Dr. Kennedy, an OB/GYN physician with Women’s Health Specialists, offers our pregnant patients a slightly different training background that features a unique midwifery component. She attended medical school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and graduated with the degrees of MB, BCh, BAO, instead of the traditional MD that you see for U.S. medical schools. The MB, BCh part is equivalent to our MD and the BAO stands for Bachelor of the Art of Obstetrics.
“I was really drawn to the well-rounded and hands on training offered by the medical school,” commented Dr. Kennedy. “For instance, I was in the hospital my first year doing rotations, whereas in most U.S. schools students don’t start in the hospital until their third year. Also, obstetrics rotations in the U.S. are typically six weeks; my obstetrics rotation was 12 weeks and so challenging that 1/3 of the class fails the rotation each year.”
Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to Dr. Kennedy’s patients, in addition to the lengthened obstetrics training, is the added midwifery component. “Patients get the comfort of having an OB/GYN physician, in addition to someone familiar with techniques used by midwives if that’s a route that appeals to them,” notes Dr. Kennedy. “For those struggling to choose between an OB/GYN and a midwife for their pregnancy care, I’m able to offer a nice balance between the two because of my training.”
Dr. Kennedy sees obstetric and gynecology patients at the Women’s Health Specialists office in Neenah, located at the ThedaCare Regional Medical Center – Neenah campus. She also sees patients at the Women’s Health Specialists Encircle Health office in Appleton.