Acknowledgments

During the creation and production of our textbook, we were lucky to have the assistance and support of countless talented professionals both within and outside our department. First, a task of this size could not be completed without the unwavering support provided by our Department Chairman, Dr. Steven Bloom, and Vice-Chairpersons, Drs. Barry Schwarz and Catherine Spong. Their financial and academic endorsement of our efforts has been essential. Without their academic vision, this undertaking could not have flourished. In addition, Dr. F. Gary Cunningham provided the academic vision that led to the creation of this text. Dr. Cunningham has been the senior author for eight editions of Williams Obstetrics. His dedication to evidence-based medicine set the bar on which our textbook was built. We feel privileged to have learned the craft of clear, concise academic summary from a consummate master.

In constructing a compilation of this breadth, physicians from several departments and their expertise were needed to add vital, contemporaneous information. From the Department of Pathology, Dr. Kelley Carrick shared her expertise and generously shared from her cadre of outstanding images. She translated her extensive knowledge of gynecologic pathology into concepts relevant for the general gynecologist. We appreciate the contributions of Dr. Agnieszka Dombrowska of Johns Hopkins University. She added her great expertise to our chapter on breast disease. Dr. Kevin Doody lent his considerable clinical and academic prowess in the treatment of infertility. He was also a kind benefactor of many spectacular clinical photographs and contributed these generously to numerous chapters. This is also true of Dr. David Rogers, Ellen Wilson, and William Griffith, who have been champions in expanding our academic image library. Sonographer Jason McWhirt at Parkland Hospital has similarly been a tremendous advocate in securing images of common and unique gynecologic pathology. In sum, their stunning images add to the academic richness of this edition.

New beautiful and detailed artwork in our atlas this edition was drawn by Mr. Lewis Calver. Again for this edition, he paired his academic talents with Dr. Marlene Corton to create urogynecologic images. Lew also partnered with Drs. Cherine Hamid, Patrick Weix, and Kimberly Kho to create academically new presentations for other sections of our surgical atlas. These renderings were crafted and tailored with the gynecologic surgeon in mind to depict important techniques and anatomy for these surgeries. We also acknowledge our atlas artists from the first three editions, who are listed in subsequent pages.

We are truly indebted to our administrative staff. For this project, we were lucky to have Ms. Toshia Lee serve as our primary administrative assistant. We greatly appreciated her cheery professionalism, relentless commitment to our project, and efficiency. Our words fall well short in expressing our gratitude to her for her heroic efforts. She was assisted by Ms. Regina Williams and Ms. Tabitha Brumfield. Their dedicated work ethic, eagerness to assist, attention to detail, and pleasant professionalism made our chapters crisp and accurate. None of our image and text production would have been possible without brilliant information technology support. Knowledgeable and responsive, Mr. Charles Richards has assisted our project since the first edition. We could not do our job without his expertise.

Williams Gynecology was sculpted into its final form by the talented and dedicated group at McGraw-Hill Education. Senior Project Development Editor Ms. Christie Naglieri has brought her considerable publishing knowledge, energetic work ethic, and creativity to our project. Her attention to detail and organizational talents have kept our project on track with efficiency and style. Ms. Leah Carton served as editorial coordinator, and we extend warm thanks for her tremendous support. Her efficiency, professionalism, hard work, accuracy, and positive attitude made coordination of this project a dream. Mr. Rick Ruzycka served as production supervisor and has been a long-time advocate of our books. We are so appreciative of his expertise and knowledge. Executive Editor Mr. Jason Malley has taken our project under his care and has adeptly shepherded it to completion. We happily look forward to many future collaborative editions together.

Without the thoughtful, creative efforts of many, our textbook would be a barren wasteland of words. Integral to this process is Jason M. McAlexander, Biomedical Media Manager at MPS North America, LLC. His artistic team assisted us in creating and revising many of our text images. Their attention to detail and accurate renderings added important academic support to our words.

Our text took its final shape under the watchful care of our compositors at Aptara, Inc. Specifically, we thank Ms. Indu Jawwad for her talents in skillfully and expediently coordinating and overseeing composition. Her dedicated attention to detail and organization were vital to completion of our project. Her pleasant professionalism was appreciated daily. Also at Aptara, Mr. Mahender Singh served a crucial task of quality control and assisted in creating beautiful chapter layouts to highlight our content aesthetically and informatively. We thank the entire Aptara team for their dedication to our books. Special thanks go to Mr. Greg Feldman. As copyeditor for our project, Greg has added precision and clarity to our efforts. His pleasant professionalism and expertise has made our text better.

We offer a sincere “thank you” to our residents in training. Their curiosity keeps us energized to find new and effective ways to convey age-old as well as cutting-edge concepts. Their logical questions lead us to holes in our text, and thereby, always help us to improve our work. Moreover, many of the photographs in this textbook were gathered with the help of our many residents.

Furthermore, the contributors to this text owe a significant debt to the women who have allowed us to participate in their care. The images and clinical expertise presented in this text would not have been possible without their collaborative spirit to help us move medical knowledge forward.

Lastly, we offer an enthusiastic and heartfelt “thank you” to our families and friends. Without their patience, generosity, and encouragement, this task would have been impossible. For them, too many hours with “the book” left them with new responsibilities. And importantly, time away from home left precious family memories and laughs unrealized. We sincerely thank you for your love and support.