Dr. Monica Lutgendorf is the Chair of the Department of Gynecologic Surgery & Obstetrics at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. She received her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Southern California in 2000, and earned her Medical Doctorate in 2004 from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. She completed internship and residency at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth in 2008, and practiced as a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology until her fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine from 2011-2014 at Madigan Army Medical Center. Dr. Lutgendorf then practiced at Naval Medical Center San Diego, where she served as the Division Director for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the Associate Residency Program Director, and Chair of the Defense Health Agency’s Women and Infants Clinical Community until 2021, when she moved to Bethesda, MD. She is committed to clinical standardization, provider support, medical simulation, and equity in healthcare. 

Her research interests include improving healthcare equity, medical simulation, quality improvement and intimate partner violence and posttraumatic stress disorder in pregnancy and the military.