Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP (Dr. Row) is board certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Practice. She currently serves as the Chief of Family Medicine at UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital and is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Originally from the Philippines and raised in Southern California, she is a graduate of the University of Southern California and received her medical training at the University of the East. She completed her residency training and served as Chief Resident at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program.
Following residency, she pursued a fellowship in Maternal Child Health (Obstetrics and Women’s Health) at Alpert Medical School of Brown University-MHRI where she served as Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and was actively involved in medical student and resident education. She also completed a Faculty Development, Teaching, & Learning Fellowship at the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine. Prior to joining the Faculty at UPMC Shadyside, she served as the Maternity Care Director at Forbes Family Medicine Residency Program. She joined the faculty at Shadyside in 2013.
During her Maternal Child Health Fellowship in 2008, Dr. Row implemented Centering Pregnancy: A Model for Group Prenatal Care in Preventing Preterm Birth “One Woman At A Time.” Passionate about her “Journey through Centering,” she successfully implemented, as a Shadyside Hospital Foundation Grant Recipient in 2014, the first and only Family Medicine FHC Centering Pregnancy in Pittsburgh, which remains the only Centering Pregnancy in the entire UPMC System.
She was recently awarded 1st Place for Best Innovative Quality Improvement Research Project in 2021 at Shadyside Hospital’s Quality and Patient Safety Fair with a Pilot Project on Fourth Trimester Care: CENTERING PREGNANCY “May the 4th Be With You” Prenatal Group Visits and PCMH Model: “Preventing Preterm Birth One Woman At A Time.” This project has raised awareness about the importance of eliminating racial disparities in maternal mortality, preventing preterm birth, and the positive impact it has had on our pregnant patients despite the challenges of Covid. Furthermore, this project emphasized Dr. Row’s belief that patient education is essential in preventing maternal mortality.
She currently serves as the Director of Obstetrics and the Director of Centering Pregnancy at the Shadyside Family Health Center. She also serves as an ALSO (Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics) Advisory Faculty and certified ALSO Instructor for the UPMC Shadyside Family Medicine Residency Annual ALSO Course which she implemented in June 2022. Her special interests include obstetrics in family medicine (especially eliminating racial disparities in maternal mortality, bridging the maternity care disparity gap and prevention of preterm birth), family-centered maternity care, women's health care (especially HPV and Cervical Cancer Prevention), global health for women and evidence-based medicine.
Dr. Pingul-Ravano is a dedicated volunteer, both locally at The East End Cooperative Ministry (men’s shelter for the homeless in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Bethlehem Haven Clinic (women’s shelter for the homeless also located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), and at medical missions abroad in Jamaica at The Treasure Beach Women’s Group Medical Mission. During her free time, she enjoys photography, writing/blogging, Philippine cultural dancing, and traveling internationally. Most importantly, she loves spending quality time with her husband and their two daughters, as she and her husband (Internal Medicine) take pride in their jobs as MD’s by day and M&D’s (Mom and Dad) by night.
Teaching
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine: Faculty Mentor/Academic Advisor:
Medical Student Advisor: Longitudinal Primary Care Experience Program, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (June 2016-Present)
Med Student/Resident Advisor: Centering Pregnancy Mentoring for MS-4 and PGY-1-3 (June 2016-Present)
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine: Gyne/Derm Lecturer/OSCE:
Routine Gynecological and Breast Examination For Average Risk Patients: Medical Student Presentation for Orientation to Ambulatory Medicine, University of Pittsburgh (2016-Present)
Pitt Med DERM Day, University of Pittsburgh (2019-Present)
ALSO Instructor Course (One Day Blended Course), AAFP, Family Centered Maternity Care Conference
Participated as an invited faculty presenter/lecturer to residents, midwives & nurses certifying in ALSO Lectured: Assisted Vaginal Delivery
Denver, Colorado, July 17, 2017
Course Instructor
Participate in ALSO Course Spring and Fall as an invited faculty presenter/lecturer to residents, midwives & nurses certifying in ALSO
Lectured: Shoulder Dystocia, Pre-Eclampsia/Eclampsia, PPH, PTL/PROM, and Labor Dystocia
Shadyside/Passavant Hospital and Washington Hospital, 2010-Present
STFM Reviewer: 2018 Annual Spring Conference
Participated as a Faculty STFM Submissions Reviewer
Washington DC, October 30, 2017
2015 - 2020
