April 7, 2025 • 16 mins
In this episode of the SMFM Podcast, Dr. Shad Deering welcomes Dr. Sindhu Srinivas, the newly appointed President of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr. Srinivas shares her journey to becoming an MFM, reflects on the mentors who shaped her path, and discusses her early involvement in advocacy and organized medicine. She also offers insight into her leadership vision for SMFM, including expanding member engagement, strengthening advocacy efforts, and advancing educational initiatives like the newly launched Pregnancy Journal. Whether you're a fellow, early-career MFM, or a long-time member, this episode highlights the many ways to get involved and stay inspired within the MFM community.
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Episode Transcript
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Dr. Shad Deering (00:09):
Welcome to the SMFM podcast.
I'm Dr. Shad Deering.
I'm an MFM at Innova Health herein Virginia, and also a member
of the SMFM Board of Directors.
Today I'm excited to host this episodeof the podcast to help introduce our
new SMFM President to our membership.
Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Srinivas.
can you please, take a moment,introduce yourself to the listeners?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (00:31):
Thanks so much Shad.
and thanks for having me on the podcast.
I'm excited to be here todayand honored to be the SMFM
President for this upcoming year.
Uh, I, I'm a, professor of OB-GYNand MFM at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, andalso serve as the associate Chief
Medical Officer of, um, the hospitalof the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Shad Deering (00:53):
Great.
So, so every year, uh, at the SMFMpregnancy meeting, uh, we pass
the gavel to the new president.
Uh, this year, you're startingyour term after years of
service to the SMFM community.
So today we just wanna take theopportunity to talk about your
MFM journey, how you became anMFM, and also what your vision for
your term, as president here is.
(01:13):
So, so for a first question, so what was,what was your path to becoming an MFM?
Like what was that moment, or whatwas that, I don't know, rotation,
whatever it was that made you say like,oh, I, I wanna specialize in this.
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (01:26):
Yeah.
It's always fun to reflect backon these, on these questions.
Um.
You know, when I was a, um, medicalstudent and I went to a seven year
medical program, so I was likein college for three years and
then med school for four years.
I, I applied, um, to that program asa, as a, as a high school student.
And in medical school, I, I knew I alwayswanted to do something related to like
(01:47):
reproductive health and I actually wasthinking for a while about adolescent.
Medicine, um, particularly like teenpregnancy prevention was something that
I was like always really interested in.
And then as I went through medicalschool and the rotations, I like
really liked surgery and procedures.
So that sort of pivoted meto, to ob GYN naturally.
(02:08):
Um, and sort of contrary towhat a lot of people think.
So until you ask the question, right,a lot of people in MFM would sort
of assume that you, 'cause theydon't know you as anything else, and
so they were just assume that you.
Always knew you wanted to be an MFM.
Um, and I definitely liked MFMA lot,but as a resident, I actually was really
considering doing, um, a Robert WoodJohnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship,
(02:29):
which was really clinically right,staying a academic specialist, but
really focusing on sort of advocacyand research and fellowship training.
Um, and so I cold emailed.
A bunch of OB-GYNs that had donethe Robert Wood Johnson when I was a
resident, so they had done it previously.
My program director was previouslyhad done that fellowship too, and I
(02:50):
was wanted to know what are peopledoing who have done this fellowship?
'cause there wasn't a ton ofpeople in ob GYN who had done it.
And so I talked to lots of differentpeople, including Dr. Maureen Phipps.
Who people know as theprior chair of Brown.
And so I cold emailed her and as athird year resident and said, do you
mind talking to me for a few minutes?
And I'll always be so grateful toeveryone's generosity, um, for their time.
But she, I got to talk to abunch of different people.
(03:13):
I saw what they were doing and as Ireally reflected, I was like, I really
clinically wanna do obstetric researchand I really like obstetrics and
particularly like higher risk patients.
And so I ended up by third yearsort of deciding to go into.
MFM.
And so, um, you know, still beingable to do some procedures and some
surgery, but also obviously all theother wonderful aspects of MFM Care.
Dr. Shad Deering (03:37):
Oh, I love it.
And so you, you kind of gotto it a little bit there.
My next question I was gonna ask is just.
Just about mentors and, andpeople that really kind of helped,
um, guide you along the way.
And, uh, I, I love the,I love the cold call.
That's, or, you know, justthe email out of nowhere and
people being willing to help.
