Tuesday, August 29, 2017

USA Welcomes New OBGYN Chair

Dr. Lisa Spiryda recently was appointed professor and chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.

Dr. Spiryda earned her M.D. and Ph.D. through the Medical Scientist Training Program at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. She completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Massachusetts Hospital Residency Program at Harvard University.

After several years in private practice, Dr. Spiryda began her academic career in 2007 as an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia, S.C. She was recruited through the Centenary Program to start and direct a translational and clinical research program on Human Papillomavirus (HPV), abnormal pap tests and cervical precancerous disease. She held joint appointments in women’s studies and pathology, microbiology and immunology departments. Dr. Spiryda served as director of the research division, director of resident/student research and director of colposcopy.

In August 2013, Dr. Spiryda joined the faculty at the University of Florida College of Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as an associate professor. She was the chair of resident research, director of colposcopy and vulvar disease and chair of the residency clinical competency committee. Dr. Spiryda ran the translational research program on HPV and abnormal Pap tests pursuing biomarkers involved with earlier detection of precancerous lesions and new treatment modalities for premalignant cervical disease.  Additionally, she served as the director of the clinical research practicum and as a member of the executive committee for the M.D., Ph.D. program at UF.

Dr. Spiryda has published and presented nationally and internationally on a wide variety of topics in women’s health including: abnormal Pap tests, HPV /cervical precancer disease, breastfeeding, optimizing routes of hysterectomy, obesity and pregnancy outcomes, exercise and pregnancy outcomes, graft versus host disease in female genital organs and vulvar disease. She has mentored over 80 undergraduate students, graduate students, medical students and resident physicians. Dr. Spiryda has received multiple teaching awards including the Golden Apple Medical Student Education Award (2014 - 2017), CREOG Award for Outstanding Resident Teaching and the J. Lee Dockery, M.D. Excellence in Teaching Award for overall outstanding teaching in obstetrics and gynecology.

Dr. Spiryda has received multiple grants and awards for her research from local and national funding sources (USC, NIH and March of Dimes) and received the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists/Hologic Research Fellowship in Cervical Cancer Detection. She is currently a member of several committees for the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP).

She is on several journal editorial boards and is the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology.

She belongs to the following professional societies: American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists, American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics.

In addition to her active translational and clinical research programs and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Spiryda has been a board-certified obstetrics and gynecology since 2005 and maintains a large clinical practice encompassing the full spectrum of obstetrics and gynecology. Her special clinical interests include abnormal Pap tests; colposcopy; treatment for abnormal Pap tests; minimally invasive surgical techniques (da Vinci robotic surgery, advanced laparoscopy and hysteroscopy); vulvar disease; adolescent gynecology; and family-oriented obstetrics. In recognition of her dedication to patient care she has received the Customer Service Key Award at UF Health and has been recognized as a compassionate physician.