Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Stephanie Mann, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University at Buffalo; Director, Division of Perinatal Medicine, Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, and the New York State Regional Perinatal Center of Western New York.

Dr. Mann brings 20 years of experience and a wide breadth of knowledge in both maternal and fetal treatment as she has spent her career caring for pregnant women with complex medical conditions. After completing her Ob/Gyn residency at SUNY Stony Brook, Dr. Mann did her Fellowship training in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

She most recently practiced at The Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where she focused on managing pregnancies complicated with fetal anomalies as well as treating the unique and challenging complications that are associated with multiple gestations.

New York State Regional Perinatal Center

Designated by New York State as the Regional Perinatal Center, hospitals from the surrounding eight counties transfer their most critically ill infants and high-risk expectant mothers to Women & Children’s Hospital for the highest level of medical care available.

In her position, Dr. Mann is also the Director of The Regional Perinatal Center at Women & Children’s Hospital. Dr. Mann and her team at the Center will provide specialized comprehensive services for high-risk pregnancies involving maternal and/or fetal complications.

The Perinatal Medicine service is available 24 hours a day for both patients and physicians. “We are fortunate here at Women & Children’s Hospital to have all of the subspecialty services available in one location. Therefore, our patients have access to the highest level of expertise available in WNY when there is a problem with their pregnancy,” said Dr. Mann.

The Center’s multidisciplinary collaborative approach to caring for pregnant women with a complicated pregnancy includes the availability of all of the following services:

• Board Certified Maternal Fetal Medicine Physicians
• Preconception Counseling
• Genetic evaluation by a certified genetic counselor
• Ultrasound screening (targeted anomaly exams, nuchal translucency)
• Management of multiple gestation
• Diabetic monitoring and teaching
• Fetal Anomalies, e.g. congenital diaphragmatic hernia, abdominal wall defects,
  lung lesions, twin to twin transfusion syndrome, skeletal dysplasia
• Amniocentesis/PUBS/fetal transfusions
• Prenatal consult with a Neonatalogist and Pediatric Specialists including surgery,
  urology, neurosurgery, cardiology, orthopedics
• Social work
• Nutritional counseling

The goal of the Perinatal Center is to provide a Center of Excellence for the community that will ensure women with pregnancy complications can have all of their high risk needs met. Patients can be assured they will receive the highest standard care offered in a compassionate, multidisciplinary setting.

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Women & Children’s Hospital operates the region’s largest and most advanced Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The team of specialists in the NICU delivers the most state-of-the-art care available for the most critically ill newborns. Neonatologists and other physician specialists, neonatal nurse specialists and nurse practitioners, respiratory, occupational, and physical therapists, nutritionists, psychologist, social workers and pharmacists are all part of this specialized team.

Every Critical Pediatric Specialist

Women & Children’s Hospital is the only hospital in the region to have immediate access to a complete range of pediatric specialists and pediatric surgical sub-specialists.

The team of board certified pediatric anesthesiologists also receive training to meet the special needs of children and are among the few nationally who specialize in pediatrics. 

Critically sick and injured patients at Women & Children’s Hospital also have immediate access to a complete range of more than 35 pediatric sub-specialists, including: adolescent medicine, allergy, asthma, dermatology, cardiology, emergency medicine, endocrinology, gastroenterology, genetics, general pediatrics, hematology-oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, internal medicine, immunology, maternal/fetal medicine, neonatology, nephrology, neurology, pediatric intensivists, psychiatry, pulmonology, rehabilitation and developmental pediatrics, respiratory and rheumatology.

Pediatric Surgical Specialists for neurosurgery, general surgery, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, dental and urology are on site to provide immediate access to care for our patients in need.

Adult Surgical Services

Further developing medical services and expertise available for its obstetrical, gynecology and other adult patients, Women & Children’s Hospital appointed Aaron B. Hoffman, M.D., as Medical Director of Adult Surgical Services.

An accomplished physician who delivers unique and specialized surgical services for women in Western New York, Dr. Hoffman is Board Certified in General Surgery and completed an accredited fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery.

