Welcome

Jerome Yaklic On behalf of all my colleagues, welcome to the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology. We are excited about your interest in our department. As an academic Ob/Gyn department, we are committed to excellence in patient care, education, and research.

Our faculty are specialists and subspecialists across the spectrum of Obstetrics & Gynecology. They can provide comprehensive patient care and training in Ob/Gyn and its subspecialties, including Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Gynecologic Oncology, Pediatric/Adolescent Gynecology, Reproductive Endocrinology/Infertility, Urogynecology, and Minimal Invasive and Robotic Gynecologic Surgery. We strive to provide compassionate, patient-centered care that is evidence-based and utilizes both new and proven surgical techniques and technologies. We specialize in the care of low-risk and high-risk pregnant women during all stages of their pregnancy. We deliver approximately 5,500 babies per year. Our doctors, nurses, midwives, and staff provide care to women at more than 40 sites in Galveston, on the mainland Gulf Coast, and in communities spread across the eastern part of Texas from McAllen to Nacogdoches.

Our faculty's participation in clinical, basic, and translational science research provides our patients access to the most current and evidence-based diagnostics and treatments available. On average, the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology is involved with 70 or more research grants each year. Our active research program has ongoing collaborations among physicians and scientists in areas of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Behavioral Health. We have two research centers. One is devoted to Interdisciplinary Research for Women's Health and the other to Violence Prevention. Many of our discoveries impact not only the clinical care we provide but the standards of care performed by physicians across the country and around the world. We continue to be at the forefront of innovative breakthroughs in healthcare and be at the top of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding lists for Obstetrics & Gynecology departments. In addition to the NIH, our investigators receive funding from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), other states/federal agencies, and numerous industry and foundation partners.

UTMB's School of Medicine boasts the ninth largest medical enrollment in the country and graduates approximately 230 physicians per year. We are training the next generation of physician leaders in Medicine. We offer a brand new, state-of-the-art Medical Education Center with a 77-bed simulated hospital. As one of the original departments at UTMB, our department has provided over 100 years of training in our specialty and subspecialties. We are proud of our UTMB students, residents, and fellows who have gone on to care for populations around the world and to make significant contributions to the world's medical knowledge and innovation. Welcome again, and thank you for visiting our website. We hope you will enjoy learning more about our department and its faculty as you explore its pages.

NEWS

Congratulations to Dr. Abbey Berenson

Mar 7, 2025, 12:04 PM by CPRIT

The CPRIT 2024 Annual Report

The CPRIT 2024 Annual Report mentions Dr. Berenson’s grants and findings.

CPRIT FY 2024 Annual Report Published Research Findings

#119

The HPV vaccination is the safest and most effective way to prevent six kinds of HPV-related cancers. The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices currently recommends a two-dose series among individuals 9 to 14years of age and a three-dose series among individuals 15 to 26 years of age. Because data comparing two versus three doses of 9vHPV vaccine in individuals aged 15 to 26 years of age are limited, Abbey Berenson, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, and director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and colleagues set out to uncover the differences.

The preliminary findings of this ongoing, single-blinded, randomized trial of the 9vHPV vaccine among individuals 15 to 26 years of age in the United States were published in NEJM Evidence on January 23. The team enrolled and randomly assigned 438 participants to the two-dose (n=217) or three-dose (n=221) group. At one month after the final vaccine dose, the seroconversion rate for each of the nine HPV genotypes in the vaccine was 100% among participants in the two-dose group and 99% in the three-dose group. These results suggest that two doses of the 9vHPV vaccine may be sufficient to fully vaccinate adolescents and young adults.

“Because of the current discourse within the medical community about how many HPV vaccine doses are sufficient, it was important to publish the preliminary findings of our study sooner, rather than later,” Dr. Berenson said. “No study has previously examined the non-inferiority of the 9vHPV vaccine among 15- to 26-year-olds. Thus, our findings are beginning to fill an important gap of knowledge within the medical field.”

