James Edward Ferguson, II

Dr. James E. (Jef) Ferguson is the W. Norman Thornton, Jr., Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Dr. Ferguson graduated from the Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1977. After completing his residency at Stanford University, he served as chief resident from 1980-1981 at North Carolina Baptist Hospital/Bowman Gray School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He was in private practice for one year and then returned to Stanford University to complete a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine from 1982-1984. He obtained an MBA in Healthcare Administration at George Washington University in 2008.

He is a member of several professional societies and has served as President of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and the American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society. He has also served on the Board of Directors for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in numerous leadership roles including Director and Treasurer.

His research has focused on the pharmacologic treatment of preterm labor, techniques of prenatal diagnosis, the effects of periodontal disease and pregnancy outcomes, and the consequences of intimate partner violence. Currently, Dr. Ferguson is a referee for many respected journals and section editor for Obstetrics in the Journal of Women’s Health. In addition to his research and work with patients, he has written over 120 journal articles and chapters and over 90 abstracts that have been presented at regional, national and international research meetings.