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.

Prestigious NIH Grant Explores Repetitive DNA Sequences and Cell Dysfunction

Dr. Jeannine Gerhardt

Dr. Jeannine Gerhardt, an assistant professor of stem cell biology in obstetrics and gynecology and in reproductive medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has received a five-year, $2.1 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), part of the National Institutes of Health, for the study of repetitive DNA and RNA sequences and the mechanisms by which they cause cell dysfunction and diseases.

The NIGMS Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award is intended to support recipients’ research more broadly and flexibly than standard project grants, which must specify proposed research thoroughly in advance.

“This award is particularly nice because it gives us the flexibility to follow up on any surprising findings as we pursue our research interests,” said Dr. Gerhardt.

Repetitive DNA sequences, or DNA repeats, are patterns of nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, that occur in multiple copies (such as CAGCAGCAGCAG...). Some are found only in a specific gene, whereas others occur at multiple sites across the genome. While DNA repeats are common, and most are not harmful, others clearly cause diseases.

Grant Funds Study of Video Game for Preventing Unintended Teen Pregnancies

avatars at a party

Weill Cornell Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $5 million grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services through the Office of Population Affairs under the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program to conduct a randomized trial testing whether a bilingual video game called “No Baby No (No Bebé No)” can increase the use of contraception among sexually active Black and Hispanic adolescents.

“Nine out of ten teens play video games. No Baby No empowers Black and Hispanic adolescents to learn about contraception, and the potential consequences of not using it, in a risk-free virtual world that is culturally responsive and inclusive of their language, slang and in scenarios they face in real life,” said principal investigator Dr. Aileen Gariepy, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of Complex Family Planning at Weill Cornell Medicine and an obstetrician-gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Research Shows the Value of COVID-19 Boosters for Those Pregnant, Trying to Conceive

Pregnant woman wearing a pink dress with her hands over her belly

Pregnant individuals who had a previous COVID-19 infection and received a full course of COVID-19 vaccination and a booster have the strongest immune protection from the disease – and pass that protection along to their unborn babies, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine and The Rockefeller University investigators.

The researchers, whose study published Aug. 10 in Nature Communications, examined pregnant patients who either had a history of vaccination or infection or both. They found that patients who had a history of vaccination with a booster and a previous infection had the highest neutralizing antibodies against COVID-19 variants including omicron.

The findings suggest that a patient’s hybrid immunity, plus booster, provides the strongest protection for both patient and the unborn baby. This is significant because pregnant people can help protect themselves and their unborn child by getting boosted if they haven’t already, said study co-senior author Dr. Yawei Jenny Yang, who was an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and a pathologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center at the time she conducted the research.

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