Department of Medicine
Where dedication and diversity
are interwoven to form a vibrant
community of care.
Women's Health
Women’s Health Group Primary Care Practice for Women
The health care needs of women are often very different from those of men. We think the best way to meet your health care needs is in a setting where providers understand the unique aspects of women's health.
Established in 1985, our women's health practice was one of the first in the nation. In 1997 we became one of the first centers nationwide to earn a designation from the US Department of Health and Human Services as a National Center of Excellence in Women's Health. We are leaders in the concept of women caring for women. We actively seek a relationship with you based on respect, trust and understanding and we encourage your participation in your own healthcare.
The Women's Health Group utilizes a multidisciplinary team approach to the care of women, with an emphasis on preventive care and emotional well being. The unit employs a primary care-based model, where all patients are invited to select a primary care provider from the internists and nurse practitioners on site. These primary care providers all have demonstrated training beyond their traditional field of expertise, ensuring the incorporation of ambulatory, gynecologic care, mental health screening, and assessment for interpersonal violence, for example, into routine health care. The practice provides full preventive health services to patients including same day screening mammography and bone densitometry, all in the same building.
This group of primary care providers is further augmented by ties to other relevant clinical fields. Mental needs are addressed by two licensed clinical psychologist who practice in the same locale and who provide consultation and promote ready coordination of mental and medical health care services. Similarly, gynecology consultation is available on a same day basis from members of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, either from within the women's health group practice site or from gynecology offices.
The Women's Health Group includes the Breast Health Group, part of Boston Medical Center's comprehensive Breast Health Program.
Providers offer complete screening and diagnostic services, including assessment of high risk women, assessment of abnormal clinical breast exams and imaging; fine needle and cone biopsy; and, ongoing primary care needs for survivors of breast cancer.
We offer personalized primary care for a broad spectrum of health problems and easy access to the best specialists at Boston Medical Center when necessary. We have offices in three locations: Boston Medical Center, Commonwealth Medical Group in Brookline and Quincy Medical Center.
The goal of the Women's Health Group is to provide complete and comprehensive care to all women who seek care at Boston Medical Center. It seeks to address women's health issues with a focus on serving minority and low-income women. The Women's Health Group has served as a model practice to develop and evaluate new programs, protocols and services to women.
The Women's Health Unit at BU has developed a model of integrating clinical care with innovative women's health research, and translating the findings of their investigations back into the clinical and medical education missions of the Center. Investigators in the Center have developed and evaluated a number of clinical protocols in preventive medicine, including screening tools for eating disorders and domestic violence that are now used in the clinical intake form within the Center and across the country. Research demonstrating the role of physicians in the low rates for mammography and clinical breast examination in certain populations has led to the evaluation of innovative techniques to improve medical education in this critical area.