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston received a $1.5 million CPRIT Academic Research grant (RP190022) in 2019 for a randomized, controlled trial comparing the immunogenicity of 2 doses vs. 3 doses of the 9-valent HPV vaccine in females and males 15 to 26 years of age.

https://2024annualreport.cprit.texas.gov/media/4q0aofhj/fy2024_prevention_highlights.pdf

CPRIT FY2024 Prevention Highlights

In October 2023, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital published an online article, “Partnering with Schools to Increase HPV Vaccine Coverage in Rural Communities along the U.S.-Mexico Border,” lauding the CPRIT-funded school-based HPV vaccination program in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. According to the recently released NIS-Teen 2022 data, for the first time since the HPV vaccine became available, vaccination rates did not increase. Instead, rates of HPV vaccination initiation (i.e., ≥1 dose) and up-to-date coverage nationally remained steady from 2021 to 2022. Coverage declined among uninsured and Medicaid-insured teens and HPV vaccination rates remained significantly lower among teens living in rural areas. The Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas is a medically underserved area, where approximately one in three residents are uninsured.

Through a series of grants from CPRIT, a team of researchers, including Jane Montealegre, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Behavioral Science at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Abbey Berenson, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, and director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, along with public health practitioners is working to make HPV vaccination, and other routinely recommended and catch-up adolescent vaccinations, widely available at middle schools throughout the region. The team works with school district leadership and nurses to plan on-campus, school vaccination events that students can attend throughout the day at no cost to participants. Of equal importance is the education campaign around HPV vaccination targeting parents and caregivers, school faculty and staff, and local healthcare providers. In one school district, HPV vaccination initiation rates among middle-school students increased from 39.7% at baseline to 68.5% in Year 3 of the three-year program. Other school districts are experiencing similar results as the program continues to grow and expand its reach into more rural and remote counties along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Baylor College of Medicine received two Prevention grants (PP210007, PP220038) totaling $5 million and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston was awarded two Prevention grants (PP190004, PP210020) totaling $4.5 million to provide cancer prevention services to populations and geographic areas at high risk of HPV-related cancer morbidity and mortality.

#12

The HPV vaccination is the safest and most effective way to prevent six kinds of HPV-related cancers. The United States Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices currently recommends a two-dose series among individuals 9 to 14 years of age and a three-dose series among individuals 15 to 26 years of age. Because there is limited data comparing two versus three doses of 9vHPV vaccine in individuals aged 15 to 26 years of age, Abbey Berenson, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, and director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and colleagues set out to uncover the differences.

The NEJM Evidence published the preliminary findings of this ongoing, single-blinded, randomized noninferiority trial of the 9vHPV vaccine among individuals 15 to 26 years of age in the United States on January 23. The team enrolled and randomly assigned 438 participants to the two-dose (n=217) or three-dose (n=221) group. At one month after the final vaccine dose, the seroconversion rate for each of the nine HPV genotypes in the vaccine was 100% among participants in the two dose group and 99% in the three-dose group. These results suggest that two doses of the 9vHPV vaccine may be sufficient to fully vaccinate adolescents and young adults.

#16

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection. About 13 million women and men in the United States acquire HPV each year. Despite effective screening and the implementation of the HPV vaccine, doctors diagnosed more than 13,000 women with cervical cancer in 2020 in the United States, and nearly 4,000 women died from this disease.

In 2014, Abbey Berenson, M.D., Ph.D., professor, Departments of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pediatrics, and director, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, initiated a program in the pediatric clinics at UTMB Galveston to increase HPV vaccine uptake among children 9–17 years of age. Her team has found that several factors are associated with low vaccination rates, including race/ethnicity, parental education, marital status, provider recommendation, income, and age.

In the current study, Dr. Berenson and colleagues aimed to examine parental attitudes towards earlier vaccine initiation by interviewing parents of 9–10-year-old children who received vaccination counseling through this program. The secondary aim was to understand parental perspectives on general childhood vaccination and school-based vaccination initiatives to inform potential interventions and improve HPV vaccination rates in Texas.

