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uterus. Diet and exercise management are often first-line treatments for ma ny of the hormona l disorders I see." DEVELOPING INTERESTS IN INFERTILITY AND SURGERY W hi le completing a n underg raduate summer internship at the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine (CRM) of Weill Cornell Medical College, Dr. Husserl gained exposure to fertility medicine — a field of medicine that would become an ongoing professiona l pas- sion. His experience reinforced his decision to enter medica l school. " My fa scination w ith infer ti lit y stuck w ith me a s I went through medica l school, where I fur thered my interest in surger y," Dr. Husserl says. "During medica l school and my subsequent residency, I developed a love for the immediacy of the results one sees from surgery. I considered entering genera l surger y or OB-GY N, a nd my interest in infertility steered me toward the latter. I found one of the biggest diƒerences between genera l surgery and OB-GYN is OB-GYN would a llow me to foster lifelong relationships w ith patients, whereas genera l surgeons see patients, operate on them and then often have no further contact with them." Dr. Husserl received his medica l deg ree in 2008 and then entered a Yale University OB-GYN residency prog ra m at Br idgepor t Hospita l in Bridgepor t, Connecticut. A f ter completing the progra m in 2012, he chose a path that deviates from the one ta ken by ma ny young physicia ns. Instead of entering private practice following residency, he pursued his desire to investigate infer tilit y — its causes, a ssociated issues a nd innovative treatments — by accepting a one-year research fellowship at the CRM at Weill Cornell Medica l College. "The relationships I fostered with many of the clinicians at the CRM over the years fed my ambi- tion for the OB-GYN field," Dr. Husserl says. "A love of the academic side of things, of how thoughts a nd ideas tra nslate into scientific studies, a nd then the future of medica l practice, piqued my interest in returning to the resea rch rea lm. I wa nted to gain insight into the mecha nisms of infertility, and by reaching greater understanding of the problem, I wanted to help advance the field of fertility medicine. "During my fellowship, I became licensed as a clinical andrologist," Dr. Husserl continues. "This Bucking a Trend W HEN PAUL J. Husserl, MD, CLT, OB-GYN at Long Island Women's Health Care Group PC, entered a Yale University OB-GYN residency program at Bridgeport Hospital in Connecticut in 2008, one-quarter of the participants were men. Four years later, in June 2012, Dr. Husserl completed the program as the lone man in his class, and none of the classes behind his contained any men. What Dr. Husserl witnessed was a microcosm of a national trend. OB-GYN, once a male-dominated specialty, has undergone a profound gender shift in the past 10 to 20 years. In its 2015 Report on Residents, the Association of American Medical Colleges revealed approximately 85 percent of OB-GYN residents in the 2013–14 graduate medical educa- tion class was female. Dr. Husserl is one of a shrinking number of men in his field, and he notices an interesting split along generational lines when it comes to women's preference for seeing a male OB-GYN versus a female. "Many middle-aged patients are most comfortable seeing a male OB-GYN because they were used to seeing a male provider as young adults," Dr. Husserl says. "Increasingly, young women want to see a female OB-GYN because they think they'll be more comfortable discuss- ing their health with a woman." For Dr. Husserl, the key to overcoming many young women's reticence to see a male OB-GYN is to apply the same principles of relationship building he brings to every patient encounter. "My philosophy of care is grounded in compassion and empathy," he says. "Women discuss sensitive, private health matters with me — issues they sometimes can't discuss with their husband or partner. The delicacy of these topics is why it's so important to establish the type of personal connection that puts patients at ease. Only when this type of relationship exists can OB-GYNs provide effective care." Using state-of-the-art 3-D/4-D ultrasonography, patients are not only able to get accurate and informative screening and monitoring of their baby throughout their pregnancy, but they are also able to obtain lifelike images, allowing for a first true glimpse of their baby. M D N E W S . C O M /// M D N E W S L O N G I S L A N D ■ 2 016 0 7

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