The Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine is dedicated to providing accessible, quality prenatal care and delivery services to the women of Dallas and its surrounding communities. We are committed to training medical professionals in the care of pregnant women and to identifying effective treatment options through rigorous controlled clinical trials and basic research.

Working Together

This mission is the responsibility of two academic divisions working in concert: the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the Division of Generalist Obstetrics and Gynecology or, as it is sometimes called, the Generalist Division.

The Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine focuses on research, training, and patient care involving women who are at high risk for pregnancy complications. The Division is comprised of obstetricians and subspecialists who have received advanced training in the subspecialty of maternal-fetal medicine.

In our Department, maternal-fetal medicine specialists serve two clinical roles. They are consultants to other obstetricians who refer high-risk patients to them for evaluation and establishment of a treatment plan. Unlike many maternal-fetal medicine specialists, they also care for and deliver high-risk patients. They practice in both the UT Southwestern Health System and the Parkland Health & Hospital System.

Maternal-fetal medicine specialists are joined by obstetricians from the Division of Generalist Obstetrics and Gynecology led by Barry Schwarz, M.D. These faculty physicians are responsible for research, training, and patient care of women who are at lower risk for pregnancy complications.

Private and Public Clinical Service

With clinical practices in both the UT Southwestern Health System and the Parkland Health & Hospital System, the Division reaches women across all socioeconomic strata and ethnicity, underscoring our fundamental belief that both private and public clinical service can and must be done well.

Our UT Southwestern Health System private practice handles one quarter of all deliveries at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital each year and operates a transport service for community obstetricians whose patients must be transferred to the care of our high-risk specialists.

At Parkland Hospital, our clinical service is responsible for the busiest comprehensive maternity program in the United States (approximately 150,000 prenatal visits and more than 10,000 deliveries annually). This is the milieu of Williams Obstetrics, the leading textbook in the field, now in its 25th edition.