Madigan starts first DoD infertility fellow program

By Suzanne OvelAugust 19, 2016

Madigan starts first DoD infertility fellow program
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington -- The first infertility fellowship program in the Department of Defense started at Madigan Army Medical Center, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., in July.

The subspecialty training program in Madigan's reproductive endocrinology infertility clinic is just one of 45 REI fellowship programs in the nation.

"We felt that having a training program within the military that's dedicated to providing fellows for the Army, Navy, Air Force, for the Military Health System at large was important," said Col. Richard Burney, the program director for REI fellowship here.

Nationally the field is experiencing a lack of fellowship training slots, partly because the REI field is becoming more popular. Burney said that even nine years ago the in vitro fertilization was not commonly used, but "now it's become almost a standard part of practice."

With an increase in demand and a military patient population of largely reproductive age in which infertility is not uncommon, Burney said it's important for the military to ensure it has the REI specialists its patients need.

Madigan started planning to develop its fellowship program in 2010, when they took a look at the landscape of training programs within REI and found need for a dedicated military fellowship program in this field.

"We felt we had the capability to support the training program, (and) we were increasingly finding that it was difficult to secure training slots for our graduating residents who wanted to embark on a career in REI," said Burney.

In 2011, the REI clinic started the mission of creating a fellowship program; while it was clinically ready to do so, the program needed to provide thesis-quality research opportunities for fellows.

Last year, the accrediting organization declared that Madigan met these thresholds, and after a thorough selection process, Maj. Dennis Fujii became the program's first fellow on July 1.

"I'm happy to be at the front of this, and there's definitely a certain amount of responsibility that goes with that," Fujii said. An obstetrics gynecology doctor, he took the unusual path of practicing in the field for several years before deciding to subspecialize.

"Dr. Fujii is an outstanding first fellow for the program, so we're really pleased," said Burney. "He brings to the fellowship program experience insofar as he's been in a general OBGYN staff role for the past six years prior to entering the fellowship. As a consequence, he has been seasoned with respect to provision of OBGYN care in general; that really allows him to hit the ground running with respect to training and infertility."

Fujii said that while he could offer some insightful services as a general OBGYN doctor, he needed to subspecialize in REI to offer IVF services to his patients. "With this subspecialty I can practice the whole scope, with the most significant being IVF… Everything else is fine-tuned as well," he said.

He hopes to become a well-trained REI specialist, to include becoming a better researcher and developing an understanding of the molecular basis of medicine. As a father of six children himself, he chose the field though for "just the satisfaction of seeing my patients achieve pregnancy, because many of these patients have been trying for years and to see that joy brought into their lives."

"I've been on the other end delivering these patients and being able to see their joy; now I'm on the front end of this as well," Fujii said.