Meet the provider: Tinnakorn Chaiworapongsa, M.D.

Tinnakorn Chaiworapongsa, M.D., Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, joined Wayne Health in 2011. After a spinal cord injury in 2014, he went on long-term disability leave. He partially recovered and rejoined Wayne Health again in 2018. He has special interest in preeclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy), preterm labor, fetal growth restriction and recurrent fetal death.

Dr. Chaiworapongsa received his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from Chulalongkorn University, one of the best medical schools in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1988. He finished residency training in Obstetrics & Gynecology from both Mahidol University in Thailand and Wayne State University in Detroit. He underwent extensive training in both clinical and research in obstetrics. First, a visiting research fellowship training at the division of Maternal Fetal Medicine at St. Mary’s Health Center and St. Louis University in Missouri. Second, a research fellowship training at the Perinatology Research Branch (PRB), NICHD, NIH, DHHS, and finally, a clinical fellowship training in Maternal Fetal Medicine (high-risk pregnancy) at PRB/Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center. He chose his specialty in Women’s Health because he feels pleasure and happiness every time his high-risk pregnant patients deliver and have good outcomes for both themselves and their babies.

Dr. Chaiworapongsa chose Wayne Health because it works closely with Detroit Medical Center and the PRB where they have the biggest residency and fellowship training program in obstetrics and other specialties in Detroit. The staff and faculty who works here has up-to-date knowledge which leads to cutting edge treatments and innovations. Moreover, the affiliated hospital (i.e. Hutzel Women’s Hospital) is located in close proximity to Children Hospital which is very important for high-risk pregnancy that you can’t find anywhere in Detroit. He enjoys working with the Metro Detroit community because he feels that he can help them in at least one aspects of many problems they have already had in their lives. His patients are honest and natural.

Dr. Chaiworapongsa sees patients from morning to evening and joins a conference in the evening. After that, he reviews patients’ charts to make sure his team doesn’t miss anything, including follow up appointment and plan for future management. At the end of the day, he reads journals to get up-to-date information.

Dr. Chaiworapongsa treats every patient differently by having them involved in the plan of care since each patient has different backgrounds, different family or social supports and different situations or problems they currently have on top of the high-risk pregnancy. He tries to accommodate his monitoring or treatment plans with their living or life situations. His patients have taught him that they are all different. This is usually different from the book where there is no life and social situations involved. His most impactful experience within his medical career to-date is when he helped a patient with 4 recurrent pregnancy loss (miscarriages and fetal deaths) with new innovative treatment to have a healthy child. He is most proud of the opportunity he’s had to help patients with limited resources and to teach residents and fellows with his knowledge and experiences. He’s also published more than 300 papers in peer-review journals. Finally, he’s currently developing an innovative treatment under a patent of Wayne State University and the US government.

Dr. Chaiworapongsa has received the following awards from different societies in research he’s done in the field of preeclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy) and premature birth: The Young Investigator Award in 2003, Jacqueline and Marshall Lindheimer Award in 2008, March of Dimes Award for Best Research in Prematurity in 2010 and the Frederick Zuspan Award for the most outstanding basic science work in relation to the study of hypertension in pregnancy in 2014. In addition, he has a few USA patents relating to biomarkers for obstetrical syndromes including preeclampsia, fetal growth restrictions and recurrent fetal death. Finally, he is currently the Program Director of the PRB/WSU/DMC Maternal Fetal Medicine fellowship program and Director of Biomarker Discovery Unit of the PRB/NICHD/NIH/DHHS.

In his free time, he enjoys water exercise as well as attending football and basketball games.

To set up an appointment with Dr. Chaiworapongsa, visit our website or call (877) 929-6342.