Nominations Committee

Prof. Alexandros Sotiriadis is a consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology – Maternal and Fetal Medicine in the Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Hippokrateio Hospital and a full Professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. His special interests include prenatal diagnosis and genomics, maternal and fetal complications and Evidence-Based Medicine. Alex completed a PhD in Medicine on recurrent pregnancy loss and was trained in Fetal Medicine under Prof. Kypros Nicolaides.  

Alex is the director of a Master Degree Program in Applied Prenatal Diagnosis at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is currently the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology and served as a member in the ISUOG Clinical Standards Committee and the EFSUMB Publication Committee. He is also President Elect of the Hellenic Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 

Country: Greece 

Field: Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Imaging, Evidence-Based Medicine 

Specialties: fetal growth restriction, Doppler, maternal complication in pregnancy, fetal anomalies and genomics, evidence-based medicine 

Languages: English, Greek, German 

Reem S. Abu-Rustum, MD, FACOG, FACS, FAIUM, RDMS

Professor & Director of Ultrasound Services, Education and Research at the University of Florida

Prof. Reem S. Abu-Rustum obtained her medical degree and completed her residency training in obstetrics & gynecology at the University of Florida (USA). She is a fellow of the American Congress of Obstetrics & Gynecology, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the American College of Surgeons. She is certified by the Fetal Medicine Foundation in first and second trimester ultrasound.

Currently, Reem is Professor and Director of Ultrasound Services, Education and Research in the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Florida. Within ISUOG she is President, Past-Chair of the Basic Training Sub Committee and past Ambassador to Lebanon and Outreach in the Middle East. She is a board member-at-large of the Fetal Heart Society and a member of their Membership Committee.

Reem was a board member of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and Co-Chair of their Annual Convention Committee. She is the past Vice-Chair of the Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine Patient Education Committee and was a member of their Education and Global Health Committees. She was Co-Founder and President of SANA Medical NGO dedicated to obstetrical care within an outreach setting in Lebanon. She is the recipient of numerous awards and accolades and has received the Presidential Award of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the Clinical Excellence Award from the College of Medicine Council at the University of Florida and the CREOG National Award for Excellence in Resident Education. She has a special interest in the first trimester fetus and the fetal heart, ultrasound education and global outreach. She has served on two ISUOG outreach missions to Sudan and has authored the text "A Practical Guide to 3D Ultrasound".

Notable publications:

• Abu-Rustum RS, Pierre K, Dyrda M, Smith E, Abchee N, Bilardo CM. Developmental Changes of the Coronary Sinus Between the First and Second Trimesters: A Pilot Study. J Ultrasound Med. 2024 Nov;43(11):2163-2168. doi: 10.1002/jum.16547. Epub 2024 Aug 8. PMID: 39115155.

• Abu-Rustum, RS, Berwick, M, Heft, J. Successful Implementation of the AIUM Standardized Four-Year Residency Ultrasound Curriculum in Obstetrics and Gynecology: Lessons Learned and Way Forward. J Ultrasound Med. 2024 Jun;43(6):1109-1119. doi: 10.1002/jum.16439. Epub 2024 Mar 3. PMID: 38433458.

• Smith E, Pierre K, Acevedo A, Egerman R, Rajderkar D, Abu-Rustum RS. First-trimester cavum veli interpositi: prevalence and natural history. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2024 Apr;63(4):502-506. doi: 10.1002/uog.27523. PMID: 37902788.

• Abu-Rustum RS, Ziade MF. The 3 sweep approach for fetal anatomic assessment in the outreach setting. Journal of Fetal Medicine 2017; 4(1): 25-30.

• Abu-Rustum RS. A Practical Guide to 3D Ultrasound. First Edition. CRC Press. 9 Dec 2014.

• Abu-Rustum RS, Ziade MF, Abu-Rustum SE. Reference values for the right and left fetal choroid plexus at 11-13 weeks: an early sign of ‘developmental’ laterality? J. Ultrasound Med 2013; 32: 1623-1629.

• Abu-Rustum RS, Ziade MF, Abu-Rustum SE. Defining the spatial relationships between 8 anatomic planes in the 11+6 – 13+6 week fetus. Prenatal Diagnosis 2012; 32: 875-882.

• Abu-Rustum RS, Ziade MF, Abu-Rustum SE. Learning curve and factors influencing the feasibility of performing fetal echocardiography at the time of the first trimester scan. J. Ultrasound Med 2011; 30: 695-700.

Country: USA

Field: Obstetrics 

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening 1st trimester and 2nd trimester; aneuploidy screening; fetal heart; 3D & 4D ultrasound; basic training; the first trimester fetus; ultrasound in medical education.  

Languages: English, Arabic, Italian

Ms Sarah M. Cohen is a sonographer and research epidemiologist, presently working at the Research Lab of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Hadassah Hebrew University Hospital, Mt. Scopus campus in Jerusalem, Israel. Prior to training in OB/Gyn sonography, Sarah earned a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and worked as an English writer and editor in the public charitable sphere. Later she completed a Master’s degree in Public Health with a specialization in clinical epidemiology. Since joining the team at Hadassah-Mt. Scopus, she applies this hybrid education and experience to research epidemiology in ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis as well as other facets of obstetrics and gynecology, writing and editing hundreds of research and review articles and many book chapters for medical publications, and preparing didactic materials, in particular PowerPoint presentations, posters, and leaflets, for scientific and lay audiences. She has served on the Patient Information Task Force of ISUOG since 2018, and in 2022 became the Assistant Specialty Chief Editor of Frontiers in Medicine / Obstetrics and Gynecology Section.

