Niraj R. Chavan, MD, MPH, FACOG, FASAM
Candidate for Regional Director
Region VII - Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas
Niraj R. Chavan, MD, MPH, FACOG, FASAM is a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) and Addiction Medicine physician who specializes in the management of substance use during pregnancy. He serves as the Medical Director of the Women and Infant Substance Help (WISH) Center at Saint Louis University (SLU) / SSM Health, focused on providing comprehensive prenatal care and recovery services for women with perinatal substance use disorders (SUD) in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Chavan is an Associate Professor in the Div. of MFM, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women’s Health at SLU. He also serves as the Program Director for the MFM fellowship, core faculty for the Addiction Medicine fellowship and Course Director for a 4th year elective on “Perinatal Addiction and Maternal Mental Health” at SLU School of Medicine. He is Board Certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology as well as Maternal Fetal Medicine, through the American Board of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Board Certified in Addiction Medicine through the American Board of Preventive Medicine. He has lectured extensively on various aspects of perinatal SUD management at the local, regional and national level through various platforms including the SLU College of Law - Annual Health Law Symposium, SLU Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health, Missouri Perinatal Quality Collaborative / Missouri Hospital Association, the Illinois Maternal Health Summit, the Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting (ACSM) of the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG), the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) annual conference and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
Dr. Chavan has held several leadership roles in membership organizations – including – ACOG and SMFM. Currently, he serves on the Board of Directors of the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG) as the Early Career Fellow-at-Large and is a member of the ACOG Committee on Clinical Practice Guidelines for Obstetrics as well as the Quality and Safety Initiatives delegation. He is also a member of the SMFM – Patient Safety and Quality Committee. He has previously served as the Early Career Fellow Chair for ACOG District VII (regional leadership), member of the ACOG District VII Executive Committee and District VII Maternal Mortality workgroup as well as Treasurer and Vice-Chair for Kentucky Section ACOG. Dr. Chavan also currently serves as the Chair Elect for the Missouri Perinatal Associated Mortality Review (PAMR) Board and Maternal Health Chair of the Missouri Perinatal Quality Collaborative (MO PQC). Most recently, he has been working with the Missouri Hospital Association to implement the Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health (AIM) substance use disorders in pregnancy bundle across birthing hospitals in MO. He has previously served as a member of the Kentucky Maternal Mortality Review Committee (KY MMRC), and member of the executive committee as well as Data Analytics Lead for the Kentucky Perinatal Quality Collaborative (KYPQC).
Candidate Questionnaire Responses
1. What have been your greatest contributions to ASAM or to the field of addiction medicine over the last 10 years?
My clinical endeavors have been focused entirely in the area of perinatal addiction, and I have been working diligently towards increasing the provider workforce for caring for pregnant and parenting persons with substance use disorders (SUD). Currently, I lead clinical endeavors in the field of perinatal addiction and maternal mental health at Saint Louis University (SLU) / SSM Health as the Medical Director for the Women and Infant Substance Help (WISH) Center at SSM Health – St. Louis.
I serve as core faculty for the Addiction Medicine fellowship program at SLU - which is the only such fellowship program in Missouri. I have also designed and implemented a specialized medical school elective rotation and serve as the Course Director for the course titled, “Perinatal Addiction and Maternal Mental Heath” at SLU School of Medicine.
I have worked with key professional societies in the field of women’s health – including Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) and American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG) to develop educational programming around perinatal addiction for bridging the gap between addiction medicine providers, perinatologists and obstetricians.
I also serve as the Co-Chair for the Missouri Pregnancy Associated Mortality Review (PAMR) Board. Given that mental health conditions including SUD are increasingly being identified as the leading cause for maternal mortality, I have been actively working with the Missouri Perinatal Quality Collaborative to implement the Alliance for Innovation in Maternal Health (AIM) patient safety bundle focused on caring for pregnant and parenting people with SUD on a statewide basis. I have also worked with the Missouri Hospital Association & Missouri Perinatal Quality Collaborative to develop workshops focused on increasing the provider capacity for addressing perinatal SUDs. Thus, as an academic physician-scientist and clinician – researcher.
I am actively involved in teaching, research and administrative endeavors in the field of perinatal addiction medicine, and these are some of my biggest contributions to this field.
2. How would your election to the ASAM Board of Directors benefit ASAM and the field of addiction medicine?
Currently, I serve on the Board of Directors of the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG) as the Early Career Fellow-at-Large. This is a nationally elected position in a large membership organization, which equips me with the knowledge, experience and skillset for serving in a leadership capacity on similar Boards for membership organizations.
Given a chance, my election to the Board of Directors will benefit ASAM by opening new doors for interdisciplinary collaboration with other professional societies specifically in the field of women’s health, with a focus on improving care delivery for pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders.
This multidisciplinary team – based approach to care is critical for enhancing clinical outcomes for our patients, given that they may not always have the ability to receive care from a provider specifically specialized in perinatal addiction.
I also have a specific interest and expertise in quality improvement and patient safety and serve as a member of the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) Patient Safety and Quality Committee (PSQC) as well as the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG) – Quality and Safety Initiatives (QSI) delegation.
Hence – if elected to this position – I will plan on working with colleagues from ASAM as well as counterparts from related professional societies to develop and disseminate Best Practices in the field of perinatal addiction medicine, with a specific focus on enhancing quality and embracing patient safety as the core principles guiding such endeavors.