For more information, access wings.buffalo.edu/smbs/obgyn/

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Rita M. Ryan, M.D., Chief, Division of Neonatology, Professor of Pediatrics, Pathology and Anatomical Sciences, Gynecology-Obstetrics, Director, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Fellowship Program, Director, Center for Developmental Biology of the Lung, University at Buffalo, Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo, and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Dr. Ryan’s research is primarily directed to the potential role for growth factors in the repair of the alveolar epithelium after lung injury and the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Recently she has also studied the role of the natriuretic peptide system in the early newborn lung. 

Dr. Ryan’s clinical research interests include neonatal ventilation, gastroesophageal reflux/aspiration and gram negative pneumonia in the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, booster surfactant and surfactant dysfunction during the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, and neonatal nutrition.

Division of Neonatology/Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

The Division of Neonatology at Women & Children's Hospital and the University at Buffalo is an academic division with a busy, thriving clinical neonatal intensive care service, active research interests, and a long-standing commitment to fellows and residents.

As the Regional Perinatal Center for critically ill newborns, we service the eight counties of Western New York and beyond. Our 64-bed NICU admits over 750 babies each year and has an average daily census of 50 babies each day. Approximately one-third of our admissions are transported from an outlying hospital by our active Neonatal Transport Team which consists of neonatal nurse practitioners and specially trained neonatal respiratory therapists, readily available to provide stabilization and transport to WCHOB for any infant in our region.

The faculty in Neonatology has broad academic interests. Some examples include basic research in the developing lung, lung injury, the pulmonary vasculature, and the surfactant system, clinical research in the areas of prevention of bronchopulmonary dysplasia, prevention of nosocomial infection, effect of varying levels of oxygen on neonatal premature infant resuscitation, and clinical academic interests in transport, resuscitation and osteopenia of prematurity.

Faculty have had Neonatology training in many different programs prior to coming to Buffalo including Children's Hospital of Philadelphia/University of Pennsylvania, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center/University of Cincinnati, University of Connecticut and University of Indiana.

Visit the Division of Neonatology at Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, its clinical and fellowship programs, faculty and faculty interests and more.

Pediatric Surgery

Michael G. Caty, M.D., Chair & Director of Pediatric Surgical Services, Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo; Program Director, University at Buffalo, and Pediatric and Fetal Surgical Services.

He completed his undergraduate education at Boston College and obtained his M.D. Degree at the University of Massachusetts. His general surgery training was done at the University of Michigan where he served as Administrative Chief Resident. During his general surgery residency he did a research fellowship investigating intestinal injury during ischemia and reperfusion. His pediatric surgery residency was done at the Women & Children's Hospital of Boston and Harvard Medical School where he served as Chief Resident.

Dr. Caty is board certified in Pediatric and General Surgery. His clinical interests include neonatal surgery, thoracic surgery, intestinal motility disorders, pediatric renal transplantation, pediatric surgical oncology, pediatric laparoscopy and thoraoscopy. His research interests are concentrated on the pathophysicology of intestinal ischemia and reperfusion.

Dr. Caty is a member of the American College of Surgeons, American Pediatric Surgical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Shock Society, Association for Academic Surgery and many others. He joined the Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo in 1993.

Department of Pediatric Surgery

The Department of Pediatric Surgery at The Women & Children's Hospital of Buffalo was established in 1957 and specializes in general and thoracic surgery for the care of fetuses, infants, toddlers, children and adolescents up to the age of 18. Young adults with specific problems are also serviced.

The department is committed to excellence in teaching, cutting-edge research programs, and providing the highest quality of care for the surgical needs of the children of Western New York and the surrounding regions. Our surgeons are Board Certified by the American Board of Surgery in General Surgery and have completed two-year fellowships in Pediatric Surgery. These surgeons, along with three pediatric surgery fellows and a pediatric nurse practitioner, staff the department. More than 2,000 surgical procedures are performed yearly, and over 5,000 patients are seen annually by the staff, on both an inpatient and outpatient basis.

For more information about the Department of Pediatric Surgery at Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo, including its staff and services, designation as the Regional Pediatric Trauma Center, the Residency Program and much more, visit www.wchob.org/pedsurg/