News
Meredith Birsner, MD, a high-risk pregnancy expert who invented a device to teach breech extraction of twins, has joined St. Luke’s University Health Network, where she will care for patients and help train residents on treating serious birth complications.
“We’re there when a patient has a challenging preconception medical condition or if there are complications and problems in pregnancy on the maternal side, the fetal side or both,” explains Birsner. “We also work closely with the patient’s care team to help take a complex situation and make sure we get mom and baby through safely.”
Birsner is now part of the St. Luke’s Maternal Fetal Medicine group, with locations at 701 Ostrum Street in Bethlehem, 450 Chew Street and 1837 West Linden Street in Allentown and 487 East Moorestown Road in Wind Gap.
Birsner’s educational interests include obstetric and critical care simulation as well as quality and safety in obstetric care, which led her to invent a simulation device on breech extraction of a second twin. Her invention – which, altruistically, she did not patent so as not to limit its life-saving potential – will be used as part of a larger simulation curriculum used to train residents within St. Luke’s.
“Instead of patenting it, which would restrict my own use and force users to purchase in order to use it, I decided to try to publish the device myself so it can be made available to institutions across the country and internationally for free,” explains Birsner. “Using this device as part of resident training will help us use leading-edge technology to care for patients as well as help me meet one of my goals, which is to ensure the highest level of critical care obstetrics training for St. Luke’s residents.”
Birsner attended Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University Philadelphia. She then completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology and her fellowship in maternal fetal medicine at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She continued working and teaching at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia where she enjoyed caring for a diverse and complex patient population.
After working in large health systems in major metropolitan areas, Birsner is excited to care for patients within the St. Luke’s. Birsner is impressed with the pride St. Luke’s employees have for their jobs and their hospital, their culture of professionalism, as well as the emphasis on evidence-based medicine.
“I love taking care of patients and helping them get through difficult times and I see that I’m not alone in that sentiment here at St. Luke’s,” says Birsner. “I look forward to working with our generalists and patients to provide the highest level of quality care and healthiest outcomes for moms and babies.”
Birsner joins St. Luke’s highly qualified team of maternal fetal medicine specialists including Joseph Bell, MD, Judi Schucker, MD and Christopher Wayock, MD. St. Luke’s Maternal Fetal Medicine locations:
701 Ostrum Street
Suite 303
Bethlehem, PA 18015
484-526-3900
1837 West Linden Street
Webster Place - 2nd Floor
Allentown, PA 18104
610-628-8415
450 Chew Street
Sigal Building - Suite 205
Allentown, PA 18102
484-526-3900
487 East Moorestown Road
Suite 104
Wind Gap, PA 18091
484-526 -7860
Media Contact:
Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network providing services at nine hospitals and nearly 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $1.7 billion, the network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is a major teaching hospital – the only one in the Greater Lehigh Valley. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the region’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 23 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 189 residents. Repeatedly, including 2017, St. Luke’s earned Truven’s 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital and 50 Top Cardiovascular Program designations, in addition to other honors for clinical excellence. St. Luke’s, utilizing the EPIC electronic medical record (EMR) system, is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of St. Luke’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.
