Overview

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."

Francesco D’Antonio, MD, PhD, is a professor and consultant in maternal-fetal medicine at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Chieti, Italy. Dr. D’Antonio has previously worked in the Fetal Medicine Unit at St. George's Hospital, London, UK, in the High-risk Pregnancy Unit at Catholic University of The Sacred Heart Hospital, Rome, Italy and in the University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø. D’Antonio is in the Editorial Board of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Country: Italy

Field: Obstetrics, fetal medicine, prenatal imaging

Specialties: Fetal brain, fetal heart, multiple pregnancies, fetal growth restriction, fetal magnetic resonance imaging, placenta accreta spectrum disorders.

Languages: English; Italian

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

Dr Daniele Di Mascio is currently Research Fellow (RTD-B) and consultant at the Department of Maternal and Child Health and Urological Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. His clinical and research interests are focused on Maternal-Fetal Medicine and particularly on fetal brain, fetal growth restriction and twin pregnancies. In 2019 he worked as a Research Fellow at the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine of the Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia (USA) supervised by Dr Vincenzo Berghella. During the ISUOG World Congress 2019, he received the Young Investigator Award - Obstetrics for a multicenter study on the role of prenatal MRI in fetuses with isolated ventriculomegaly at neurosonography and in ISUOG World Congress 2022 he gave the Stuart Campbell Lecture on COVID-19 and pregnancy outcomes. He is currently member of the ISUOG Next Generation Committee and Accreditation & Certification Sub-Committee.

Country: Italy

Field: Obstetrics; Maternal-Fetal Medicine; Prenatal Imaging

Specialties: fetal brain; fetal growth restriction; multiple pregnancy

Languages: English; Spanish; Italian

Fionnuala Mone is a Lecturer and Consultant in Fetal Medicine at Queen’s University Belfast and has dual training & qualification in fetal and genomic medicine having trained in the National Maternity Hospital Dublin and Birmingham Women’s Hospital, UK where she completed a PhD, MSc (Genomic Medicine) and two clinical fellowships. She has been the editor for genetics for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology since 2021 and has also been guest editor for a special prenatal genomics edition for Best Practice & Research Clinical Obstetrics & Gynaecology. Fionnuala has several roles within the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, UK where she sits on the Scientific Impact Committee, Genomics Standing Committee and Academic Board Committee where she both writes and edits guidance related to genomic and fetal medicine practice. She is also scientific coordinator for the British Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine and has served as an invited faculty member for the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis and ISUOG as well as serving as an invited committee member for the Fetal Genomics Group of the British Society for Genetic Medicine. Her research interests include cell-free DNA screening, deep phenotyping and next generation sequencing within fetal medicine.

Prof. Gianluigi Pilu is Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Università di Bologna, Italy. He is a researcher in the fields of Obstetrics and Prenatal Diagnosis.

Notable Publications: Authors of more 200 original scientific articles published in journal with perl review listed in Index Medicus, 5 books and several multimedia products.

2007 Gold Medal Award article

Dr Prashant Acharya is a consultant in fetal medicine and high risk obstetric care at Paras advanced center for fetal medicine, Ahmedabad, India. He is an honorary sonologist and fetal medicine consultant at the NHL municipal medical college & KM school of post graduate medical studies, affiliated to Gujarat University. He is a leader in Maternal Fetal Medicine. His expertise is in obstetrical ultrasound with a special focus on fetal growth, fetal Doppler, fetal echocardiography and fetal Interventions.

Notable publications:

1) Evaluation of Applicability of Standard Growth Curves to Indian Women by Fetal Biometry:   Prashant Acharya, Ashini Acharya
South Asian Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology, September-December 2009;1(3):55-61

2) International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 119S3 (2012) S161–S260  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics 
LOW COST IN UTERO FETAL TRANSFUSION :P. Acharya, A. Acharya

Country: India

Field: Obstetrics

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening 1st trimester and 2nd trimester; fetal growth; aneuploidy screening; fetal heart with fetal autopsy pathology specimen (video); fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; fetal interventional procedure. 

