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Our Team of Experts Nurses

Clinical Nurse Coordinators

The Fetal Treatment Center's nurse coordinator is integral to your experience at UCSF. She will coordinate your care, beginning with communication with your health care provider. She will coordinate your various appointments with sonography, echocardiology, laboratory testing, and arrange consultations with medical team members. You should feel free to contact our coordinator at any time before surgery or after you leave if you have any concerns.

Jody A. Farrell RN, MS, PNP

Clinical Coordinator

Fetal Treatment Center

Specialties: Fetal and pediatric surgery

Interests: Birth defects diagnosis and treatment

Ms. Farrell is a Clinical Nurse V for the Department of Surgery, Division of Pediatric Surgery at the University of California San Francisco. She is currently the Nurse Coordinator for the Fetal Treatment Center. The Fetal Treatment Center receives hundreds of referrals annually. Ms. Farrell utilizes her many years of neonatal experience to provide referring physicians and patients with information on the etiology, pathophysiology and the evaluation process of fetuses with congenital anomalies.

When a referral is made to the Fetal Treatment Center, Ms. Farrell obtains the history from the referring physician and has the obstetrical history and ultrasound sent to UCSF. The following week the patient is then presented before the Fetal Treatment Center Team. At that time recommendations are forwarded to the patient and the referring physician.

In addition to her clinical responsibilities, Ms. Farrell also maintains the database on all patient referrals. These statistics assist both the surgeons and postdoctoral research fellows with their publications. Most importantly, they provide information to both change and refine the current surgical procedures now performed at the Fetal Treatment Center.

Ms. Farrell has been a registered nurse at UCSF since 1979. Prior to her work at the Fetal Treatment Center in 1994, she held various positions in the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery at UCSF. She was a staff nurse for ten years and a member of the Neonatal/Pediatric Transport Team. From 1991-1994, Mrs. Farrell was the Coordinator of the Neonatal/Pediatric ECMO Program.

Ms. Farrell received her undergraduate degree from the University of California San Francisco. She has completed her studies for an Advanced Practice Pediatric Nurse Practitioner masters degree from UCSF. Mrs. Farrell is a native San Franciscan.

She lives on the San Francisco peninsula with her husband and three children.

Tamara Ryan, RN

Clinical Coordinator

Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS)

Fetal Treatment Center

Pediatric Surgery

Ms. Ryan, a native Californian, grew up the Midwest and received her nursing degree at the Columbus Technical Institute in Ohio in 1984 before returning to California. She has been a registered nurse for 19 years, specializing in ICU, CCU, education, and research. She has worked for UCSF since 1989 primarily as a clinical coordinator for several clinical trials. She has a passion for research and enjoys working closely with families.

Ms. Ryan joins the Fetal Treatment Center and Division of Pediatric Surgery as the Clinical Coordinator for Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS).

Ms. Ryan lives with her husband and 5 children on the peninsula. She enjoys horseback riding, skiing, hiking, photography, cooking, and being a sailing and soccer mom.

OB Nurses

Our OB nurses will provide you with expert care throughout your stay. They will help you recover from surgery, provide pain relief, help to monitor your uterus, and oversee the fetus’s well-being.

Operating Room Nurses

Our OR nurses assist the surgeons in the operating room and also may be available to you before surgery to answer any questions you have about the procedure itself. You will see them briefly when you arrive in the operating room the day of the surgery. Our operating room nurse clinical specialist is Cassandra Robertson.