You will join University Women's Health (UWH), the largest and most dynamic division within UC Davis Health's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where over 16 faculty members practice together as a true team rather than competing individuals. This size creates the sweet spot in academic practice: large enough to provide comprehensive coverage without overburdening any single physician, yet small enough that you will know your colleagues personally, understand their clinical strengths, and build genuine working relationships. Unlike private practices where financial pressures can strain collegiality, or massive academic departments where faculty become anonymous within bureaucratic structures, UWH operates at a scale that fosters both professional support and personal connection.
The generalist obstetrician-gynecologists within UWH represent diverse training backgrounds, practice styles, and areas of clinical interest, creating a rich environment where you learn from colleagues daily. Some faculty members gravitate toward complex obstetrics, developing expertise in managing high-risk pregnancies and training residents in advanced delivery techniques. Others focus more heavily on gynecologic surgery, performing intricate procedures and mentoring trainees in operative skills. Several maintain strong outpatient practices, building longitudinal relationships with patients and excelling at chronic disease management and preventive care. This variety means you will always have colleagues with complementary skills available for consultation, collaborative care, and informal teaching that enriches your own clinical development.
The culture within UWH emphasizes true collaboration over hierarchical structures. Faculty meetings create space for shared decision-making about clinical operations, call schedules, teaching assignments, and quality improvement priorities. When you face a challenging clinical scenario, you can walk down the hall or pick up the phone to discuss management options with colleagues who genuinely want to help rather than colleagues too busy to engage. During daytime hospitalist coverage, multiple faculty members work simultaneously on Labor and Delivery, allowing real-time consultation and collaborative management of complex cases. This team-based approach reduces the isolation and anxiety that plague physicians in solo practice or understaffed settings, while also elevating the quality of care through multiple perspectives on difficult decisions.
The department's broader structure includes subspecialty divisions in maternal-fetal medicine, gynecologic oncology, reproductive endocrinology and infertility, urogynecology, and family planning, placing you within an environment where expert consultation remains readily accessible. When you identify a suspicious adnexal mass, gynecologic oncology colleagues can see your patient promptly. When prenatal ultrasound reveals fetal anomalies, maternal-fetal medicine specialists provide comprehensive counseling and ongoing management. These subspecialists also participate in teaching conferences, grand rounds, and departmental meetings, creating intellectual cross-pollination that keeps generalist faculty current on advances across the field.
Your clinical work benefits from experienced support staff who understand academic medicine and take pride in their contributions to patient care and medical education. Labor and Delivery nurses at UC Davis Health bring years of specialized experience to high-risk obstetrics, anticipating physician needs during deliveries, recognizing concerning fetal heart rate patterns before they become emergencies, and maintaining calm professionalism during crisis situations. These nurses know the faculty well, understand individual practice styles, and communicate effectively about patient status and management priorities. Unlike facilities with high nursing turnover or inadequate staffing ratios, UC Davis Health invests in retaining excellent nurses through competitive compensation and professional development opportunities.
Clinic staff including medical assistants, registered nurses, and patient service representatives facilitate smooth outpatient operations, rooming patients efficiently, ensuring documentation completeness, and handling patient communications. Surgical teams in the operating room anticipate needs during procedures, maintain appropriate supply levels, and work seamlessly with surgeons to optimize operative efficiency and patient safety. Administrative staff manage scheduling, credentialing, continuing medical education tracking, and the myriad operational details that allow physicians to focus on clinical care rather than bureaucratic requirements.
The ratio of support staff to providers reflects UC Davis Health's commitment to adequately resourcing clinical operations. You will not face the frustration of insufficient medical assistants, inadequate nursing coverage, or administrative bottlenecks that compromise patient care and physician satisfaction. Department administrators handle operational issues, facilitate communication between faculty and institutional leadership, and advocate for resources needed to maintain clinical excellence. This infrastructure allows you to practice medicine as you were trained rather than spending excessive time on non-clinical tasks.
