The University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has been selected as a recipient of the 2021 Roy M. Pitkin Award.

Established in 1998, the Roy M. Pitkin Award recognizes academic departments of obstetrics and gynecology that promote and demonstrate excellence in research.

Annually, the editors of Obstetrics & Gynecology, also known as The Green Journal, select outstanding articles that were published in the Journal over the past year to receive the award. In recognition of the accomplishment, a $5,000 check is also presented to the department whose faculty, residents, or fellows authored the publication.

The winning research study, “Evaluation of a risk-stratified, heparin-based, obstetric thromboprophylaxis protocol,” was published in The Green Journal in Oct. 2021.

In an effort to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality after delivery, recommendations are being implemented world-wide to start prophylactic anticoagulation to reduce Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) - a cause of morbidity and mortality. However, these recommendations are based on expert opinion and lack evidence to suggest it is safe for patients.

In 2016, UAB implemented strict anticoagulation guidelines in accordance with national recommendations and sought to evaluate the safety of prophylactic anticoagulation in a general population.

“As we suspected, given VTE is a rare event, there was no decrease in rate of VTEs over the time period, but there was a significant increase in bleeding complications (wound hematoma and transfusion),” says Akila Subramaniam, M.D. MPH, associate professor in UAB’s Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and senior author on the winning publication.

The study, which evaluated 24,000 patients, is the first study to date that evaluates the safety of these guidelines.

“Given our findings, we have dramatically scaled back prophylaxis in our population,” says Subramaniam. 

The study required a large team of faculty, fellows, residents, and medical students. Additionally, UAB’s Center for Women’s Reproductive Health (CWRH) was crucial in the success of the study. The CWRH data team was responsible for extracting a significant amount of patient data from the electronic record while the CWRH analytics team completed the analyses. 

UAB authors for the publication include Christina Blanchard, M.S., Margaret Page, M.D., Gabriella Cozzi, M.D., Martha Ruzic, M.D., Mythreyi Mahalingam, M.D., Sarah Dunk, M.D., Macie Champion, M.D., Brian Casey, M.D., Alan Tita, M.D., Ph.D., Dhong-Jin Kim, M.S., Jeff Szychowski, Ph.D., and Akila Subramaniam, M.D., MPH.

Additional authors include lead author and former Department resident Michelle Lu, M.D., former Department fellows Elizabeth Ausbeck, M.D. and Elisa Bushman, M.D., and former UAB Heersink School of Medicine students Kacie Oglesby, M.D., Allison Lazenby, M.D., Rodrigo Muñoz Rogers, M.D., and Elle Kaplan, M.D.