Treasurer
Fellowship Program Director
Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Associate Professor of Obstetrics and GynecologyMedical University of South Carolina
IDSOG | 14305 Southcross Dr, Suite 100
Burnsville, MN 55306, USA
952-247-4887 | info@idsog.org
Copyright © 2025 Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics & Gynecology. All rights reserved.
Dr. Balkus is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle. As an infectious disease epidemiologist, her research spans across the fields of sexual and reproductive health. She is passionate about improving genital health for all people with a vagina and has contributed to the 2021 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention STI guidelines for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. She has expertise in conducting both clinical trials and observational studies, in the US and globally, and currently leads several NIH R01-supported research projects. Dr. Balkus is also an Affiliate Investigator at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center where she is an investigator with the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) and serves on protocol teams for two ongoing MTN trials that are assessing the safety of the dapivirine vaginal ring in pregnant and postpartum breastfeeding individuals. Across her work, Dr. Balkus is committed to collaborative engagement and continual learning to develop and implement anti-oppressive structural changes in public health research, teaching and practice.
Kimberly B. Fortner, MD, FACOG
Dr. Kimberly Fortner is a native of East Tennessee. She graduated from the University of Tennessee and completed medical school at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Dr. Fortner then completed her residency in Gynecology & Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Fortner is a professor and currently serves as the Vice President of the Center for Women & Infants at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Dr. Christina Muzny obtained her medical degree at the Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center College of Medicine followed by an internal medicine residency and an infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She joined the ID faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2010. She obtained an MSPH in Public Health Epidemiology at the UAB School of Public Health in 2017. Her clinical and research interests focus on HIV and STIs in women, specifically vaginal infections. Dr. Muzny is currently a tenured Associate Professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases with secondary appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology. She is the Medical Director of the UAB Vaginitis Clinic and the Chair of the UAB Institutional Review Board 01.
Dr. Jennifer Thompson is a subspecialist in maternal-fetal medicine. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine in Toledo, OH. Dr. Thompson then completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. Following residency, she completed a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Duke University. Dr. Thompson joined the maternal-fetal medicine division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2014 where she is currently an Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Director.
Dr. Thompson’s clinical and research interest focus on infectious diseases in pregnancy and maternal heart disease. She has been actively involved in the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology (IDSOG) since 2013. Over the years, Dr. Thompson has had the privilege of contributing to IDSOG in several roles. She served on both the Annual Program and Membership Committees and was a member of the IDSOG Council from 2019 to 2022. Dr. Thompson also co-chaired the Membership Committee from 2021 to 2023 and is excited to now severe as Treasure of this wonderful organization.
Dr. Gweneth B. Lazenby is a subspecialist in reproductive infectious diseases. Her clinical and research foci are in HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. She is the Medical Director of MUSC Ambulatory Women’s Health clinics. Dr. Lazenby directs obstetric and gynecology specialty clinics for women living with HIV.
Dr. Sarah K. Dotters-Katz is an obstetrician-gynecologist in Durham, North Carolina. She received her medical degree from Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth.
Each day, while I get to help women and their families with big wins and happy moments, I also have the opportunity to help them through sad times and some of the worst moments of their lives. It is these hard and sad moments that make the happy ones even more meaningful. I also spend some of my time helping to teach medical students about Ob/Gyn. I really enjoy teaching, and sharing my love for Ob/Gyn with young learners is one of my favorite parts of my job. My other very important job is being a mom. I have three fantastic young boys that keep me busy and remind me on a daily basis how important family is. I love to swim and make jam. Apricot Jam is my favorite.
Dr. Catherine Eppes is a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Baylor College of Medicine, and the Chief of Obstetrics for Ben Taub Hospital. She received dual degrees in molecular biology and psychology from the University of Texas, Austin. She received her MD from The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins. Her fellowship, and master’s of public health, were received from Northwestern University. Her primary areas of focus are quality and safety and infectious diseases in pregnancy. Recently, she has been focused on the Zika virus during pregnancy, including numerous collaborations with the CDC, ACOG, and the Texas Medical Association. She has traveled with Brownsville to partner with the Department of Public Health in their efforts to stop local spread. She also was the course director for the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Zika and another infectious disease course in 2017. She has given grand rounds and plenary presentations in multiple venues, to educate providers and patients about the Zika virus. She is currently the ACOG District XI (Texas) patient quality and safety chair, Chair of the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies executive committee, and member of the Texas Fetal and Infant Review of HIV and Syphilis. She holds several grants with the CDC for influenza and HIV in pregnancy.
Alisa Kachikis, MD, is an obstetrician/gynecology (OB/GYN) and maternal-fetal medicine doctor at the UW Medicine Maternal Infant Care Clinic at the University of Washington Medical Center and in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Clinic at Valley Medical Center. Her clinical interests include infections and immunization in pregnancy, prematurity, autoimmune and inflammatory bowel disease in pregnancy, ultrasonography, multiple gestation, global reproductive health and pre-eclampsia. She believes each pregnancy is unique and some pregnancies are more complicated than others. Her goal is to provide information to patients and their families and work with them to optimize their individual treatment plans.
Bio Anna Powell to follow.
Dr. Venkatesh is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and PhD epidemiologist. He is an associate professor with tenure in obstetrics and gynecology and epidemiology. He is the director of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Program based at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, one of the oldest and largest integrated diabetes and prenatal care programs in the United States. He sees pregnant patients with diabetes every week.
In the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Dr. Venkatesh leads the Perinatal Epidemiology Program focused on addressing the impact of social determinants on cardiometabolic health in pregnancy. He is the principle investigator of three federally-funded studies: 1) NIH’s ECHO Ohio prospective longitudinal cohort examining the impact of maternal cardiometabolic health on long-term child neurodevelopment (UG3); 2) AHRQ’s ACHIEVE RCT studying the impact of continuous glucose monitoring, mobile applications, and addressing social needs on glycemic control for Medicaid-insured pregnant individuals with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes (R01); 3) PCORI’s DECIDE, a comparative effectiveness, patient-centered RCT, defining whether metformin is non-inferior to insulin for prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes and safe through two years postpartum among individuals with gestational diabetes and their exposed infants at 20 U.S. centers.
Dr. Venkatesh has published more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts focused on diabetes in pregnancy, adverse pregnancy outcomes and perinatal infectious diseases. He has methodological expertise in clinical trials, prospective cohorts, and clinical prediction models. As a physician-scientist, Dr. Venkatesh’s overarching goal is to improve pregnancy outcomes for all individuals living with diabetes using innovative approaches that integrate clinical trials, perinatal epidemiology and precision medicine.
Dr. Marisa Young is originally from Seattle and completed both a PhD in Epidemiology and an MD at the University of Illinois at Chicago, followed by a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Emory University. She joined the Emory faculty as an Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics in 2019. Dr. Young practices full-spectrum Ob/Gyn at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Her research interests include vaginal infections in pregnant and non-pregnant individuals, particularly Trichomonas vaginalis and its interactions with the vaginal microbiome. She was recently awarded a K23 Career Development Award titled “Trichomonas vaginalis through the Lifespan.” Dr. Young has loved attending IDSOG annually since 2020 and is thrilled to serve on the Council.
