El-Sayed appointed associate dean for maternal and child health

The maternal-fetal medicine expert will draw on his decades of Stanford experience to more closely integrate research and clinical care for pregnant women.

- By Erin Digitale

Yasser El-Sayed

Maternal-fetal medicine expert Yasser El-Sayed, MD, has been appointed as an associate dean for maternal and child health at the School of Medicine, effective immediately.

El-Sayed will focus on obstetrics and related women’s issues, ensuring that pre-conception and pregnancy-related care are fully integrated into the portfolio of services at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and into the school’s strategic planning. He joins three other associate deans for maternal and child health who represent faculty affairs, research and global affairs.

“Yasser is known as balanced in his approach: He is good at considering both hospital administrative and School of Medicine perspectives,” said David Stevenson, MD, senior associate dean for maternal and child health, who appointed El-Sayed to the new role. “He is perceived as very responsive, and he’s also a really good doctor, as well as a very strong and well-established clinical investigator.”

El-Sayed came to Stanford as an intern in 1990. He is the Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson Professor and director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Obstetrics at the School of Medicine. He is also co-director of the Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services and obstetrician-in-chief at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. He will retain these roles with his new position. Over the course of his career, El-Sayed has been instrumental in developing and directing the division’s extensive clinical and research programs.

“I think the challenges we face for perinatal care are profound and exciting,” El-Sayed said. “The hospital and university have to work closely together to continue to prove that academic, tertiary medical centers are critical for providing excellent health care to the population. The new team of associate deans speaks to how faculty members in the medical school, with leadership roles at the hospital, can facilitate that kind of productive, visionary dynamic.”

About Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine is an integrated academic health system comprising the Stanford School of Medicine and adult and pediatric health care delivery systems. Together, they harness the full potential of biomedicine through collaborative research, education and clinical care for patients. For more information, please visit med.stanford.edu.

2023 ISSUE 3

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