So like, what are, who aresome of the people that really
helped you along that journey?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (03:56):
So, you know, I would say that I've had
just so many mentors, right?
Mentors for different things likeclinical mentors, professional
mentors, like life mentors.
And I think you heard, you know, Dr.Phipps from that time is somebody
that I still kind of connect with.
Pretty periodically to sort of ask somequestions to back from when I sort of
emailed her back then, um, one of mymain mentors I would sort of have to,
(04:20):
to say, well, I again don't wanna,you know, sort of not mention people.
There's so many people that havebeen, um, wonderful mentors, but one
main mentor, sort of, that has been amentor sort of for a long time is, um.
Dr. Debbie Driscoll, who was my priorchair at Penn and is now in a sort
of executive system, health systemleadership position, but became chair
(04:41):
when I was, um, becoming a first,when I became a first year fellow.
So through Fellowship and my firstjob there and through all the
leadership, she's sort of beena, a mentor that has really, um.
Both from a professional and personalperspective for me, but also just
in terms of her leadership, um,ability, um, as a leader herself.
So I'm very grateful to, to her asand to many of the other mentors
(05:04):
that I've had along the way.
Dr. Shad Deering (05:06):
So, okay.
So that kind of gets us from, frommedical school to, to picking MFM.
And so where, where does that transitionor where's the, where's the intersection
with when you started with SMFM?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (05:18):
So I really got involved with SMFM.
I'm one of those people thatI've always been really drawn to,
organized medical, organized medicine.
So really getting myself involved in,um, professional organizations and
sort of trying to be involved in the.
In the professional organizational aspectsof a specialty or of like a, an area.
(05:43):
And so as a medical student, I actuallywas involved in the American Medical
Student Association, um, and actually wenton to be the national president, which was
a, actually a full-time job for a year.
So I actually worked asa full-time down in dc.
Like right outside of DC
Dr. Shad Deering (05:59):
Oh wow.
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (06:00):
The year between finishing medical
school and becoming a resident.
Um, and there was a lot of advocacy work.
We spent a lot of time on.
The Hill was an advocacy organizationthat was student run with, you know,
so work down there with all thestaff down there and there was a few
different students or people that Ijust graduated that were full-time, um.
And then I also was very involved withACOG and committees and SMFM I became
(06:22):
really involved, started becominginvolved with when I was a a, when I
became, when I was a chief resident andsort of decided, or when I was applying
into MFM, so like that third year ofresidency when you're applying and yeah,
I presented research at that time atSM fm and that was like my first time.
And I pretty much don't think I've misseda meeting really, actually since then.
When I reflect back.
(06:42):
And then, you know, I'vereally, in getting involved with
organizations, like just seeing.
The impact that organized medicine andorganizations can have both on you as
an individual and your development,but also on the profession and the
way in which the profession has animpact on the community at large.
Um, sort of led me to continue tobe kind of involved in SMFM both.
(07:06):
Being asked to give like a talk at thePresident's workshop back when I was
an early faculty member on a topic,um, involved in the m and MFM sort of
back when there was some sort of, somedifferent, different conferences on that.
And then eventually getting reallyinvolved with the health policy
and advocacy committee as a member,and then eventually as a chair
and vice, vice chair and chair.
Dr. Shad Deering (07:28):
Yeah.
And I, I wanted to ask about that.
So within SMFM, so obviously you'vedone a lot of different roles and then
there's a process, you know, that'skind of gotten you to where you are.
So what are the, whatare the different things?
I mean, start with research and, you know,you came and got to give a presentation
and what are the other, what are,what are the other things that you do?
'cause I think this is really greatfor the, for the junior people, you
know, like, you know, like what'sthat kind of pathway look like?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (07:50):
Yeah.
It's actually, it's interesting'cause I, I was sort of reflecting on.
Um, just all the different thingsthat I've been had the sort of
opportunity to be involved with.
I'm so grateful for the opportunities.
Like my fir, one of the first thingsI did was actually did a, I did an,
um, presentation in, I believe itwas Dr. Brian Mercer's workshop that
(08:11):
was on the threshold of viability.
And I remember it was like, a coordinatedsort of workshop where like, you know,
um, the, a AAP might have been involved.
I, I was sort of very juniorthen, so I was sort of emailed and
asked to give a talk on counselingat the threshold of viability.
And this is like manyyears ago at this point.
