Officers & Council Members

Officers

Patrick S. Ramsey, MD, MSPH

President

Professor of OB/GYN
Maternal Fetal Medicine Director
Medical Director for Maternal Transport and Outreach
University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio

San Antonio, TX

Gweneth Bratton Lazenby, MD, MSCR

President-Elect

Associate Professor of Obstetrics and GynecologyMedical University of South Carolina

Charleston, SC

Jennifer Balkus, PhD, MPH

Secretary

University of Washington at Seattle

Seattle, WA

Kimberly B. Fortner, MD, FACOG

Treasurer

University of Tennessee Medical Center

Knoxville, TN

Geeta Swamy, MD

Immediate Past President

Associate Vice President for Research,
Vice Dean for Scientific Integrity, School of Medicine
Duke University
Department of OB/GYN
Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Durham, NC

Council Members

Sarah K. Dotters-Katz, MD

Duke University

Durham, NC

Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz, PhD

University of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

Alisa B. Kachikis, MD, MSc

University of Washington School of Medicine

Seattle, WA

Christina Muzny, MD

University of Alabama at Birmingham

Birmingham, AL

Lisa Noguchi, CNM, PhD

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Baltimore, MD

Olivia Van Gerwen, MD, MPH

Heersink School of Medicine at Birmingham

Birmingham, AL

Patrick Ramsey

Dr. Ramsey is the Chief of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Director for the “Stork One” Maternal Transport program, and Maternal Medical Director for the University Hospital Level IV Maternal Center at University Hospital/UT Health San Antonio.  Dr. Ramsey completed his medical school training at the University of Wisconsin Madison School of Medicine in 1994 and residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, MN in 1998.  He completed a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2001. He also received a Master of Science in Public Health with emphasis in Epidemiology/International Health in 2003. He is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine and serves as an oral board examiner for the ABOG. He is an active member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), Infectious Disease Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology (IDSOG), among others. He is a graduate of the ACOG Leadership Institute, APGO Scholars and Leaders Program,  and SMFM Leadership Academy.  He currently serves in several regional, state, and national leadership roles as Chief Medical Officer for the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies (TCHMB), Past Chair of the Texas Medical Association Committee on Reproductive, Women’s and Perinatal committee, member of the SMFM Fellowship Affairs Committee, Chair of the Texas Perinatal Advisory Council, Vice Chair of the Texas Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Task Committee, and President-Elect of IDSOG.  He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers in major journals. His research interests are clinical trials, infectious diseases in pregnancy and prevention of maternal morbidity/mortality.

Gweneth B. Lazenby

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. 

Jennifer Balkus

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. 

Geeta Swamy

Dr. Geeta K. Swamy, MD is the Haywood Brown, MD Distinguished Professor of Women’s Health in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Duke University. She also serves as Associate Vice President for Research and Vice Dean for Scientific Integrity for Duke University and the School of Medicine. She is a nationally and internationally recognized clinician-researcher and leader in the field of perinatal infectious diseases and maternal immunization. She has led numerous vaccine trials in pregnant women with funding from the NIH, CDC and Industry sponsors. She currently serves as Co-PI for Duke’s NIAID Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation and for the CDC-funded Clinical Immunization Safety Assessment project. Dr. Swamy is also a member of the Dept of Health & Human Services’ National Vaccine Advisory Committee and the American College of ObGyn Immunization, Infectious Disease, and Public Health Preparedness Expert Work Group.      

Sarah K. Dotters-Katz, MD

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.

Melissa Herbst-Kravlovetz

Dr. Herbst-Kralovetz is an Associate Professor at the University of Arizona, College of Medicine-Phoenix in the Departments of Basic Medical Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology and is the director of the Women’s Health Research Program and Microbiome Initiative on campus. Dr. Herbst-Kralovetz utilizes clinical biospecimens, animal models and an innovative 3-D bioreactor system to study human epithelial and immunometabolic responses to microbiota and microbes at this site and has a long-standing interest in enhancing women’s health outcomes through translational research. 

Alisa B. Kachikis, MD

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.

Christina Muzny

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.

Lisa Noguchi, CNM, PhD

Dr. Noguchi, is an infectious disease epidemiologist and certified nurse-midwife with over 20 years of experience in maternal newborn health, research, and program implementation in the U.S., Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Based in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., Dr. Noguchi oversees Jhpiego’s activities in maternal and newborn health and serves as Research Director for Jhpiego studies in the Antenatal and Postnatal Care Research Collective, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Noguchi is also Co-Chair of B-PROTECTED, a U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded trial of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis and dapivirine ring use during breastfeeding in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa. She supports COVID-19 response activities for maternal newborn health services within the USAID-funded MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership Project and preparations for the International Maternal Newborn Health Conference by the Jhpiego Secretariat of AlignMNH.

Olivia Van Gerwen

Dr. Olivia Van Gerwen completed her internal medicine residency and chief residency at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. She returned to her hometown of Birmingham, AL to pursue a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at UAB, which she completed in 2020 in addition to a post-doctoral fellowship in health services, outcomes, and effectiveness research. She is now an Assistant Professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases. Olivia’s research focuses on HIV and STI prevention, comprehensive sexual health promotion, and vaginal health, specifically among LGBTQ+ populations. Clinically, she enjoys providing sexual healthcare services to patients at the UAB Gender Health clinic, patients living with HIV at the UAB 1917 Clinic and is the Assistant Medical Director at the UAB Vaginitis Clinic. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her family husband, Derek, son, Thomas, and their dog, Charlie, with one new baby boy (Max) joining the family in spring 2023. She also enjoys thread crafts such as crochet and cross-stitch, reading, and cooking.