Hailing from Northwestern Medicine Prentice Women’s Hospital, Bethany Stetson, MD, joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in October as a clinical associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She serves as director of Clinical Operations for the department, focusing on continuous improvement in obstetric care delivery.
At Prentice, Dr. Stetson was the medical director of labor and delivery and chief of obstetrics, helping optimize pregnancy outcomes for more than 12,000 deliveries each year. Her move to Ohio State is a homecoming of sorts, since she completed her fellowship in maternal fetal medicine here in 2018.
“I’m excited to return, given the amazing evidence-based care that is provided here, the staff and the patient population at Ohio State. The new hospital tower opening in 2026 will expand the care for women and infants, and hopefully my opportunity to make an impact will only grow,” Dr. Stetson says.
Dr. Stetson points to her operations-based mentality as key to her development as a leader.
“Growing up on a farm as the oldest of five, I had a full plate and was pragmatic. If I saw something broken, I fixed it. I hope to bring those habits and motivation to my role here,” Dr. Stetson says.
Among her greatest clinical interests are utilizing in utero needle-based interventions such as cordocentesis (in utero transfusion) to prevent developments like fetal anemia and alloimmunization. Toward this end, she’ll be working with the alliance between the Ohio State Maternal Fetal Program and Nationwide Children’s Hospital Fetal Center to expand care for fetuses and neonates in Columbus.
On a more global scale, she plans to strengthen adherence to evidence-based standardized protocols that are shown to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity, such as induction of labor. One of these protocols derives from a trial for which she was an investigator, which demonstrated safety, efficacy and lower costs associated with high-dose Pitocin as an induction strategy.
“Anyone who knows me knows that you can’t just say that you like something or that you think it’s good. You have to show me the evidence. So trying to take that evidence to the bedside is critical to me, and this opportunity at Ohio State will only continue to foster that mission through patient quality and safety with other leaders in the department,” she says.
Dr. Stetson is also passionate about helping pregnant patients with complex medical comorbidities such as complex cardiac physiology, cancer or diabetes.
“At Ohio State, we have excellent multidisciplinary collaborators with our cardiologists, endocrinologists, oncologists and other specialists already in place,” she said. “Additionally, we are a level four regional perinatal center, and that’s important to me, as someone who loves to provide care to those really high-risk patients.”
Dr. Stetson is also driven to unravel and address the complex causes of disparities in patient care and outcomes. She previously worked with the Illinois Birth Equity Initiative through the Illinois Perinatal Quality Collaborative, a project that resulted in interventions that reduced outcomes disparities and lowered cesarean delivery rates among populations who have historically worse maternity outcomes. She looks forward to bringing similar initiatives to Ohio State and expanding our current great work in addressing these outcomes gaps.