Academic Rank

Associate Vice President & Professor, Research Educator (full time)

Biography

Sonia S. Hassan, M.D., MBA is Associate Vice-President at Wayne State University (WSU), a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the Founding Director of the Office of Women’s Health at WSU. She leads the SOS Maternity Network in Michigan, a statewide implementation science program to reduce preeclampsia and preterm birth, the leading causes of maternal and infant mortality. The SOS Maternity Network is composed of 14 leading universities, hospital systems, and private practices that care for over 50,000 deliveries annually. Dr. Hassan has authored or co-authored over 400 publications and several patents and was the lead author of a landmark international trial, which demonstrated an intervention that decreases preterm birth by 45%. Dr. Hassan was an NIH-funded researcher for over 17 years and previously served as the Project Site Manager for the $165 million contract for the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health, on behalf of WSU. Dr. Hassan is Co-Chair of Michigan’s Mother Infant Health and Equity Collaborative. 

Dr. Hassan was named Crain’s 13th Annual Health Care Heroes Awardee and a Michiganian of the Year by the Detroit News. She received the March of Dimes Michigan Prematurity Prevention Hero Award and was the honoree of the Michigan March of Dimes for 2018. In 2019, she was the recipient of the Rogerio A. Lobo Award from the Society for Reproductive Investigation. In 2022, she received the Service Award & Samaritas Ambassador Award for her work as the First Lady of the City of Detroit and Co-Chair of the Detroit Refugee Network in partnership with Samaritas. She is an ambassador of the Smithsonian Women's History Museum’s Michigan Women Making History Committee. Dr. Hassan serves on the Boards of the Michigan Neonatal Biobank, International Women's Forum, Detroit Institute of Arts, and United Way of Southeastern Michigan. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan and Medical Degree at Wayne State University. Dr. Hassan completed her MBA at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Dr. Hassan is a Fellow of the third class of the Aspen Institute's Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

 

Awards and Honors

• Chair of the Prematurity Interest Group of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (2018-2019)
• Rogerio A. Lobo Award - Society for Reproductive Investigation, 2019
• Heroes for Babies Award- March of Dimes – Michigan Chapter, 2018
• Top Docs, Ambassador Magazine, 2015
• Professors Who Do! - 2015
• Healthcare Professional of the Year, 2015
• National Arab American Medical Association - Michigan Chapter, Distinguished Alumni Award, Wayne State University School of Medicine Alumni Association, 2014
• Michiganian of the Year, The Detroit News, 2014
• Winner for Advancements in Health Care - Crain’s Detroit Business 13th Annual Health Care Heroes Awards, 2014
• Prematurity Prevention Hero Award, March of Dimes - Michigan Chapter, 2013
• Stuart Campbell Lecture, Honor for the Most-cited Publication in Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology for 2011–2012; presented at the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology World Congress- Copenhagen, Denmark, 2012
• Excellence in Teaching Award, Perinatology Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, DHHS, 2010
• Research Excellence Award, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 2010
• John M. Malone Jr. Award for Academic Excellence, Wayne State University School of Medicine, 2010
• Excellence in Teaching Award, Perinatology Research Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, DHHS, 2009

Medical

 Wayne State University School of Medicine

Fellowships

Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Wayne State University, Hutzel Hospital

Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship
Aspen Institute

Research Interests

• The uterine cervix transcriptome
• Intra-uterine infection and its association with a sonographic short cervix
• The uterine cervix and cervical biology in premature labor, cervical insufficiency, and labor at term
• The use of progesterone in the prevention of preterm birth
• Longitudinal studies of biomarkers to predict adverse pregnancy outcome

Other Information

• Lead author on a landmark international randomized controlled trial which demonstrated that vaginal progesterone reduces preterm birth by over 40% and reduces neonatal complications.
• Founder of WSU’s Make Your Date Program, an implementation science program to reduce preterm birth
• Women’s Reproductive Health Research (WRHR) Career Development Program of NICHD (2002-2006)

 

← Return to listing