Collaborative Frontiers in Maternal and Newborn Health: Promising Practices and Diverging Views
Maimonides Medical Center and its Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Division of Newborn Medicine (Department of Pediatrics) proudly present the 2026 Maimonides Maternal and Neonatal Morbidity Reduction Symposium: Collaborative Frontiers in Maternal and Newborn Health: Promising Practices and Diverging Views.
Date: Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Time: 8:00 am–3:00 pm
Location:
Maimonides Medical Center
Schreiber Auditorium, Administration Building, 2nd Floor
4802 10th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219
CME credit: 5.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™
Virtual symposium: Via Webex (link to be provided prior to event)
Registration: No registration fee, but advance registration is required. Registration closes at 6:00 pm on Monday, September 7.
This free, hybrid (virtual and in-person) symposium, now in its fourth year, has become a flagship educational event for the maternal and newborn health community, convening obstetricians, neonatologists, pediatricians, nurses, and allied health professionals from across New York State. The program pairs morning lectures with afternoon roundtable discussions, creating space for both expert instruction and candid, multidisciplinary dialogue.
This year’s agenda reflects the breadth of the field and the evolving debates within it. Sessions will explore periviability and the limits of newborn viability, advances in prenatal and neonatal genetics, developments in IVF and fertility care, endoscopic approaches to craniosynostosis as an alternative to traditional open surgery, and surgical techniques for uterine closure aimed at preventing future placenta accreta spectrum. True to its title, the symposium emphasizes not only promising practices but also the areas where evidence and expert opinion diverge, equipping clinicians to navigate complexity in real-world care.
Learning objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be able to:
- Apply current evidence-based practices and emerging research in maternal and neonatal morbidity reduction to improve health outcomes for mothers and newborns.
- Collaborate across interdisciplinary teams, sharing insights and strategies to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity through a collective approach.
- Evaluate areas of clinical uncertainty and diverging expert opinion, and apply quality improvement initiatives to strengthen care delivery.
2026 program details
Confirmed speakers include Dr. Marilyn A. Kacica, Dr. Elvira Parravicini, Dr. Ganga Krishnamurthy, Dr. Itamar Futterman, Dr. Tirtza S. Strauss, Dr. Sanjivan Patel, Dr. Jessica Li, and Dr. Clarel Antoine.
Full 2026 program details are available below.
7:00–8:00 am: Badge pick-up, breakfast, and networking
Room 2C
Admin Building, 2nd Floor
8:00 am: Welcome and opening remarks
Scott Chudnoff, MD, MSc, FACOG
Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Women’s Health
Maimonides Medical Center
8:10 am: Between Two Worlds: The Future of Care for Prematurity and Congenital Heart Disease
Ganga Krishnamurthy, MD
Garrett Isaac Neubauer Professor, Pediatrics
Section Chief, Neonatal Cardiac Care
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
8:40 am: Perinatal Palliative Care
Elvira Parravicini, MD
Director, Neonatal Comfort Care Program, Division of Neonatology
Professor of Pediatrics
NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital; Columbia University Irving Medical Center
9:10 am: Prenatal Genetics and Genomics: Achieving Parity in Screening for Autosomal Recessive Disorders
Tirtza Strauss, MD, FACOG, MFM
Attending Physician, Maternal–Fetal Medicine
Director, Prenatal Genetics
Maimonides Medical Center
9:40 am: Comprehensive Overview of Cleft and Craniofacial Defects: Innovative Approach to Corrective Surgery
Jessica G. Li, DDS, BS, FAAP
Attending Surgeon, Pediatric Cleft and Craniofacial
Maimonides Medical Center
10:10 am: Novel Research at Wyckoff Heights: Maternal Obesity before Birth and Effect on Childhood Growth Disorders
Sanjivan Patel, MD, FAAP
Chair, Pediatrics
Wyckoff Heights Medical Center
10:30 am: Coffee break
11:00 am: Keynote: Maternal and Neonatal Health in the Public Health Context
Marilyn A. Kacica, MD, MPH
Medical Director, Division of Family Health
New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH)
11:30 am: Planning Your Fertility Journey: Maximizing Success
Mohamad Irani, MD, FACOG, HCLD
Assistant Professor, Reproductive Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology
Weill Cornell Medicine
12:00 pm: Selective Placental Vessels Embolization, Resection, and Reconstruction of the Lower Uterine Segment (SPERR): A Novel Technique for Uterine Preservation in PAS
Itamar Futterman, MD
Attending Physician, Maternal–Fetal Medicine
Director, Complex Obstetrical Surgery
Associate Program Director, MFM Fellowship
Maimonides Medical Center
12:30 pm: Fear and Overwhelming Hope: The Legacy of Fetal Surgery Research in Maternal–Fetal Research
Luke A. Gatta, MD
Assistant Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
1:00 pm: Closing remarks, CME code, and event evaluation; Announcing afternoon in-person activities
Sandra McCalla, MD, FACOG
Attending Physician, Maternal–Fetal Medicine
Vice Chair of Clinical Quality, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Maimonides Medical Center
1:00–2:00 pm: Lunch and networking (in person only)
2:00–3:00 pm: Track A — Hands-on workshop (in person only)
Cesarean Closure Technique to Prevent Placenta Accreta Spectrum
Sim Lab — Rooms MP1 and MP2
Clarel Antoine, MD, FACOG
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Division of Maternal–Fetal Medicine
New York University Grossman School of Medicine
Dwaita Patel, MD, FACOG
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
New York University Grossman School of Medicine
2:00–3:00 pm: Track B — Roundtable (in person only)
Diabetes and Pregnancy: Maximizing CGM Applications and Use of Related Technology
Room 2C
Rodney McLaren, MD
Director, Ambulatory Maternal Specialty
Maimonides Medical Center
See full program and speaker bios.
Who should attend
This conference is designed with the following audiences in mind:
- Clinicians
- Trainees
- Nurses
- Allied perinatal staff
Funding statement
This event is funded in part by the New York State Department of Health through the Regional Perinatal Center Grant Program.
This activity is not commercially supported.
Continuing education accreditation and credit designation statement
Maimonides Medical Center is accredited by the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
Maimonides Medical Center designates this LIVE ACTIVITY for a maximum of 5.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Disclosure statements
The Medical Society of the State of New York relies upon planners and faculty participants in its CME activities to provide educational information that is objective and free of bias. In this spirit and in accordance with the guidelines of MSSNY and the ACCME, all speakers and planners for CME activities must disclose any relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies whose products, devices, or services may be discussed in the content of a CME activity, that might be perceived as a real or apparent conflict of interest. Any discussion of investigational or unlabeled uses of a product will be identified.
The opinions, results, findings, and/or interpretations are those of the Regional Perinatal Center and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of Health.
None of the planners for this educational activity have relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Contact us
For more information, please contact Laiz Darwich, Regional Perinatal Center Coordinator, Maimonides Department of Pediatrics:
Call: 718-283-7149
Email: LDarwich@maimo.org or MatNeoSymposium@maimo.org