March 19, 2024 — This Women’s History Month, celebrated annually in March, discover a few ways the UF College of Medicine community is working to improve health care for women, from increasing access to breast cancer screenings and promoting safer pregnancy to training the next generation of providers.

UF Health has launched a project to minimize the health risks of pregnancy by identifying, addressing and tracking social determinants of health that can threaten a mother and baby’s health. The project will create a patient electronic dashboard that could flag social needs — such as housing and food insecurity, transportation, stress and financial strain — early in pregnancy to prevent the health-threatening stress they pose. The aim is to match mothers in need with the appropriate health system and community resources to address these stressors.

For many living in the rural 23-county area of North Central Florida, access to mammography services for breast cancer screening is limited. With a $1.5-million grant awarded through UF President Ben Sasse’s strategic funding initiative, the UF Health Cancer Center will launch a mobile mammography unit outfitted with leading-edge technology to bring services directly to the community. The unit will be the first of its kind in North Central Florida, a region larger than Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined.

Obstetrics and gynecology resident physicians at UF are the first in the U.S. to be certified by the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, the leading international society of experts in the field. The department-level effort resulted in UF accomplishing what no residency has been able to do, which is to incorporate a comprehensive ultrasound experience into their training program throughout all four years.

The UF Health Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery program earned its Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology accreditation for the fourth time from the Surgical Review Corp., a nonprofit patient safety accreditation organization designed to improve the way patients receive health care services. UF Health is one of three accredited facilities in Florida that has demonstrated the ability to meet stringent program criteria, provide significant proficiency in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery and offer exceptional patient care and outcomes.

A pilot study proposed that an informative booklet can serve as an aid for women ages 75 years and older to decide whether to continue with breast cancer screening. The research revealed that the booklet, which offers clinician perspectives on screening mammography, proved effective in providing older women with a clearer understanding of breast cancer risk and the potential advantages and drawbacks associated with ongoing screening.