Languages: English; Hindi

"Working with ISUOG has been a lifetime opportunity. The Society has helped me provide better knowledge of Ultrasonography in Obstetrics and Gynecology to our part of the world. In 2012 I organised ISUOG’S 8th International Symposium in New Delhi attracting more than 600 new members. ISUOG’s Symposium will be returning to New Delhi in 2015 and we are expecting to add more than 600 new members to ISUOG again. Our improved relations and efforts will give strength to the wonderful and herculean efforts of ISUOG in improving fetal and maternal health across the world."

Prof. Dr Rabih Chaoui, was born and schooled in Beirut, Lebanon. His medical studies and specialisation in obstetrics and gynecology were undertaken at the Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, in Berlin, Germany. Between 2001 and 2004, he was professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Charité University Hospital, Berlin and since 2004 he has worked at the Center of Prenatal Diagnosis and Human Genetics in Berlin. An ISUOG member since 1994, he has been a Board member from 2003 to 2013, including two terms as Chair of the Education Committee, and received the Stuart Campbell Award for Education in 2018.

Prof. Dr Chaoui has written three books on fetal ultrasound and more than 250 papers and monographies. Since 1986, his major interest has been in fetal ultrasound to include fetal heart, fetal 3D, first trimester ultrasound, ultrasound in genetic diseases and high-resolution ultrasound.

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

Dr Roee Birnbaum is an obstetrician and gynecologist, focusing on fetal ultrasound and prenatal diagnosis of fetal malformations, including early diagnosis. He is currently working in the OB-GYN Ultrasound division at the Tel Aviv medical center, focusing on fetal brain malformations, and early diagnosis of fetal anomalies. Previously, he was working under the direct instruction of Prof. Dario Paladini, at the Istituto Giannina Gaslini pediatric hospital, Genova, Italy, focusing on fetal heart and brain malformations. He is a faculty member of several teaching courses worldwide. His main research focus is the fetal brain (normal and pathology), and early brain development.  

Notable publications

Birnbaum R, Ben-Sira L, Lerman-Sagie T, Malinger G. The use of fetal neurosonography and brain MRI in cases of cytomegalovirus infection during pregnancy: A retrospective analysis with outcome correlation. Prenat Diagn. 2017 Dec;37(13):1335-1342.

Birnbaum R, Parodi S, Donarini G, Meccariello G, Fulcheri E, Paladini D. The third ventricle of the human fetal brain: Normative data and pathologic correlation. A 3D transvaginal neurosonography study. Prenat Diagn. 2018 Aug;38(9):664-672

Country: Israel

Field: Obstetrics; Gynecology

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal heart; fetal anomalies screening; fetal anomalies; 3D/4D ultrasound; neurosonography and brain malformations

Language:  Hebrew, English

Prof. Suresh Seshadri is the Director of MediScan systems Diagnostic Ultrasound, Fetal Medicine and training Centre in Chennai, Tamil Nadu INDIA. The Centre was started in 1982 and is a tertiary referral centre for Prenatal diagnosis and Fetal Therapy.

He is also a Professor of Practice at the department of Medical Science, IIT Madras. His special interests include Fetal interventions, teaching ultrasound and Fetal Medicine, Device development for use in ultrasound training, developing fetal databases for ultrasound reporting including Birth defects registry and artificial intelligence. He is a visiting Professor in Perinatology in the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education & Research in Chennai and The PSG institute of Higher Education Coimbatore. He is actively working for standardization of Obstetric Ultrasound through implementation of the ISUOG basic training across the country. Dr Suresh also is the CEO of the Voluntary Health Services Multispecialty Hospital, a public charity where he actively strives to provide affordable health care to the community. He is a Trustee of the Fetal Care Research Foundation, which helps the underprivileged and provides preventive, supportive and curative care for birth defects and rare disorders. He strongly believes that the best of medical technology should be available for the common man. His other interests include Nature and wildlife photography and Amateur radio.

