Biography
Blackstone received a BS in Studio Art from NYU in 1974. She received a BFA in Art Ed in 1976 from the University of Southern Maine. She graduated from New England School of Osteopathic Medicine (NECOM) in 1987.
She completed an Osteopathic Internship ( one year) in 1988. This was followed by a residency in OB/Gyn completed in 1991 from Jersey City Medical Center. She followed this with a Fellowship in Maternal - Fetal Medicine from New York University in 1993.
She worked as the Medical Director of Labor and Delivery at Maine Medical Center for 20 years - retiring in 2013.
She began working at UNM in 2016 and is currently an Associate Professor in the Division of Maternal - Fetal Medicine.
Personal Statement
I chose to work UNM as an institution with a mission—commitment to quality care of all patients with an emphasis on the underserved. Having been trained in a city hospital tradition, I have always preferred to work with patients of diverse backgrounds who may have minimal to no resources. I have found a special satisfaction in the outreach work that we do- coordinating services to the diverse Native American / Hispanic population of New Mexico and attempting to make their cross-cultural experience of our flawed medical system better. The number of complex patients that we see in our MFM clinics continues to grow and I find enduring satisfaction in providing comprehensive care and services to all these women regardless of their ability to pay. I enjoy learning from them about our cultural differences while sharing our common experiences as women. Improving the diabetes program and initiating the Centering for Diabetics program is an an attempt to eliminate some health care disparities. A personal commitment to continuity of care in our outreach program has helped develop and improve those services. I maintain my interest in caring for women with substance use disorders. I am certified to prescribe buprenorphine (subutex) and have years of experience partnering with methadone clinics in the medical management of these conditions in pregnancy. I persevere in caring for this challenging group of patients. In addition, I have worked with the PALS MFM transport program on updating the Guidelines and Algorithms that they use in patient transport. I also function as a liaison with the department of medicine’s consult service to develop guidelines for consultations, admissions, and resident education.
Areas of Specialty
Medical education is part of daily patient care. Each patient is a teaching opportunity. I do not only teach medical management of complex pregnancies in hospital rounds and in the clinic, but also teach compassion, efficiency, respect, curiosity, proper documentation, responsible use of resources, surgical technique and ethics in the course of the day, recognizing that we are always being observed by our learners and modeling behaviors. In my role as MFM Divisional Educational Coordinator, I am responsible for the design and content of the Ob/ Gyn residents MFM rotation. I have worked closely with my colleagues in the MFM division on the ultrasound and genetics content and training. The current textbook readings that are recommended for the required MFM topics have been broadened with links to pertinent journal articles to encourage evidence based learning and management strategies. I have been instrumental in redesigning the MFM hospital based third year experience in the interest of broadening the resident’s experience in the management of complex obstetrical patients in the hospital setting. In the three years I have been at UNM, I have continued to enjoy working with all types of learners. I also coordinate resident evaluations and feedback sessions personally. I volunteered to be a facilitator in the Clinical Reasoning Courses (2 and 3) during the past academic year teaching diagnostic reasoning to first year UNM medical students. This program has aided me in developing and honing my teaching skills. In addition, I have been a Physician Preceptor for third year medical students in their Specialty Exploration Experience, which gives students the opportunity to see first -hand what their selected field is like and assist them in choosing their careers and preparing for them. I have thus had the opportunity to get to know UNM medical students early in their careers, and to assist them in completing their required Student Research Projects. Medical students have participated in various stages of the projects including the writing of the IRB proposals, in data collection, in patient interviews, and in learning and providing hands- on massage therapy. In addition, UNM undergraduates who are considering medicine as a career are trained in interviewing techniques and will get their first taste of clinical research on the anxiety project. I continue to work closely with the MFM fellows and the Ob/Gyn residents in the development of their own research projects as well as on mine, both designing studies and implementing them. I am a member of the Committee for Resident Promotion and Evaluation and am actively engaged in assessing resident education and performance. I will be working to continue to improve the quality of the residency as a member of the Program Evaluation Committee. I also received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the school of medicine in 2018 and 2019.
