Making History in OB-GYN

LISA LANDRUM DOESN’T mind a challenge.

Maybe it’s something she learned growing up as an athlete, playing high school and college basketball in her native Oklahoma. Maybe she was born with it.

As an OB-GYN, a specialty that often involves taking care of young, healthy women and delivering babies, Landrum, MD, PhD, was drawn to the challenge of gynecologic cancer — treating women who face ovarian, uterine and cervical cancers.

At the University of Oklahoma, Landrum was nestled comfortably in one of the nation’s strongest Gynecology Oncology programs. Yet, in 2021, she accepted a job at the Indiana University School of Medicine to revive a gynecologic oncology program that had seen better days.

And, in December 2024, she was named chair of IU’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology — the first woman to be appointed to the post in the department’s history — at a time when the profession is under the microscope.

So, yes, Landrum is up for a challenge.

“Most of my life has been in sports,” she said. “As I think about the things I bring to medicine, I think a lot of that has transferred from my time in team sports, finding value in others around you being successful, and the team being successful and moving forward, rather than just individual performance.”

LANDRUM’S AWARENESS OF IU goes way back. When she was still in training at Oklahoma, she was aware IU had one of the nation’s best gynecologic oncology programs, with several nationally recognized faculty members. Over time, though, many of its attending physicians retired or relocated. Its well-regarded gynecology-oncology fellowship dissolved. “When I came to IU,” Landrum said, “the kind word for the group would be to say they were very lean.”

Since her arrival, the program has experienced a dramatic turnaround.

Where there were two physicians — fresh from fellowships and not yet certified — there are now five, along with three advanced practice providers. From a time when even IU Health physicians were making gynecologic oncology referrals outside the system, the division now leads the market share in Indianapolis. And the lost fellowship? Its revival was approved by accrediting teams in February.

Jessica Parker, MD, joined the reemerging gynecologic oncology team in September 2021, about a month after Landrum came to lead it. More than three years later, the progress is evident. “No one has left the division since she started,” Parker said. And the program ranks No. 11 among cancer centers in terms of enrolling patients to gynecologic oncology clinical trials.

Ever the team player, Landrum says the building blocks for success were here. The gynecologic cancer program had institutional support, both from the IU Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and the School of Medicine. And there were talented people in the fold. “They were excellent but inexperienced and needed a leader who could advocate and pave the way for them,” Landrum said. “It was a program that needed to grow and had an absence of gray hair in the group.”

LANDRUM’S APPOINTMENT TO lead the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology is a milestone for IU School of Medicine but also a reflection of a changing profession. While just 25% of the chairs in academic medicine are women, more than half of the nation’s specialists in obstetrics and gynecology are women. At IU, two-thirds of OB-GYN faculty and 95% of residents are female. In short, women leaders are rising in the ranks.

Already, Landrum has a list of significant goals for the department.

In the short term, she wants to recruit more physicians — general OB-GYNs, maternal fetal medicine specialists, urogynecologists, and more gynecologic oncologists. “We are fortunate we have division leaders in every group that are not only really skilled at what they do but who are also good leaders and mentors who attract people to the fold who want to grow their academic careers,” she said.

Long term, Landrum envisions establishing a Center for Women’s Health, drawing on multiple disciplines, such as nutrition, bone health and cognitive health, to care for women across the lifespans.

“We want to offer care for women, not just in their reproductive years, but help aging women address the challenges that menopause brings, and, on the other end of the spectrum, grow pediatric and adolescent gynecology care for the pre-reproductive years,” she said. And Landrum is eager to see her junior colleagues grow.

Natasha Thompson, MD, a second-year resident in OB-GYN, considers Landrum a valued mentor and role model. A graduate of Little Rock Central High School, site of a 1957 showdown over the integration of public schools, Thompson is interested today in health disparities, reducing the maternal mortality rate among minority populations, and increasing access to quality health care and mentorship. “Dr. Landrum’s warmth and encouragement make learning and growing as a physician an even more beautiful journey,” Thompson said. “Her commitment to inspiring excellence is like no other.”

The latest challenge facing Landrum — and OB-GYNs everywhere — is how the practice has come under intense scrutiny from political policymakers. Morale in the ranks has suffered, Landrum said. And recruiting doctors to a state with strict reproductive health laws isn’t easy. But it can be done.

“There are great physicians from the Midwest who feel a responsibility to take care of people who grew up in families like theirs that need care. I am incredibly encouraged by the large number of medical students at IU School of Medicine who choose to go into OB-GYN, even now, as it is uncertain what the future looks like,” Landrum said.

“There is no ambivalence with those who have chosen this pathway. They are all-in on providing comprehensive reproductive care for women that need and deserve best care. In some ways, it sorts the wheat from the chaff.”

To learn more about supporting Obstetrics and Gynecology at IU School of Medicine, contact Jennifer Clarkson Soster at jsoster@iu.edu or 317-278-2133. You can also meet Lisa Landrum, MD, PhD by visiting bit.ly/IUSMLandrum.