(08:31):
And I was a pretty new like,faculty member and it wasn't
my area of research expertise.
Most of my research was in preeclampsia,um, some biomarker and genetic stuff.
And, I was sort of.
Kind of very flattered that Iwas asked, but also didn't know.
I was like, oh, this issuch a great opportunity.
It definitely was a clinical interest,but definitely wasn't like a research.
Like I didn't have a lotof research in this space.
(08:52):
I did a few papers on, um, recurrentsecond trimester pregnancy loss,
and that I think maybe that'swhat landed me into that spot.
But I was so grateful to Dr. Mercerjust to the opportunity, and it made me
get really deep into that literature.
Which I hadn't really totally done.
And, and it still informs, I thinknow some of the counseling and just my
interest in that literature was justhaving the opportunity to, to having,
(09:15):
having presented in on that topic.
Um, but so I think for the, for the,you know, I think as a leader now in
SMFM being president and just sortof having the opportunity to, as we
develop task forces and other things,like thinking about how we include
people, members at different stagesof their career who may or may not
(09:35):
have been in leadership now, but likegiving different people opportunities.
You know, just thinking back on theopportunity that was given to me and
sort of wanting other people to sortof have that opportunity as well.
I think we've really tried as asociety over the last several years to
really expand volunteer opportunity.
So I really reflect back on thatopportunity that I don't know why
somebody thought of me, but I wasvery grateful and still am grateful
(09:56):
for having had that opportunity.
Um.
And then, you know, policy andadvocacy has always been something
that has been a part of my fabric,like since I was a medical student and
as you heard it, president of amsa.
And so that's really where I think I gotreally involved in SMFM, sort of, kind
of in a more specific and kind of likeongoing way, um, both as a committee.
(10:22):
Member, um, and really grateful to, toGeorge Sade for his leadership and Lisa
o for their leadership of that committee.
And, um, and then eventually got theopportunity, um, to become vice chair and
then, and then chair of that committee.
And so I spent a lot of mySMFM volunteering time in that
space and in that committee.
So I, I really, not that I don't loveall of the committees, but that one's
(10:44):
particularly near and dear to me.
Dr. Shad Deering (10:47):
Oh yeah, no.
And so, so with regards to that,so, so that's your background,
that's where you kind of came from.
That's where you came up in SMFM.
So now, so now you're the SMFM president.
What are, what kind of goals do youhave for your, for your term here?
I.
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (11:01):
So I think that we are in a very exciting time right now.
I know that there's a lot of sort ofexternal challenges as well at the same
time, and I think, you know, reallystaying strong and committed to our
kind of mission as an organizationto advancing, um, and advocating
for optimal pregnancy outcomesfor every person who, you know.
(11:24):
Has a pregnancy, desires pregnancy,um, both through sort of supporting
our members and, um, what they need,including, you know, educational
support, um, programmatic supportin terms of like what we, what
we do and develop as a society.
Um, as well as, um, advocacy, um, advocateadvocating for our members, but also, and
(11:47):
mostly for, and also for our patients.
And then really thinking about like.
How to increase our, like,reach as an organization.
So how are we collaborating with otherorganizations to enhance our educational
mission and, and push our educationalmission and our advocacy mission.
And as people know, we just launchedthe pregnancy journal, so that's sort
(12:08):
of part of, you know, really kind oftaking that and continuing to, um,
implement that that new initiativethat we have, um, is gonna be kind of
also a big part of the, the next year.
Dr. Shad Deering (12:22):
Awesome.
Okay.
Well, I've, I've been asking youquestions, but before we, we, we wrap
things up, I wanna make sure that I, Igive you an opportunity, anything that
we've missed, any special messages,anything you want, you wanna tell people?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (12:37):
I think the only thing I would add is as I think about, you
know, MFMs that are in fellowship or earlyin career, um, and think about sort of.
You know, this gave me the opportunityto reflect a little bit on sort of how
I got involved in SMFM and um, and allthe things that SMFM has afforded to
(12:58):
me in terms of opportunities and just,you know, wanting to share with, with
our kind of junior folks and fellows,um, and early faculty members that
it's like just so important to keepkind of your eye and your sort of
yourself on your kind of North star.
I think we get sort of, um, wrappedup a little bit of course in the
(13:20):
things that frustrate people or dayto day and um, that type of thing.
