The Division of Obstetric and Gynecologic Patient Safety Officers, part of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Langone Health, cares for more than 10,000 patients on the labor and delivery unit of NYU Langone’s Tisch Hospital and NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn each year.

Our physicians, also called patient safety officers, provide around-the-clock advanced oversight and clinical care to all our patients. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of these women have high-risk pregnancies. If complications arise, we work with the patient’s private attending to provide care that ensures the best, safest outcome. We are the only patient safety program in the United States to offer this level of care.

A unique feature of our program is that our safety officers do not have any individual patients assigned to them. Our physicians are fully available to provide assistance and oversight for all patients on labor and delivery.

All of our physicians have been senior clinicians in private practice, and many have held academic leadership positions in the past. We have decades of experience caring for pregnant patients, many with high-risk obstetric conditions.

The education of medical students, residents, and fellows and close collaboration with nursing staff are central to our division and enhance the care of our patients, especially those at highest risk for complications. In addition, our research projects help us to continually improve the quality and safety of labor and delivery.

Our Role in Education

We provide training in clinical obstetrics and quality and safety to medical students, residents, and fellows. We also train advance practice providers and nursing staff.

Training for Medical Students

During their clerkship in obstetrics and gynecology, medical students can spend time in our division learning about obstetric topics and about quality and safety.

Training for Residents

In addition to participating in our division, residents have the opportunity to conduct research projects with our safety officers. Learn more about the Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency.

Training for Fellows

Maternal–fetal medicine fellows rotate on the labor and delivery unit and interact with our patient safety officers while caring for women with high-risk pregnancies. Fellows also conduct research projects during their rotation.

Our Role in Research

Our division periodically conducts high-reliability organization research projects. One recent six-month retrospective study resulted in an improvement of wait times for initiation of medications to induce labor. Another study resulted in improvements in the hand-off communications of patients during transfer from the emergency department to labor and delivery.

Our Role in Patient Care

In addition to providing clinical assistance and oversight on labor and delivery, the safety officer also provides hands-on obstetric care at the request of the patient’s private attending. This includes but is not limited to conducting clinical examinations and performing emergency cesarean deliveries or operative vaginal deliveries such as vacuum extraction and forceps deliveries. We also counsel patients on treatment options and offer second opinions when indicated.

Our Faculty

Our faculty are highly skilled in ensuring the safety of our patients on the labor and delivery floor.

Tisch Hospital

Richard H. Bodner, MD
Sepideh Mehri, MD
Gary Mucciolo, MD
Sharon Patrick, MD

NYU Langone Hospital—Brooklyn

Donald S. Matheson, MD
Christina R. Flores, MD
Veleka Willis, MD

Contact Us

For more information about our division, contact Ashlee Alvarado, administrative assistant, at 212-263-6594 or Ashlee.Alvarado@NYULangone.org.