Dr. Son is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and an associate attending obstetrician and gynecologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. An expert in high-risk obstetrics and related research, she provides care for expectant mothers who are experiencing difficult pregnancies and deliveries.
- What are the most common causes of difficult pregnancies?
High-risk pregnancy is a very broad term. Some women can be high-risk because they have certain pre-existing medical conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes or autoimmune conditions. Other patients develop complications during their pregnancies, such as pre-eclampsia or fetuses with anomalies.
Even though these challenges are all too common, there haven’t been enough studies or clinical trials focused on high-risk pregnancies and deliveries. We need more research to better understand the problems that many expectant mothers encounter and ensure they and their babies get the best care.
- Tell us about your research and how it will help women?
I’m currently the leader of a randomized clinical trial called STIM, or the Stimulation Therapy to Induce Mothers. We’re focused on making labor more effective, safer and more cost-efficient, lowering the risk of C-sections and other labor complications. In STIM, we’re using electric breast pumps during labor to stimulate a mother’s nipples to produce oxytocin in the body. Oxytocin, called the “love hormone” because it supports bonding and feelings of love, also aids in labor contractions and spurs breast feeding.
In medical induction, we often administer Pitocin, the synthetic form of oxytocin, but Pitocin doesn’t always work well and can have side effects for the mother. Boosting natural oxytocin production would benefit moms in important ways, such as improving spontaneous vaginal deliveries and enhancing breast feeding as the sole source of nutrition for the newborn. Weill Cornell Medicine, by the way, pioneered oxytocin research in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s.
I’m very excited about STIM, which receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. Since 2021, we have enrolled nearly 1,000 pregnant participants at locations in New York, Connecticut and Illinois. I’m expecting some very positive results supporting our hypothesis when we complete enrollment in 2026.
Participants really love being in the study because they feel like they can be engaged in their own labor induction process. They can actually participate and have a lot of advocacy and autonomy for themselves and have a potentially more natural process.
- Does philanthropy play an important role in advancing the scientific process?
Philanthropic help is absolutely essential. One reason is that it often provides seed money for pilot funding or smaller studies, to gather the preliminary data needed for the bigger-funded studies. It was a huge help in my early career. I don't think I would be here today if I hadn't been supported by philanthropy.
Also, philanthropy provides bridge funding, linking initial research to clinical trials. If you don't have the bridge, you're going to have to stop. And if you stop, that’s a disservice to research and society. The money that donors contribute helps launch amazing research that has the potential to advance women’s health, an area that has been historically underfunded nationally and globally.
