Should I bank my baby’s umbilical cord blood?
October 1, 2024
Patricia Santiago-Muñoz, M.D., is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. She works in UT Southwestern’s High-Risk Pregnancy and Prenatal Genetics program and treats patients with pre-existing conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, and diseases of the lung, liver, or kidney. She also accepts obstetrical patients for delivery at UT Southwestern’s William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital.
Dr. Santiago-Muñoz earned her medical degree at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, where she also completed a residency in obstetrics and gynecology. She received advanced training in maternal-fetal medicine through a fellowship at UT Southwestern.
Board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and maternal-fetal medicine, she joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2002.
Dr. Santiago-Muñoz’s research projects include studies of pregnancy complications after amniocentesis and infant outcomes after a prenatal diagnosis of gastroschisis and fetal growth restriction. She has been published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the Puerto Rico Health Sciences Journal, the Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, and other medical periodicals.
She is a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
In 2002, she earned the National Faculty Award from ACOG and the Council on Resident Education in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
In 2018, she was named a Super Doctor by Texas Monthly.
Patricia Santiago-Muñoz, M.D., is one of the few and the proud: a maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) specialist who also delivers babies. And she’s likely among the very few in the Dallas area to have delivered quintuplets.
“Our MFM team will manage or co-manage many common maternal complications, and we will take care of mom throughout the postpartum period,” she says. “Not many MFMs in Dallas-Fort Worth take part in the birth of the high-risk pregnant patients that they consult on, so we’re a bit more hands-on in that aspect.”
Dr. Santiago-Muñoz works in UT Southwestern Medical Center’s High-Risk Pregnancy and Prenatal Genetics Program, where she conducts pre-conception genetic counseling and treats pregnant women with hypertension, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, and other pre-existing conditions such as lung, liver, or kidney disease.
“Ideally, everyone with a pre-existing illness would have a consultation before pregnancy, but it doesn’t always happen that way,” she says.
Her ultimate goal is keeping each mother-to-be and her baby healthy. On the research end, she is conducting a study of risks related to amniocentesis and, separately, investigating the outcomes of infants who have been diagnosed with gastroschisis as well as growth restriction in the womb.
Dr. Santiago-Muñoz knows that her patients sometimes face an uphill battle, but that makes her all the more determined to do what she can to deliver a happy ending.
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