UW Rural Family Medicine OB Fellowship to welcome inaugural fellow in August 2025

River Cornelius, MD (they/them), will join the UW Rural Family Medicine OB Fellowship in August, marking a key milestone in three years of planning with a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. 

This collaboration between the UW School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Family Medicine and Community Health and UW Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology offers a 24-month fellowship providing essential surgical training and high-risk obstetrical experience for family physicians aiming to serve rural populations. Ryan Luellwitz, DO, assistant professor in the Division of Academic Specialists in Ob-Gyn, is co-lead of this fellowship program. 

Fellows will spend about half their time at UnityPoint Health-Meriter Hospital for high-volume, high-risk obstetrics training and two months per year at rural hospitals in Wisconsin. They will also maintain a family medicine practice and teach residents in both inpatient and outpatient settings. In Wisconsin, family physicians deliver babies in 66% of rural hospitals and perform c-sections in 34%. With the number of rural hospitals providing obstetric services having decreased by over half in the last 20 years, this fellowship aims to increase the number of family physicians offering full-scope and surgical obstetrics in rural Wisconsin.

Cornelius, coming from the Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency and Seattle Indian Health Board, has roots in Florida, Boston, Oneida-Wisconsin, and Seattle. They completed their undergraduate studies at Harvard University and graduated from the University of Washington School of Medicine, where they completed the Indian Health Pathway. As a member of the Oneida Tribe, Turtle Clan, and identifying as Two-Spirit, Cornelius is passionate about Indigenous Health. They have integrated traditional indigenous medicines into their care of indigenous patients and participated in Land Rehabilitation and Reclamation for the Snoqualmie tribe. Cornelius’s medical interests include Reproductive Health and Obstetrics, Indigenous Health, 2SLGBTQ+ Health, and Addiction Medicine.