Achievements & Awards
Multiple teaching awards from UNM and MMC.
Gender
Female
Courses Taught
Since the Covid virus outbreak I have ben assigned to covering antepartum and complicated post-partum patients , working closely with Labor and Delivery and the outpatient MFM clinic. I perform daily rounds with medical students, residents and fellows.
The MFM division at UNM is a consultative service that provides ultrasounds, prenatal diagnosis, genetic counseling and testing and acts as a link to UNM’s NICU. Pregnant women are followed and evaluated in their remote rural communities in an effort to provide continuity and support. Those who need to be transferred or relocated due to maternal or fetal complications can be referred to the UNM case manager for assistance. The MFM division has made a concerted effort to provide continuity of care to these women who often travel hours for their ultrasound and consults in Farmington. I personally see patients from Utah, Arizona and New Mexico on a weekly basis. I enjoy being part of UNM‘s mission of providing care to the indigenous women of New Mexico and consistency of provider has helped to build trust and improve care to this special patient population.
I have initiated a Centering for Diabetics program at the MFM clinic in Albuquerque. We have developed a program that alternates English and Spanish group care for pregnant diabetics in an effort to reach and improve services to Hispanic and Native American women women who are at high risk for this complication of pregnancy.
I participated in UNM’s Project Echo - presenting a lecture/ discussion on Zika virus. This program works to provide a format for dissemination of information, case presentations, and questions for physicians all over the state of New Mexico with an emphasis on those serving rural communities. In addition, I spoke about Zika virus at UNM’s Women’s Health Conference in Albuquerque in 2017- A Conference that targets Ob/Gyn’s throughout New Mexico and nearby states.
Before moving to New Mexico, I was a member of the Maine State committee on Mothers with Substance Abuse Disorder and Their Babies. I helped develop the “Snuggle ME†Program (2011-2012) which established statewide guidelines. I lectured at hospitals throughout the state, and helped produce a webinar to assist healthcare providers in Maine with the management of women with substance use disorder both prenatally and at the time of labor and delivery. I continue to enjoy working with this patient population and care for chronic pain patients and women maintained on methadone and buprenorphine due to a substance use disorder in the hospital and in the MFM clinics here in New Mexico.
Research and Scholarship
Since I joined the MFM division at UNM two years ago, I was able to partner with an MFM colleague, Dr. Rayburn, on a number of projects including a presentation and publication which looked at the growing numbers of women choosing to complete a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. We also completed a study of rural vs.metropolitan Ob/Gyns in New Mexico, which has been presented at a national conference and has been submitted for publication.
A study of the effects of massage therapy on hospitalized obstetric patients found a decreased incidence of pain and depression in patients treated by trained medical students. This study was presented by a UNM medical student at a national and an international conference and will be submitted as a paper.
Another study involved antepartum outpatients receiving care at our Eubank facility where we determined the incidence of anxiety and its correlation with perceived racism in our specific population by means of anonymous questionnaires, employing medical student interviewers.
Working with our diabetes nurse educator, our MFM nurses, MFM fellows and ob-gyn residents I developed a program offering group prenatal care to pregnant diabetics utilizing the Centering Pregnancy model that has been successfully initiated by the UNM midwifery group. This has been modified to meet the needs of complex diabetic patients. We emphasize shared experiences and patient interaction regarding diet, exercise, blood sugar control and medical management. We are providing group sessions for Spanish speakers as well as English speakers with the aim of improving the quality of prenatal care available to Hispanic women and Native Americans who have the highest rates of diabetes in New Mexico. I have received Seligman/Curet grant funding for this project.
I have been and continue to be involved in the development and implementation of many of the ongoing projects that the MFM fellows are developing and working on some of which have already been presented at national meetings. My own projects involve UNM learners at all levels, including Ob/Gyn residents, MFM fellows, and UNM medical students.