Prof. Asma Khalil is a Professor of Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine at St George’s University Hospital (University of London). She is a subspecialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine, specialising in scanning women and babies with complications in pregnancy. She is the lead for the Multiple Pregnancy service at St George’s Hospital, the referral unit for the South West London region, but also cares for women with low risk pregnancies.

Prof. Khalil gained her MD at the University of London in 2009 following two years’ research into pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy). She also has a Masters degree in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and an MRC scholarship. She has published more than 45 peer reviewed research papers in medical journals, and many review articles and book chapters. She has been awarded many research prizes, at both national and international meetings.

Her research interests include hypertensive disease in pregnancy, multiple pregnancy, and other complications of pregnancy.

You can follow her on twitter @ProfAsmaKhalil

Notable publications: She has published more than 45 peer reviewed research papers in medical journals, and many review articles and book chapters. Read more.

Country: UK

Field: Obstetrics; Fetal Medicine

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal biometry and wellbeing; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; multiple pregnancy; preeclampsia; prenatal diagnosis; fetal therapy; interventional procedures during pregnancy.

Languages: English; Arabic

"I am committed to supporting ISUOG’s membership growth and providing educational opportunities in underrepresented regions of the world. I have contributed to the Society’s scientific program, speaking at their Intensive education courses and even running two Approved courses of my own, which have become popular in their own right. One of these courses takes place in Egypt, the other in the UK, where there is a shortage in opportunities for basic training in the field. Through these initiatives I have introduced more than 70 new members to the Society in the last year alone and strive to continue delivering ISUOG’s resources in areas where there is most in need."

Dr Simon Meagher is consultant sonologist at the Perinatal department, Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne. He also serves as Medical Director of Monash Ultrasound for Women where he oversees a team of 50 sonologists, sonographers, genetic counsellors, phlebotomists and administrative staff in delivering a tertiary level ultrasound service across south east Melbourne. Dr Meagher has dedicated 30  years of his term as Medical Director, teaching and lecturing in obstetric and gynaecological ultrasound both locally and overseas. He has delivered over 800 lectures, across 17 countries, and 43 cities worldwide. In 2015, he was awarded ‘Sonologist of The Year’ by the Australian society of Ultrasound in medicine (ASUM) in recognition  of his teaching skills and his commitment to  hands on training within the hospital setting at the Mercy Hospital for Women and for  his commitment and contributions to ASUM.

His interest in clinical research has focussed on early pregnancy screening and diagnosis he has published over 100  articles in peer review journals, including 15 articles  in the last 3 years focusing on first trimester  pregnancy screening and diagnosis. Dr Meagher has described five original sonographic fetal markers during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. He is now focusing his interest on aneuploidy and embryo development from  seven to 10 weeks as we approach the dawn of a new era of genetic screening via free fetal DNA analysis.  

Dr Meagher has taken on multiple leadership positions - early in his career as the Chair of the Standards of Practice Committee at ASUM, examiner and executive board member for the ASUM Diploma of diagnostic ultrasound and later as council member of ASUM. Thereafter he served as Chairman of the Victoria Obstetric Sonologists group and on several  ISUOG Sub-Committees  at the  International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetric and Gynaecological Ultrasound.

Country: Australia

Field: Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Specialties: Prenatal Diagnosis. First and Second Trimester Fetal anomaly screening. Aneuploidy screening and diagnosis. NIPT and prenatal Exome sequencing. Maternal and Fetal Doppler Ultrasound. Invasive Prenatal Procedures.  Ultrasound and Infertility. Tubal Patency Testing. 

Languages: English

Prof. Ritsuko Kimata Pooh was born in Osaka, Japan in 1960. She graduated from Law Department of Keio University, Tokyo, and thereafter graduated from the Medical School of Tokushima University with social, legal and ethical viewpoints. After her graduation from medical school in 1990, she has dedicated most of her time to clinical research and investigation in fetal medicine and perinatology. She has especially introduced the most sophisticated fetal neuroimaging from 1996 by using transvaginal sonography, three dimensional ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. She established CRIFM clinical research institute of fetal medicine in Osaka in 2007. Her recent study of medullary vein development and neuronal migration disorder of fetal brain are worthy of note, and she received the Alfred Alfred Kratochwil Award at the ISUOG Congress in 2011, Lifetime achievement award in WCPM (World Congress in Perinatal Medicine) in 2015, and Sir William Liley medal in International Congress on Fetus as a Patient in 2016. Her remarkable research on fetal brain has been internationally approved by perinatologists as well as neurologists and neurosurgeons. She published more than 70 original scientific papers 150 review articles and the books; An Atlas of Fetal Central Nervous System, Diagnosis and Management in 2003, Fetal Neurology in 2009, Atlas of Advanced Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2015.

 Her early detection of fetal abnormalities in ‘Sonoembryology’ can be described as art of science in the uterus. Furthermore, she has been establishing a new field of Sonogenetics, combining detailed sonogram with cytogenetics and molecular genetics from 2009 and performing quite a number of invasive genetic procedures including more than 1,500s CVS and 300 amniocenteses per year. In the era of prenatal diagnoses with advanced molecular genetics and maternal serum with cfDNA, she has emphasized the importance of observing fetuses by ultrasound. She established the clinical genetic laboratory (Ritz Medical Clinical Lab.) in Osaka with the aim of ultimate sonogenetics in 2011. She has truly been one of the international executives in research as well as education in a field of perinatology.

Notable publications: 

Ritsuko K. Pooh, Kohei Shiota, Asim Kurjak. Imaging of the human embryo with magnetic resonance imaging microscopy and high-resolution transvaginal 3-dimensional sonography: human embryology in the 21st century. AJOG. 2011;204(1):77-9

POOH RK. Sonoembryology by 3D HDlive silhouette ultrasound - what is added by the "see-through fashion"? Journal of Perinatal Medicine. Mar 2016; 44(2): 139-48.

Country: Japan

Field: Obstetrics

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening 1st trimester and 2nd trimester, aneuploidy screening, fetal anomalies screening, fetal anomalies, 3D/4D ultrasound, early pregnancy, genetics, fetal brain (fetal neurology)

Languages: Japanese, English

Prof. Yaron is a graduate of the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine. He trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Tel Aviv Medical Center and was certified in 1995. He did a clinical fellowship in Reproductive Genetics at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, and received certification from the American Board of Medical Genetics in 1998. He is also board certified in Clinical Genetics by the Israeli Board.

For over 25 years he has served as the Director of the Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis Unit at the Tel Aviv Medical Center. Prof. Yaron is a Full Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine. He is the current Chairman of the Israeli Society of Medical Genetics. He is the Founder and Chairman of Controversies in Genetics (COGEN) World Congress. He is a past board member of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD) and is currently an Editorial Board member of Prenatal Diagnosis.

In his current position he now heads the Bioinformatics Team at the Genome Center at the Tel Aviv Medical Center, focusing on the use of Exome and Genome Sequencing in prenatal diagnosis with particular interest in fetal brain anomalies. Prof Dr Yaron has authored more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed Journals and dozens of chapters in textbooks.

Country: Israel