and are investing in my development as a physician-scientist.”

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