Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency Faculty

Dr. Chen is an Associate Professor at CMSRU and Director of The Jaffe Family Women’s Care Center at Cooper. He completed his medical degree at Hahnemann University School of Medicine in 1996, and his residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2000. Coming to us from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was faculty from 2000-2011, he continues to actively participate in OB-GYN medical student, resident, and FPMRS fellow teaching. He was a Co-Director of the Women’s Care Clinic of Cooper Hospital from 2012-2018 where he continues to work closely with the operation of the resident clinic. He is currently the attending staff who directs the preoperative gynecologic surgeries for the residents. He has co-authored a variety of articles, abstracts, and book chapters and has received numerous teaching awards including the “John J. Mikuta, MD, Award for Excellence in Professionalism in Women’s Health” by the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, in June, 2011; the Council on the CREOG National Faculty Award for Excellence in Resident Education in June, 2012; and South Jersey Magazine’s Top Doc in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He specializes in robotic gynecologic surgery and significantly contributes to the fellows’ robotic training.

Dr. Siefring is Assistant Professor of OB-GYN and Medical Director of the Center for Vulvovaginal Disease at Cooper. He is a graduate of the University of Guadalajara and completed his OB-GYN residency at Cooper. He has received multiple teaching awards and has been selected as a Top Doc in South Jersey Magazine. The fellows gain most of their experience in vulvar diseases with Dr. Siefring during his monthly vulvovaginitis clinic.

Dr. Elyce Cardonick is a Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and member of the division of Maternal Fetal Medicine as a perinatal consultant. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from the University of Delaware, Summa cum Laude, in 1987. She was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She then earned her Medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1991. A residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology was completed in 1995 at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Bronx, New York. Subspecialty training in Maternal Fetal Medicine was completed at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in 1997. In 1998, Dr. Cardonick became Board Certified for Obstetrics and Gynecology, and in 2000 board certified for the subspecialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. She is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Dr. Cardonick maintains a registry of pregnant women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy and follows closely the outcomes for mother and child. A second portion of the registry is dedicated to the pregnancy outcomes of cancer survivors who have children after completing cancer treatment. Dr. Cardonick has presented on the topic of cancer and pregnancy at international meetings including the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine and both the American College in the US and Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in London UK. She was also invited to speak at the international collaborative meeting of INCIP, an International Network on Cancer, Infertility and Pregnancy as the sole attendee from outside of Europe. She has been  invited several times to lecture on cancer in pregnancy at the postgraduate course  of the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine. She also presented a poster on the perinatal complications of pregnant women with a history of radiation therapy at the MD Anderson Cancer Center during a cancer and fertility conference. She was an invited participant for the closed meeting the following year.

She was also an invited participant at Georgetown University to discuss the inclusion of women in medical research and presented on this topic as an invited speaker at National Institute of Health concerning this topic as well as a review of chemotherapy exposure during pregnancy.

Dr. Cardonick is medical advisor for the Pregnant with Cancer support network based in Buffalo, NY. She is also only one of two physicians outside of Europe to be invited to join the International Network on Cancer, Infertility and Pregnancy with whom she now collaborates. Awards include Top Docs for Women in 2000 and Top Docs in 2002; Forty under Forty Recipient for Philadelphia Business Journal, Medical College of Pennsylvania/Drexel Medical School Alumni Achievement Aware Recipient and Lower Moreland High School hall of Fame.

Dr. Lipetskaia is an Associate Professor at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and FPMRS Fellowship Program Director. She received her medical degree in Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, and graduated from her OB-GYN residency at St. Luke’s Bethlehem. She became board certified in FPMRS after she completed her fellowship at the University of Louisville. As Fellowship Director, she pays special focus on the fellow’s curriculum development and implementation.

Dr. Lipetskaia’s areas of interest in teaching include video mentoring and hands-on anatomy dissections. She is a member of the AUGS education committee. She brings a patient-centered approach to care and infuses that approach in her work leading fellows, residents, and students. She has special clinical expertise in the areas of robotic surgery and native-tissue repairs. Her research interests are in the area of near-infrared imaging in robotic surgery and big data set management.

Dr. Mama is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Division Head of both Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery and Minimally Invasive Gynecology and Robotics at Cooper University Health Care. Dr. Mama also serves as the OB-GYN Director of Undergraduate Medical Education at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University and is Head of the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecology & Robotics at Cooper University Hospital. A graduate of Yale University with a Master of Public Health degree, Dr. Mama completed his medical degree at Thomas Jefferson University and his OB-GYN residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. For nine years, Dr. Mama was the Director of Adolescent Gynecology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He holds a focused practice designation certificate in pediatric and adolescent gynecology. He has been the recipient of numerous teaching and humanism awards, including the APGO Excellence in Teaching Award, 2020 Sol Sherry Award for Teaching Excellence, Gold Humanism Society Leonard Tow Humanism Award, the Diane Barton Caring Award, and induction into the AOA Honor Society. An elected member of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, Dr. Mama is active in multiple national committees at APGO, SGS, and NASPAG and continues to speak and conduct invited workshops nationally. Dr. Mama has fourteen years of experience in multiple yearly medical missions volunteering abroad in Africa and Asia as a teaching attending and surgeon focused on repair of fistula and complex gynecologic surgery