Jennifer R. Niebyl, MD, is professor and head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Iowa College of Medicine, in Iowa City. She graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and did residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at Cornell University-New York Hospital and at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore. She then did a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and joined the faculty there. In 1982, she became director of the Division of maternal-fetal medicine at Johns Hopkins and then moved to Iowa in 1988 to become head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology.
She is a member of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, and the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences. She is co-editor-in-chief of The American Journal of Perinatology, and is associate editor of the Journal of the Society for Gynecologic Investigation and of the Obstetrical and Gynecological Survey. She is co-editor of the textbook Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. She is also the author of a book entitled Drug Use in Pregnancy, as well as many scientific articles, review articles, and chapters.
She was a member of the FDA Fertility and Maternal Health Drugs Advisory Committee from 1988 to 1993. She has been a member of several committees of The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, including the Committee on Obstetrics: Maternal-Fetal Medicine, The Education Commission, and the Health Care Commission. She has been an examiner for The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 1984, for general boards and maternal-fetal medicine boards. Her areas of particular interest include medical drug use in pregnancy, tocolytic agents for preterm labor, nutrition in pregnancy, and folic acid for prevention of birth defects.