But I think what I would say is findingthe things to get yourself involved,
in a bigger way, to remind yourselfa ways of why you went into MFM,
why you care about the specialty andthe patients that you take care of.
And while there's always gonna be sortof things that frustrate us because of
(13:43):
a variety of different reasons, externaland otherwise, I think finding, for me,
having found a, a home and a communitywithin SMFM to really channel some of
that, to really advocate and improve.
How the system works for our patientsand for us, um, and to be a part of
those strategies and solutions hasbeen really rewarding for me and why
I'm really excited about this upcomingyear and all the time I've spent sort
(14:05):
of working within SMFM and I'm, I'mso grateful for, you know, all of, in
addition to all of that and the benefits,the actual, all the friendships and,
and, you know, colleagues that you havemet along the way, being involved in an
organization like SMFM, you know, there'snot even words that can describe how,
how positive of an, of an impact that'shad, for me and I know for many others.
(14:26):
So just to kind of encourage peopleto, to get involved and if every
anyone ever wants to reach out aboutkind of opportunities to get involved.
My email's always at the, at thebottom of every, uh, at the, you
can always reach me through, throughthose, emails that get set out from
the, from the special delivery.
So please reach out.
Um, and I'd love to talk toanyone that has any questions
or, about how to get involved.
Dr. Shad Deering (14:48):
All right.
That's great.
So, so in terms of additionalresources, so, um, so, you know, SMFM
members play such an integral rolein advancing, uh, MFM, and you know,
I, I love what you said, which is ourmembers want to make a difference.
Uh, and I think it's aplace of community for that.
Um, you know, their, their time,effort, expertise are just such a
large part of the society's success.
(15:10):
Any other commitment, dedication, it's,that's what makes it possible to conduct
our activities, develop the clinicalguidelines, publications, programming,
I mean, so, so many different things.
Um, and there's, there's aton of ways to get involved.
And I think you mentioned a lot of them.
You can be a pregnancy meeting judge.
You can join a committee throughSMFM or the foundation for SMFM.
(15:31):
Uh, I think there's emails that havetalked about joining the state liaison
network and more, and, and therewill, there will be a link in the
show notes so you can learn more abouteach of these volunteer opportunities.
So I, I just wanna take a moment andsay, thank you so much, Dr. Shnivas,
and to our listeners for joining us.
Please be sure to subscribe to theSMFM podcast series so you can get
(15:51):
the new episodes and you can sharethis resource with your colleagues.
And, for more educational resources fromSMFM, you can visit Education.SMFM.org.
Welcome to the SMFM podcast.
I'm Dr. Shad Deering.
I'm an MFM at Innova Health herein Virginia, and also a member
of the SMFM Board of Directors.
Today I'm excited to host this episodeof the podcast to help introduce our
new SMFM President to our membership.
Welcome to the podcast, Dr. Srinivas.
can you please, take a moment,introduce yourself to the listeners?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (00:31):
Thanks so much Shad.
and thanks for having me on the podcast.
I'm excited to be here todayand honored to be the SMFM
President for this upcoming year.
Uh, I, I'm a, professor of OB-GYNand MFM at the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, andalso serve as the associate Chief
Medical Officer of, um, the hospitalof the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Shad Deering (00:53):
Great.
So, so every year, uh, at the SMFMpregnancy meeting, uh, we pass
the gavel to the new president.
Uh, this year, you're startingyour term after years of
service to the SMFM community.
So today we just wanna take theopportunity to talk about your
MFM journey, how you became anMFM, and also what your vision for
your term, as president here is.
(01:13):
So, so for a first question, so what was,what was your path to becoming an MFM?
Like what was that moment, or whatwas that, I don't know, rotation,
whatever it was that made you say like,oh, I, I wanna specialize in this.
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (01:26):
Yeah.
It's always fun to reflect backon these, on these questions.
Um.
You know, when I was a, um, medicalstudent and I went to a seven year
medical program, so I was likein college for three years and
then med school for four years.
I, I applied, um, to that program asa, as a, as a high school student.
And in medical school, I, I knew I alwayswanted to do something related to like
(01:47):
reproductive health and I actually wasthinking for a while about adolescent.
Medicine, um, particularly like teenpregnancy prevention was something that
I was like always really interested in.
And then as I went through medicalschool and the rotations, I like
really liked surgery and procedures.
So that sort of pivoted meto, to ob GYN naturally.