Assessing Family Physician Perspectives on Obesity and Clinical Nutrition Education in a Family Health Center
Jihyun Jun, MD, Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP, Lori Stiefel, MD, Cynthia Salter
UPMC Shadyside Family Medicine Residency, Pittsburgh, PA
Presented at UPMC Shadyside Scholarly Day, June 2020
Assessing Recruitment and Retention Strategies for Centering Pregnancy Group Prenatal Visits at the Shadyside Family Medicine Residency Health Center
Asmau Misawa, MD, Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP
Presented as Work in Progress in STFM Annual Spring Conference, May 2018
Early screening in pregnant women with risk factors for Gestational Diabetes
Usha K. Sadanala, MD, Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP
UPMC Shadyside Family Medicine Residency, Pittsburgh, PA
Presented at STFM/FMEC National Conference (Poster), Orlando, FL, April 2015
2014
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Meeting resident scholarly activity requirements through a longitudinal quality improvement curriculum Madeline Simasek, MD, MS, Stephanie L. Ballard, PharmD, Phillip Phelps, MSW, Rowena Pingul-Ravano, MD, N. Randall Kolb, MD, Alan Finkelstein, MD, Jaqueline Weaver-Agostoni, DO, MPH, and Teichi Takedai, MD Journal of Graduate Medical Education MS. No. JGME-D-14-00360R1. Accepted Oct. 29, 2014
2020
- May The Fourth Be With You: Preventing Postpartum Complications And Deaths, One Woman At A Time Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP, Margaret Judge, RN, Karyn King, MD, Jessica Goddard, DO UPMC Shadyside Family Medicine Residency, Pittsburgh, PA Presented as Research Paper, FMEC Virtual Annual Conference, Oct 1-3, 2020
- MDs by Day, M&D (Mom and Dad) by Night: Finding the Holy Grail of Work-Life Balance among Dual-Physician Couples Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP and Edwin Q. Ravano, MD, MPH, FHM Presented at AAFP, FMX Conference (Poster), Philadelphia, PA, Oct 24-27, 2019 Presented at UPMC Physician Well-Being Symposium (Poster), Pittsburgh, PA, January 31, 2020
2017 - 2018
- ALSO Instructor Guest Lecturer: AAFP, Family-Centered Maternity Care Conference, Denver, ALSO Course., 1 Day Blended Course, Topic: Vaginal Assisted Delivery, July 17, 2017, Denver, Colorado
- ALSO Instructor Guest Lecturer, Lecturer, Washington Hospital, ALSO Course, Topic: Vaginal Assisted Delivery, September 14-15, 2017
- ALSO Instructor Guest Lecturer, Lecturer, Shadyside Hospital, ALSO Course, Topic: Post-Partum Hemorrhage, April 26-27, 2017
- Dermatology Day, Guest Lecturer, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, April 23, 2018
- Medical Student Presentation for Orientation to Ambulatory Medicine: Routine Gynecological and Breast Examination For Average Risk Patients, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, July 2, 2018
2016 - 2017
- ALSO Course, “Preterm Labor/PROM,” “Shoulder Dystocia,” and “Labor Dystocia.” Washington Health System, Family Medicine Residency Program, September 14-15, 2016.
2015 - 2020
Centering Pregnancy Group. “Prenatal Group Visits and Home Visits. PCMH Model: “Preventing Preterm Birth One Woman At A Time.” Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP, Margaret Judge, RN, BSN, LCCE
Implemented an innovative model of Prenatal Care in our Shadyside FHC as the first and only Centering Group Visit (in Pittsburgh and in the UPMC System) of pregnant women in preventing preterm labor. It is followed by post-partum group initiative of the Fourth Trimester Care with the implementation of the “May The Fourth Be With You” (bridging the gap for racial disparity and serving the underserved women)
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $3400.00. August 2014-August 2015
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $4200.00. August 2015-August 2016
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $5000.00. August 2016-August 2017
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $5500.00. August 2017-August 2018
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $5500. August 2018- August 2019
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $5500. August 2019- August 2020
Promoting Physician Wellbeing in the Workplace at UPMC Shadyside’s Family Medicine Lindsay Nakaishi, MD, MPH; Jacqueline Weaver-Agostoni, DO; Phil Phelps, LCSW, BCD; Alissa Cohen, DO, MS; Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD; Karyn King, MD; Stacy Bartlett, MD; Nicholas Downs, DO, Kevin Kindler, MD, Suzanne Whittemore, MD: UPMC Family Medicine Residency
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $3000.00. August 2018-August 2019
- Grant from the Shadyside Foundation, $6900.00. August 2019-August 2020
Smoking Cessation in Pregnancy and Women Population Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano, MD, FAAFP, Shoaib Malik, MD Implement a model of Prenatal Care with Smoking Cessation in Pregnant Women
- Grant from the March of Dimes, $1950.09, October 17, 2016
2016 - 2017
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Workshop: Hepatitis C in Family Medicine Program. Co-presenter with Benjamin Skinker MD, Stephanie Ballard PharmD, N Randall Kolb MD, Rowena D. Pingul-Ravano MD, FAAFP, Nicole D’Antonio PharmD, Marianne Koenig PharmD. FMEC 2016. Pittsburgh, PA. October 30, 2016