Legro selected as Obstetrics and Gynecology department chair

Dr. Richard Legro has been appointed chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, effective Oct. 18. He has been serving as interim chair of the department since July 2017.

In his 25 years with Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Legro has distinguished himself as a respected clinician, investigator, educator and leader in women’s health services.

“These roles will serve him well as he oversees the expansion of Women’s Health in the new Labor and Delivery units that will be constructed, first on the top floors of the Children’s Hospital and then in the proposed Hampden Medical Center on the West Shore, and in existing and future outpatient practice locations across Penn State Health,” said Dr. Craig Hillemeier, dean, CEO and senior vice president for health affairs.

Legro’s vision for Obstetrics and Gynecology includes greater departmental support to develop and recruit funded researchers, further investment in the new leadership of our student and residency Ob/Gyn programs, and a push toward establishing new subspecialty fellowships.

Legro joined the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in 1993 and is professor and vice chair of research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as co-director of the Hub Resource Capacity Core at the Penn State Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

He is recognized internationally for his research in polycystic ovary syndrome ― diagnosis, treatment and genetic/environmental causes, as well as on improving infertility diagnosis and treatment. Legro has designed and led many practice-changing multi-center comparative effectiveness infertility trials in the U.S. and China. He has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for more than 20 years as a principal investigator and currently has both NIH RO1 and U10 grant support.

Additionally, Legro has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles in medical journals and has mentored numerous students, residents and junior faculty in clinical research.

He is currently secretary-treasurer of the Endocrine Society and is an associate editor for Fertility and Sterility and Human Reproduction Update and the co-editor-in-chief of Seminars in Reproductive Medicine. Legro has consulted extensively for the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration, the World Health Organization, and been selected for the Thousand Talents Program in China.

Legro received the Presidential Achievement Award of the Society for Gynecologic investigation and was elected an honorary member Ad Eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the United Kingdom.

He graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in English Literature and received his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. His post-graduate work included a residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Pittsburgh (Magee- Womens Hospital) and a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

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