(02:08):
Um, and sort of contrary towhat a lot of people think.
So until you ask the question, right,a lot of people in MFM would sort
of assume that you, 'cause theydon't know you as anything else, and
so they were just assume that you.
Always knew you wanted to be an MFM.
Um, and I definitely liked MFMA lot,but as a resident, I actually was really
considering doing, um, a Robert WoodJohnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship,
(02:29):
which was really clinically right,staying a academic specialist, but
really focusing on sort of advocacyand research and fellowship training.
Um, and so I cold emailed.
A bunch of OB-GYNs that had donethe Robert Wood Johnson when I was a
resident, so they had done it previously.
My program director was previouslyhad done that fellowship too, and I
(02:50):
was wanted to know what are peopledoing who have done this fellowship?
'cause there wasn't a ton ofpeople in ob GYN who had done it.
And so I talked to lots of differentpeople, including Dr. Maureen Phipps.
Who people know as theprior chair of Brown.
And so I cold emailed her and as athird year resident and said, do you
mind talking to me for a few minutes?
And I'll always be so grateful toeveryone's generosity, um, for their time.
But she, I got to talk to abunch of different people.
(03:13):
I saw what they were doing and as Ireally reflected, I was like, I really
clinically wanna do obstetric researchand I really like obstetrics and
particularly like higher risk patients.
And so I ended up by third yearsort of deciding to go into.
MFM.
And so, um, you know, still beingable to do some procedures and some
surgery, but also obviously all theother wonderful aspects of MFM Care.
Dr. Shad Deering (03:37):
Oh, I love it.
And so you, you kind of gotto it a little bit there.
My next question I was gonna ask is just.
Just about mentors and, andpeople that really kind of helped,
um, guide you along the way.
And, uh, I, I love the,I love the cold call.
That's, or, you know, justthe email out of nowhere and
people being willing to help.
So like, what are, who aresome of the people that really
helped you along that journey?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (03:56):
So, you know, I would say that I've had
just so many mentors, right?
Mentors for different things likeclinical mentors, professional
mentors, like life mentors.
And I think you heard, you know, Dr.Phipps from that time is somebody
that I still kind of connect with.
Pretty periodically to sort of ask somequestions to back from when I sort of
emailed her back then, um, one of mymain mentors I would sort of have to,
(04:20):
to say, well, I again don't wanna,you know, sort of not mention people.
There's so many people that havebeen, um, wonderful mentors, but one
main mentor, sort of, that has been amentor sort of for a long time is, um.
Dr. Debbie Driscoll, who was my priorchair at Penn and is now in a sort
of executive system, health systemleadership position, but became chair
(04:41):
when I was, um, becoming a first,when I became a first year fellow.
So through Fellowship and my firstjob there and through all the
leadership, she's sort of beena, a mentor that has really, um.
Both from a professional and personalperspective for me, but also just
in terms of her leadership, um,ability, um, as a leader herself.
So I'm very grateful to, to her asand to many of the other mentors
(05:04):
that I've had along the way.
Dr. Shad Deering (05:06):
So, okay.
So that kind of gets us from, frommedical school to, to picking MFM.
And so where, where does that transitionor where's the, where's the intersection
with when you started with SMFM?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (05:18):
So I really got involved with SMFM.
I'm one of those people thatI've always been really drawn to,
organized medical, organized medicine.
So really getting myself involved in,um, professional organizations and
sort of trying to be involved in the.
In the professional organizational aspectsof a specialty or of like a, an area.
(05:43):
And so as a medical student, I actuallywas involved in the American Medical
Student Association, um, and actually wenton to be the national president, which was
a, actually a full-time job for a year.
So I actually worked asa full-time down in dc.
Like right outside of DC
Dr. Shad Deering (05:59):
Oh wow.
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (06:00):
The year between finishing medical
school and becoming a resident.
Um, and there was a lot of advocacy work.
We spent a lot of time on.
The Hill was an advocacy organizationthat was student run with, you know,
so work down there with all thestaff down there and there was a few
different students or people that Ijust graduated that were full-time, um.
And then I also was very involved withACOG and committees and SMFM I became
(06:22):
really involved, started becominginvolved with when I was a a, when I
became, when I was a chief resident andsort of decided, or when I was applying
into MFM, so like that third year ofresidency when you're applying and yeah,
I presented research at that time atSM fm and that was like my first time.
