LOS ANGELES (March 16, 1999) - With three-dimensional ultrasound, genetic testing procedures that can now be done in the first trimester of pregnancy, and a medical staff that is nationally recognized for its size and leadership in research, the prenatal diagnostics program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center gives women access to the very latest techniques at the very earliest opportunity.
"We offer comprehensive services that extend from pre-pregnancy counseling through the entire pregnancy," said Lawrence D. Platt, M.D., chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and chairman and director of the department's residency program. "We have a very strong interest in first trimester fetal diagnosis, moving the frontiers from the second to the first trimester. In fact, with our advances in ultrasound and our expertise in biochemical testing, we're now able to perform tests in the first trimester that previously had to wait until the second or even the third."
With the recruitment late last year of a new co-director of the department's division of reproductive genetics, Cedars-Sinai's program is clearly the largest first-trimester diagnostic center on the West Coast, offering a medical team that includes three physicians board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine, and genetics. According to Dr. Platt, few if any other centers in the nation maintain this depth of expertise.
John Williams III, M.D., who has been a member of the Cedars-Sinai medical staff
since 1982 and was a full-time faculty member until 1988, became co-director of
Reproductive Genetics in November 1998. He joins Dru E. Carlson, M.D., who has
served as director of the division since 1990. Like Dr. Carlson, Dr. Williams is
certified in obstetrics and gynecology, maternal-fetal medicine (a subspecialty
of obstetrics and gynecology), and medical genetics. Dr. Williams is also board
certified in clinical cytogenetics, a subspecialty of medical genetics for
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Contact: Sandra Van
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Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
16-Mar-1999