Beyond faculty colleagues and support staff, your professional community includes obstetrics and gynecology residents at various training levels who depend on your mentorship and clinical teaching. These residents rotate through UWH clinics and hospitalist services, learning the fundamentals of women's health care through supervised patient encounters, assisted deliveries, and graduated surgical responsibility. Unlike community hospitals where residents are occasional visitors, or private practices without teaching missions, UC Davis Health fully integrates resident education into clinical operations.
The residents you will teach represent the next generation of obstetrician-gynecologists practicing throughout California and beyond. Your influence shapes their clinical skills, professional values, and approach to patient care long after they complete training. Many faculty members cite resident teaching as one of the most professionally rewarding aspects of academic practice, as you witness trainees progress from tentative medical students to confident physicians capable of independent practice. This teaching mission adds meaning to clinical work and connects you to the broader academic medicine community.
Medical students from UC Davis School of Medicine rotate through obstetrics and gynecology as part of their required clerkships, providing additional teaching opportunities and fresh perspectives on clinical problems. These enthusiastic learners ask questions that keep you intellectually engaged, research topics you discuss in teaching rounds, and often express gratitude for mentorship that influences their career choices. The energy and curiosity students bring to clinical settings create positive momentum that benefits patients, residents, faculty, and the students themselves.
The faculty culture within UWH emphasizes continuous quality improvement and shared learning from clinical outcomes. Regular case reviews examine unexpected complications, adverse events, and near-misses to identify system improvements and learning opportunities. These discussions occur in psychologically safe environments where the goal is learning rather than blame, and where all participants understand that complications occur even with excellent care. Morbidity and mortality conferences, quality improvement committees, and peer review processes maintain high standards while supporting physicians through the inevitable challenges of practicing medicine.
Faculty members participate in quality improvement initiatives addressing obstetric outcomes, patient satisfaction, cesarean section rates, maternal morbidity, and other clinically important metrics. These projects often lead to publications in peer-reviewed journals, presentations at national conferences, and meaningful improvements in patient care. Your participation in quality improvement work satisfies academic requirements while directly benefiting the patients you serve. Unlike research requiring years of effort before seeing impact, quality improvement projects often generate measurable results within months, providing professional satisfaction and demonstrable contributions to academic medicine.
The department values innovation in medical education, encouraging faculty to develop new teaching methods, enhance curriculum, and mentor trainees toward successful careers. Educational scholarship receives recognition in academic promotion criteria alongside clinical excellence and quality improvement work. If you discover passion for teaching during your time at UC Davis Health, multiple pathways exist for developing expertise in medical education and receiving institutional recognition for these contributions.
Your colleagues understand the challenges of balancing clinical demands, teaching responsibilities, and personal life. The UWH faculty includes physicians at various life stages: those with young children managing childcare logistics, those with teenagers navigating school activities, those caring for aging parents, and those prioritizing personal interests outside medicine. This diversity creates a culture where colleagues support each other through life's inevitable challenges rather than expecting superhuman dedication to work at the expense of everything else.
The structured call schedules, reasonable clinical expectations, and collaborative coverage model prevent the burnout epidemic affecting many physicians in private practice or understaffed settings. When you need to attend your child's school event, adjust your schedule for a family obligation, or take vacation time for personal rejuvenation, your colleagues cover without resentment because they know you provide the same support when their needs arise. This mutual respect and genuine collegiality distinguish academic medical centers with healthy faculty cultures from dysfunctional environments where burnout and turnover plague physician satisfaction.
You will join a team that genuinely cares about your success, values your contributions, and provides the professional support and personal flexibility that allows long-term career satisfaction. The relationships you build with UWH colleagues will extend beyond work, as many faculty members develop friendships that enrich both professional and personal life. This sense of community and shared purpose creates the foundation for meaningful, sustainable careers in academic women's health care.
https://health.ucdavis.edu/obgyn/about/faculty