And I pretty much don't think I've misseda meeting really, actually since then.
When I reflect back.
(06:42):
And then, you know, I'vereally, in getting involved with
organizations, like just seeing.
The impact that organized medicine andorganizations can have both on you as
an individual and your development,but also on the profession and the
way in which the profession has animpact on the community at large.
Um, sort of led me to continue tobe kind of involved in SMFM both.
(07:06):
Being asked to give like a talk at thePresident's workshop back when I was
an early faculty member on a topic,um, involved in the m and MFM sort of
back when there was some sort of, somedifferent, different conferences on that.
And then eventually getting reallyinvolved with the health policy
and advocacy committee as a member,and then eventually as a chair
and vice, vice chair and chair.
Dr. Shad Deering (07:28):
Yeah.
And I, I wanted to ask about that.
So within SMFM, so obviously you'vedone a lot of different roles and then
there's a process, you know, that'skind of gotten you to where you are.
So what are the, whatare the different things?
I mean, start with research and, you know,you came and got to give a presentation
and what are the other, what are,what are the other things that you do?
'cause I think this is really greatfor the, for the junior people, you
know, like, you know, like what'sthat kind of pathway look like?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (07:50):
Yeah.
It's actually, it's interesting'cause I, I was sort of reflecting on.
Um, just all the different thingsthat I've been had the sort of
opportunity to be involved with.
I'm so grateful for the opportunities.
Like my fir, one of the first thingsI did was actually did a, I did an,
um, presentation in, I believe itwas Dr. Brian Mercer's workshop that
(08:11):
was on the threshold of viability.
And I remember it was like, a coordinatedsort of workshop where like, you know,
um, the, a AAP might have been involved.
I, I was sort of very juniorthen, so I was sort of emailed and
asked to give a talk on counselingat the threshold of viability.
And this is like manyyears ago at this point.
(08:31):
And I was a pretty new like,faculty member and it wasn't
my area of research expertise.
Most of my research was in preeclampsia,um, some biomarker and genetic stuff.
And, I was sort of.
Kind of very flattered that Iwas asked, but also didn't know.
I was like, oh, this issuch a great opportunity.
It definitely was a clinical interest,but definitely wasn't like a research.
Like I didn't have a lotof research in this space.
(08:52):
I did a few papers on, um, recurrentsecond trimester pregnancy loss,
and that I think maybe that'swhat landed me into that spot.
But I was so grateful to Dr. Mercerjust to the opportunity, and it made me
get really deep into that literature.
Which I hadn't really totally done.
And, and it still informs, I thinknow some of the counseling and just my
interest in that literature was justhaving the opportunity to, to having,
(09:15):
having presented in on that topic.
Um, but so I think for the, for the,you know, I think as a leader now in
SMFM being president and just sortof having the opportunity to, as we
develop task forces and other things,like thinking about how we include
people, members at different stagesof their career who may or may not
(09:35):
have been in leadership now, but likegiving different people opportunities.
You know, just thinking back on theopportunity that was given to me and
sort of wanting other people to sortof have that opportunity as well.
I think we've really tried as asociety over the last several years to
really expand volunteer opportunity.
So I really reflect back on thatopportunity that I don't know why
somebody thought of me, but I wasvery grateful and still am grateful
(09:56):
for having had that opportunity.
Um.
And then, you know, policy andadvocacy has always been something
that has been a part of my fabric,like since I was a medical student and
as you heard it, president of amsa.
And so that's really where I think I gotreally involved in SMFM, sort of, kind
of in a more specific and kind of likeongoing way, um, both as a committee.
(10:22):
Member, um, and really grateful to, toGeorge Sade for his leadership and Lisa
o for their leadership of that committee.
And, um, and then eventually got theopportunity, um, to become vice chair and
then, and then chair of that committee.
And so I spent a lot of mySMFM volunteering time in that
space and in that committee.
So I, I really, not that I don't loveall of the committees, but that one's
(10:44):
particularly near and dear to me.
Dr. Shad Deering (10:47):
Oh yeah, no.
And so, so with regards to that,so, so that's your background,
that's where you kind of came from.
That's where you came up in SMFM.
So now, so now you're the SMFM president.
What are, what kind of goals do youhave for your, for your term here?
I.
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (11:01):
So I think that we are in a very exciting time right now.
