In April, ten Indiana University Obstetrics & Gynecology residents presented their research as part of the 2025 OB-GYN Research Day at Indiana University School of Medicine. This year’s research presentation winners are Francesca Mancuso, MD, 1st place; Jenifer Akinduro, MD, MS, 2nd place; and Ryan Kramer, MD, 3rd place.
Former ACOG CEO and Chair of OBGYN at Brown University, currently a physician executive and leadership, coach Maureen G. Phipps, MD, MPH, CEO of MGP Strategies, LLC, presented this year’s Hunter Lecture, where she challenged residents take their goal setting a step further by identifying next steps and obstacles. Her talk, “Growing as a Leader: Clarity, Courage and Compassion,” had residents not only asking questions, but also sharing personal experiences on their own professional growth. The Hunter Lecture was established to commemorate the leadership of Charles A. Hunter, Jr., MD, who served as the Coleman Professor and chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at IU School of Medicine.
Mancuso’s research, “Progesterone in oil: A retrospective study of the prevalence of Progesterone Hypersensitivity and its impact on reproductive outcomes,” assessed the prevalence of progesterone hypersensitivity in women undergoing medicated frozen embryo transfer utilizing P-in-oil and the clinical implications of such reactions for pregnancy outcomes. Her research, which was part of the largest cohort analyzing progesterone hypersensitivity in patients using P-in-oil, concluded that the rare occurrence appears to have minimal negative impact on reproductive outcomes and that larger population studies are needed to support their findings.
Akinduro’s research, “Evaluating the Impact of a Brief Instructional Video on Medical Students’ Use of Interpreters in Clinical Encounters,” assessed the impact of providing video training to medical students on best practices in using an interpreter for patients with limited English proficiency. While students who had the training mostly did not have improved Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) scores, they overwhelmingly felt the instruction was useful and noted it would be more useful to give to students before starting clinical rotations. 
Kramer’s research, “Does Remote Postpartum Blood Pressure Monitoring Increase Postpartum Visit Rates,” provided a blood pressure cuff postpartum to patients with hypertensive disorders, along with the option to enroll in a focused texting-based co-intervention to see if enhanced monitoring would increase engagement with the health care system and possibly reduce hypertension related morbidity postpartum. Results of this study showed that remote postpartum hypertension monitoring significantly increased postpartum visits of enrolled patients and that the monitoring markedly improved patient engagement with the health care system.
Other participating residents included Taylor Bynarowicz, Leah Frischmann, Ric Henderson, MD, MPH, Maya Merriweather, MD, MPH, Cory Reiter, MD, PhD and Veronica Santana-Ufret, MD.
Visiting obstetrics and gynecology expert judges included Joseph P. Harmon, MD, assistant professor of Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology at Indiana University South Bend and Jerlinda G.C. Ross, MD, MS, MBA, associate professor and chair of Health System Science at Methodist Cape Fear Valley School of Medicine, along with Phipps.
IU OB-GYN fellows rounded out the afternoon with their research updates. Presenters included Sara Spielman, MD, Chris Philip, MD, Brittany Arkerson, MD, Jose Lazaro Weiss, MD and Ramzy Burns, MD.
David M. Haas, MD, vice chair of research for the department, was delighted with the outcome of the research presentations and overall engagement of attendees. “The residents and fellows did a phenomenal job presenting their work, which ran the spectrum of OB-GYN practice areas. The quality of the projects and presentations continues to elevate each year,” Haas said. He also presented an annual summary of the faculty and other research in the department from 2024, which highlighted a large amount of productivity in presentations, publications and trainee participation in studies.