The data, published in Vaccines on February 27, revealed that many participants preferred starting the HPV vaccine series when their child was a teenager; however, their reasoning varied widely and was not based on scientific fact. Recurrent themes included concerns about vaccine side effects, limited knowledge and exposure to vaccine information, and mistrust in the healthcare system. However, many participants expressed trust in their physicians who bridged the information and trust gap. The team emphasized that they could improve patient vaccine education and uptake through policy and public schooling, empowering physicians to educate patients on the HPV vaccine, and allowing nurses to play an important role in patient education.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston received a $2.5 million CPRIT Prevention grant (PP190004) in February 2019 to expand the HPV vaccination program to 9–17-year-olds from medically underserved area

Patient Care

VictoryLakes The Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology offers a full range of services related to pregnancy and other areas of women's health, including fertility, child health, family planning, gynecologic surgery, and breast and cervical cancer screening. In 2012, the department completed a full renovation of the Labor & Delivery area, which now includes 35,000 square feet of state-of-the-art patient rooms, nurseries, operating rooms, nursing work areas, and offices. Our doctors, nurses, midwives, and staff provide care to women at more than 40 sites in Galveston, on the mainland Gulf Coast, and in communities spread across the eastern part of Texas from McAllen to Nacogdoches.

In addition to general obstetrics and gynecology, UTMB provides a number of specialty patient services:

Our Maternal and Fetal Medicine division is recognized nationally as a top provider for women with high-risk pregnancies and prenatal diagnoses.
The Pelvic Health & Continence Center provides specialty multidisciplinary care focused on diagnosing and treating pelvic floor disorders in both women and men.
The University Fertility Center houses an on-site operating suite, a state-of-the-art IVF laboratory, andrology and hormone labs, and facilities for in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.
We offer access to subspecialists in the fields of Gynecologic Oncology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Pediatric/Adolescent Gynecology, Reproductive Infertility Endocrinology, and Certified Nurse Midwifery.
Our Gynecology Division’s robotic surgery program has been recognized and certified as a Center of Excellence by the AAGL.

Research Overview

Our faculty’s participation in clinical, basic, and translational science research provides our patients access to the most current and effective evidence-based diagnostics and available treatment. On average, the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology is involved with 70 or more research grants each year.

The department has earned spots in 2 current national collaborative research networks, the Obstetric-Fetal Pharmacology Research Center (OPRC) Network and the Multicenter Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network (MFMU). Our Maternal-Fetal Pharmacology and Bio-development Laboratories are perhaps unequaled in their range of specialties for investigating the interaction between therapeutic drugs and pregnancy. Of particular note, UTMB is home to three University Centers: The Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Women's Health, a university-wide organization funded by the National Institutes of Health to promote, stimulate, and support interdisciplinary research related to women’s health across the life span. The Obstetric-fetal Pharmacology Research Center funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to support specialized research to improve the safety and efficacy of medication use during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. The most recent addition is the Center for Violence Prevention, which was established to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, couples, families, communities, and societies through the prevention of violence.

Education

UTMB’s School of Medicine boasts the ninth largest medical enrollment in the country and graduates approximately 230 physicians per year. Obstetrics & Gynecology is one of the original departments of the Medical Branch, providing over 100 years of specialty training. The department’s 4-year residency program offers training in obstetrics and gynecology via didactic teaching, simulation and surgical training, clinical experience, and research opportunities. Our graduates pass the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology examinations and successfully match into subspecialty fellowship programs at a high rate. UTMB’s Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellowship program provides additional clinical training in high-risk obstetrics and clinical and basic science research, with the option of earning a PhD.

Our medical doctors and scientists extend their learning on a continual basis through participation in national and international professional organizations, collaboration with colleagues, and research. The department also holds grants to support 2 formal training programs for faculty, the Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) and Building Interdisciplinary Research in Women’s Health (BIRWCH) programs.