Country: India

Field: Fetal Medicine

Specialties: Early diagnosis of fetal anomalies, Ultrasound autopsy correlation of anomalies, Fetal Interventions, Multiple pregnancy, Ultrasound training and simulation

Languages: English, Tamil

Professor Yves Ville is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine at Necker-Enfants-Malades Hospital at the Paris Descartes University. He is the Chair and lead clinician in the largest fetal medicine and therapy unit in France. He has pursued a platform of work that has allowed clinical and academic progress of the subspecialty of fetal medicine, both nationally and internationally.

Country: France

Field: Obstetrics; Fetal Medicine

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1; fetal anomalies; fetal brain; fetal growth restriction; fetal interventional procedures; multiple pregnancy; preterm delivery; genetics

Languages: English; French

El Prof. Antoni Borrell es Consultor Senior en Medicina Fetal y Genética Prenatal en BCNatal, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona y Profesor Titular de Obstetricia y Ginecología de la Universitat de Barcelona. Responsable de la Unidad de Diagnóstico y Genética Prenatal y de la Unidad de Hematología Fetal. Se subespecializó en Medicina Fetal en el Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital de Londres en 1989 y ha realizado 3 periodos sabáticos de formación en Genética Reproductiva en el Karolinska Institute Hospital (Estocolmo), Brigham & Women's Hospital (Boston) y Mount Sinai Hospital (Toronto). Ha publicado más de 180 artículos con factor de impacto y 6 comentarios editoriales. Fue Presidente de la Sección de Ecografía y Medicina Fetal de la Societat Catalana d'Obstetricia i Ginecologia, President del Fetoscopy Working Group, Tesorero y Education Chair de la International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis (ISPD) y Vicepresidente del Educational Committee of the European Association for Perinatal Medicine (EAPM). Actualmente es coordinador de la Comissió Catalana de control de Qualitat de l’Ecografia de primer trimestre y vicepresidente de la Asociación Española de Diagnóstico Prenatal.

Dr Tessa Homfray studied medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital, University of London, qualifying in 1983. She then undertook various posts in paediatric and adult medicine before specialising in genetics, firstly at Great Ormond Street Hospital and then St George’s University Hospital, London. 

She has clinical experience in all areas of clinical genetics, but has special interest in the genetics of cardiac disease and fetal medicine. She also has an interest in the genetics of cardiomyopathy and arrhythmias in childhood, as well as how new technologies are introduced to identifying genetic diseases. 

Dr Homfray has a very busy clinical practice, not only working at the Trust, but also St George’s University Hospital and The Harris Birthright Unit, Kings College Hospital London. 

She runs weekly cardiac and prenatal clinics to keep a patient centred focus on care, and holds regular MDT clinics so that all team members can understand the patient pathway and also keep up to date with any advances in this field. 

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

Dr. Shreyasi Sharma is the Founder and Director of the Fetal Medicine and Genetics Centre, Gurgaon, India, and Clinical Advisor and Lead – Fetal Medicine at Motherhood Hospital, Gurgaon, India.  

Dr. Sharma is a certified FOGSI (Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecological Societies of India) ultrasound trainer. She also serves as the Vice Chairperson of the Genetics and Stem Cell Committee – ISAR Haryana chapter. She successfully runs structured fellowship programs in Fetal Medicine.

She has authored multiple textbook chapters and published widely in national and international journals. Her achievements include the ICMR Research Scholarship, multiple awards for scientific presentations, the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Health Award for Service Excellence in Fetal Medicine, and recognition as one of the “100 Inspiring Gynecologists of North India” by ET HealthWorld.

Her areas of expertise include fetal ultrasounds, fetal interventions, high-risk pregnancies, Rh isoimmunization, and genetics.

Social media link:

https://in.linkedin.com/in/drshreyasisharma