Country: Israel

Field: Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Epidemiology in the OB/Gyn space.

Specialties: OB/Gyn ultrasound, research epidemiology, scientific writing and editing, and preparation of didactic materials for professional and lay audiences. 

Languages: English and Hebrew

Dr Fatima Crispi is a physician scientist, consultant and professor in Maternal Fetal Medicine at BCNatal, University of Barcelona, with a strong focus on fetal cardiology. She has spent stays abroad (i.e. Harris Birthright Research Center with Kypros Nicolaides and St. Georges Hospital London with George Sutherland) and developed a PhD, directed by Eduard Gratacós, that first demonstrated postnatal persistence of in utero cardiac remodelling after fetal growth restriction. She has pioneered research on Fetal Cardiac Programming, establishing fetal cardiac function standards, developing animal and in silico models of placental disease, applying -omics in preeclampsia, implementing artificial intelligence tools and exploring the link between fetal and adult cardiac disease. She established a unique clinic on fetal cardiac function incorporating new imaging tools for assessing the fetal heart. She is fully committed to education having directed 17 PhDs and leading a Postgraduate degree on Fetal Cardiology at the University of Barcelona.

She has been involved with ISUOG for almost 20 years, with numerous scientific communications and invited participations to ISUOG congresses and educational activities and contributions to the Fetal Heart Special Interest Group.

Country: Spain

Field: Obstetrics; Imaging; Fetal Medicine

Specialties: fetal cardiology; fetal biometry and wellbeing; preeclampsia; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; echocardiography; congenital heart disease; cardiac function

Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan

Professor Liona Poon is an Academic Subspecialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine, devoted in improving maternal and fetal health. She has had a prolific research output throughout her clinical and research posts, including over 130 peer-reviewed publications in high impact international journals. In the last 10 years she has focused her research on establishing a programme for effective early prediction and prevention of preeclampsia, a major cause of maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. With her success in developing a first-trimester prediction model for preeclampsia using maternal risk factors, ultrasound, blood pressure and biochemical markers, and on Aspirin prophylaxis against preeclampsia, her goal in the next 10 years is to improve obstetric care worldwide, through clinical research and education. 

Notable Publications:
Aspire trial: incidence of preterm preeclampsia in patients fulfulling ACOG and NICE criteria according to risk by the FMF algorithm. Poon LC, Rolnik DL, Tan MY, Delgado JL, Tsokaki T, Akolekar R, Singh M, Andrade W, Efeturk T, Jani JC, Plasencia W, Papaioannou G, Blazquez AR, Carbone IF, Wright D, Nikolaides KH.
Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2018 Jan 30. doi: 10.1002/uog.19019 [Epub ahead of print]

Aspirin versus Placebo in Pregnancies at High Risk of Preterm Preeclampsia. Rolnik DL, Wright D, Poon LC, O'Gorman N, Syngelaki A, de Paco Matallana C, Akolekar R, Cicero S, Janga D, Singh M, Molina FS, Persico N, Jani JC, Plasencia W, Papaioannou G, Tennebaum Gavish K, Meiri H, Gizurarson S, Maclagan K, Nicolaides K.H.
New England Journal Medicine 2017, 2017 Jun 28. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1704559. [Epub ahead of print]

Country: China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Field: Obstetrics

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening 1st trimester and 2nd trimester; fetal biometry and wellbeing; fetal anomalies screening; aneuploidy screening; fetal anomalies; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; multiple pregnancy; preeclampsia; preterm delivery; fetal growth; detection of fetal and neonatal growth abnormalities; ultrasound on the labour ward

Languages: English; Chinese (Mandarin); Chinese (Cantonese)

Prof. Angela Ranzini is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio, USA and full professor of Reproductive Biology at Case Western Reserve University. Her special interests include anomaly identification, prediction of prematurity, Twins, Teaching processes and Quality control. Angela completed her MD at Medical College of Virginia (VCU), her Ob/Gyn residency at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, NY and her Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA. 

Angela is the Director of the Fetal Diagnostic Center at the MetroHealth System and the  Program Director for the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship at the MetroHealth/Case Western Reserve University joint fellowship with University Hospitals. She is a Fellow member of AIUM and is a  reviewer for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine. She is currently the Chair of the Education Committee, the Project Lead for the Rwanda Outreach program and serves as the VISUOG Abdomen section editor. She has been involved in many Committees and Task Forces of ISUOG.

Country: USA

Field: Obstetrics; Imaging; Fetal Medicine

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening; fetal biometry and wellbeing; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; multiple pregnancy

Languages: English

Prof. Laurent Salomon is a senior consultant in the Department of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine at Necker-Enfants-Malades Hospital and full professor at Paris Descartes University. His special interests are imaging technologies including MRI, Twins, Fetal surgery, Statistics, Teaching processes and Quality control. Laurent completed a PhD in Physics with distinction (Paris XI Sud, Science University – Orsay), applied to Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the placenta.  He also completed a MSc in Medical Statistic with distinction at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

Laurent is an associate director of a Master Degree in Prenatal Diagnosis and Fetal Medicine at Paris Descartes University. He is on the Editorial Board of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology and involved in many committees and task forces of ISUOG. Laurent also serves on a regular basis as an expert for the National Agency for Biomedicine, French Health Authority and National Security Agency in Health Products, as well as for international research projects. 

Country: France

Field: Obstetrics; Imaging; Fetal Medicine

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal biometry and wellbeing; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; fetal interventional procedures; multiple pregnancy

Languages: English; French