I know that there's a lot of sort ofexternal challenges as well at the same
time, and I think, you know, reallystaying strong and committed to our
kind of mission as an organizationto advancing, um, and advocating
for optimal pregnancy outcomesfor every person who, you know.
(11:24):
Has a pregnancy, desires pregnancy,um, both through sort of supporting
our members and, um, what they need,including, you know, educational
support, um, programmatic supportin terms of like what we, what
we do and develop as a society.
Um, as well as, um, advocacy, um, advocateadvocating for our members, but also, and
(11:47):
mostly for, and also for our patients.
And then really thinking about like.
How to increase our, like,reach as an organization.
So how are we collaborating with otherorganizations to enhance our educational
mission and, and push our educationalmission and our advocacy mission.
And as people know, we just launchedthe pregnancy journal, so that's sort
(12:08):
of part of, you know, really kind oftaking that and continuing to, um,
implement that that new initiativethat we have, um, is gonna be kind of
also a big part of the, the next year.
Dr. Shad Deering (12:22):
Awesome.
Okay.
Well, I've, I've been asking youquestions, but before we, we, we wrap
things up, I wanna make sure that I, Igive you an opportunity, anything that
we've missed, any special messages,anything you want, you wanna tell people?
Dr. Sindhu Srinivas (12:37):
I think the only thing I would add is as I think about, you
know, MFMs that are in fellowship or earlyin career, um, and think about sort of.
You know, this gave me the opportunityto reflect a little bit on sort of how
I got involved in SMFM and um, and allthe things that SMFM has afforded to
(12:58):
me in terms of opportunities and just,you know, wanting to share with, with
our kind of junior folks and fellows,um, and early faculty members that
it's like just so important to keepkind of your eye and your sort of
yourself on your kind of North star.
I think we get sort of, um, wrappedup a little bit of course in the
(13:20):
things that frustrate people or dayto day and um, that type of thing.
But I think what I would say is findingthe things to get yourself involved,
in a bigger way, to remind yourselfa ways of why you went into MFM,
why you care about the specialty andthe patients that you take care of.
And while there's always gonna be sortof things that frustrate us because of
(13:43):
a variety of different reasons, externaland otherwise, I think finding, for me,
having found a, a home and a communitywithin SMFM to really channel some of
that, to really advocate and improve.
How the system works for our patientsand for us, um, and to be a part of
those strategies and solutions hasbeen really rewarding for me and why
I'm really excited about this upcomingyear and all the time I've spent sort
(14:05):
of working within SMFM and I'm, I'mso grateful for, you know, all of, in
addition to all of that and the benefits,the actual, all the friendships and,
and, you know, colleagues that you havemet along the way, being involved in an
organization like SMFM, you know, there'snot even words that can describe how,
how positive of an, of an impact that'shad, for me and I know for many others.
(14:26):
So just to kind of encourage peopleto, to get involved and if every
anyone ever wants to reach out aboutkind of opportunities to get involved.
My email's always at the, at thebottom of every, uh, at the, you
can always reach me through, throughthose, emails that get set out from
the, from the special delivery.
So please reach out.
Um, and I'd love to talk toanyone that has any questions
or, about how to get involved.
Dr. Shad Deering (14:48):
All right.
That's great.
So, so in terms of additionalresources, so, um, so, you know, SMFM
members play such an integral rolein advancing, uh, MFM, and you know,
I, I love what you said, which is ourmembers want to make a difference.
Uh, and I think it's aplace of community for that.
Um, you know, their, their time,effort, expertise are just such a
large part of the society's success.
(15:10):
Any other commitment, dedication, it's,that's what makes it possible to conduct
our activities, develop the clinicalguidelines, publications, programming,
I mean, so, so many different things.
Um, and there's, there's aton of ways to get involved.
And I think you mentioned a lot of them.
You can be a pregnancy meeting judge.
You can join a committee throughSMFM or the foundation for SMFM.
(15:31):
Uh, I think there's emails that havetalked about joining the state liaison
network and more, and, and therewill, there will be a link in the
show notes so you can learn more abouteach of these volunteer opportunities.
So I, I just wanna take a moment andsay, thank you so much, Dr. Shnivas,
and to our listeners for joining us.
Please be sure to subscribe to theSMFM podcast series so you can get
(15:51):
the new episodes and you can sharethis resource with your colleagues.
And, for more educational resources fromSMFM, you can visit Education.SMFM.org.
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