Overview

A/Prof. Daniel Rolnik is a consultant in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Monash Medical Centre and a senior lecturer at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is originally from Brazil and, after his training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Sao Paulo and his MSc degree, he moved to the United Kingdom to undergo subspecialty training and do his PhD at King’s College Hospital / Fetal Medicine Foundation under the supervision of Prof. Kypros Nicolaides. Daniel coordinated the ASPRE trial on the prediction and prevention of preterm pre-eclampsia with aspirin, and has since moved to Australia, where he conducts research on prenatal diagnosis and prediction and prevention of pregnancy complications.

Daniel is also currently doing a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Harvard University (USA), and is an Editor of the Perinatal Journal.

Country: Australia / Brazil

Field: Obstetrics, Imaging, Fetal Medicine

Specialties: Cell-free DNA screening,

Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew.

Prof. Basky Thilaganathan is a specialist in the medical and surgical management of highrisk pregnancies (materno-fetal medicine) with a focus on twin pregnancy, fetal growth, fetal abnormality and pre-eclampsia. Prof. Thilaganathan's research methods include uterine Doppler and trophoblast invasion, screening for pre-eclampsia, echocardiography-based studies of maternal cardiac adaptation to pregnancy, and clinical studies of twin pregnancies.

He has authored two undergraduate and five postgraduate textbooks in obstetrics and fetal medicine and is the lead trainer for the Maternal-Fetal medicine sub-speciality training programme at St George’s Hospital, London. Prof. Thilaganathan was Editor-in-Chief of ISUOG’s Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology for nearly 8 years, within that time raising the Journal’s impact factor to 5.654. Furthermore, he has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications in indexed journals. He is a Council Member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), member of the National screening Committee and also the Clinical Lead
for the first dedicated high-throughput NIPT lab in the UK NHS to undertake cfDNA aneuploidy screening in pregnancy.

1999 Gold Medal Award article

Prof. Kypros Nicolaides is Professor of Fetal Medicine at King’s College Hospital, London. He was born in Cyprus and studied medicine at Kings, training in obstetrics and gynecology and specialising in fetal medicine. He has carried out extensive research in many aspects of fetal diagnosis and therapy leading to the publication of more than 1400 peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals. His research publications on imaging and prenatal diagnosis have transformed ultrasound practice and his work to implement quality control for nuchal translucency has led to this technique becoming an established screening test of Down's syndrome and other genetic conditions. He was awarded the ISUOG Ian Donald Gold Medal in 1999 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field.

He has provided training in fetal medicine to more than 500 doctors from 50 countries and has supervised more than 50 doctors to undertake research leading to PhDs and MDs. In 1995 he founded the charity The Fetal Medicine Foundation, which has donated more than £45 million to promote research and training in fetal medicine throughout the world.

Prof. Jon Hyett trained in obstetrics and gynecology and sub-specialised in maternal and fetal medicine in the UK. He is currently Joint Head of the Discipline of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Neonataology at the University of Sydney. He is involved nationally with the Nuchal Translucency Accreditation Program of RANZCR / RANZCOG and internationally with the obstetric ultrasound accreditation programs run by the Fetal Medicine Foundation, UK and ISUOG. Jon is also involved in the Scientific Committee, which oversees the production and development of the scientific program for the ISUOG World Congress.

Country: Australia

Field: Obstetrics

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal biometry and wellbeing; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal brain; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; fetal interventional procedures; multiple pregnancy; preeclampsia; preterm delivery; genetics

Language: English

Christoph Lees is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine subspecialist, Consultant Obstetrician and Head of Fetal Medicine at Imperial College London where he is Clinical Reader. He is visiting Professor, KU Leuven, Belgium, was RCOG inaugural National Ultrasound Officer 2010-2013 and Vice Chairman, RCOG Subspecialty Committee 2011-2013. His research focuses on pre-eclampsia, cardiovascular adaptation, Doppler, intra-uterine growth restriction and non-invasive fetal surgery.

Country: UK

Field: Obstetrics

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T2; fetal biometry and wellbeing; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; preeclampsia; safety of ultrasound

Language: English

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. Dr. med. Stefan Verlohren, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Obstetrics and a Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Department of Obstetrics, Charité University Medicine, Berlin. He is specialized in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and DEGUM II-Instructor with a clinical interest in high risk pregnancy care as well as prenatal diagnosis of fetal malformations.

After studying Medicine in Marburg, Berlin and Lausanne, he was trained in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Charité Berlin. He performed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin and a Clinical Fellowship at the Fetal Medicine Unit, St. Georges Hospital, London.

His main research interest is preeclampsia, he is the head of the Preeclampsia Research Group at the Charité. Dr. Verlohren has published extensively basic and clinical research on that topic. He is member of the Executive Committee of the European Society of Perinatal Medicine (EAPM), Treasurer of the German Society of Prenatal Medicine and Obstetrics (DGPGM), member of the Editorial Board of Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy as well as Associate Editor of Archives of Obstetrics and Gynecology.