Programme Speakers 2025
Jan Cobben works is a consultant in Paediatric and Clinical Genetics with 35 years of experience. having seen many children, born and unborn, with many genetic and non-genetic conditions. After having trained and worked mostly in The Netherland, he is currently clinical lead of the NHS Northwest Thames Regional Genetics Service, which covers North and Northwest London and has clinics all over NW London. Having a research career was until recently an activity on the side, but with >150 Pubmed international publications, about 40% as first or senior author, nothing to be all that ashamed of. Concerning Fetal Medicine, he participates in a weekly Fetal Ultrasound Clinic in Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, is unofficial member of the multidisciplinary team of the Fetal medicine Unit in Queen Charlotte's Hospital and is member of the R21 North Thames Genomic Laboratory prenatal exome DNA sequencing clinical eligibility panel for the southern half of England.
Obstetrician Clinician Scientist with particular interest in preeclampsia and cardio-obstetrics. Strong academic experience and proven track record of working in research, industry and consultancy. Recipient of several national and international awards. Key note Speaker, Medical Writer and Medical Educator. Particular interest in Research and Development, Medical Innovation, Devices and Medical Education.
Marie-Klaire Farrugia MD MD (Res) FRCSEd (Paed.Surg) is a Consultant Fetal and Paediatric Urologist at the Chelsea and Westminster (C&W) and Imperial College Hospitals; and Honorary Senior Lecturer, Imperial College London. Miss Farrugia’s clinical and research expertise includes antenatally-diagnosed urinary tract conditions, fetal intervention, postnatal management, surgery and outcomes; as well as minimally-invasive paediatric urologic surgery. Miss Farrugia runs the fetal urology counselling clinics in C&W and Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospitals (together with Prof Lees and his team), covering most of the antenatally-diagnosed cohort in North West London, and their perinatal transition. She enjoys surgical innovation and is amongst the first paediatric robotic surgeons in the UK. Miss Farrugia is the senior editor for the Fetal and Perinatal section of the Journal of Pediatric Urology; executive board member of the European Society for Pediatric Urology; member of the paediatric guidelines committee of the European Association of Urology; and the paediatric representative on the Robotic-assisted surgery GIRFT review panel. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles, invited reviews, educational modules and book chapters.
Dr Alexander Heazell is Professor of Obstetrics and Director of the Tommy’s Stillbirth Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK and the Regional Lead Obstetrician for the North-West of England. He graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2000 and began his clinical training in the West Midlands before completing his PhD in Manchester in 2008.
My research portfolio includes basic science, clinical and qualitative research studies to gain better understanding in order to understand the causes and consequences of placental dysfunction, to prevent stillbirth and improve care for parents after stillbirth or perinatal death. Dr Heazell has
Awards and other Professional Activities:
1992 Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship, Austrian Science Foundation
1992 Honorary Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, King’s College School of Medicine, University of London
1996 Habilitation in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Vienna, Austria
1999 Werner Otto Foundation Award for Clinical Research
2000 Hans L. Geisenhofer Foundation Research Award, Bavarian Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
2006 Honorary Member of the ‘Sociedad Chilena de Ultrasonografia en Medicina y Biologia’
2008 Dres. Haackert Foundation Gold Medal Award for Prenatal Medicine
2011 Honorary Member of the Hungarian Society of Ultrasound in OB/GYN
2011 Corresponding Member of the Chilean Society of OB/GYN
2012 Pschyrembel – Medal for achievements as a researcher and teacher in obstetrics
2023: Honorary Membership: The Hellenic Society of Maternal – Fetal Medicine
ISUOG (International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology)
- President (2006-2008)
- Editor ‘Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology’ (2003-2018)
- Deputy Editor-in-Chief (2011-2018)
- Chairman of the 19th World Congress on Ultrasound in O&G (13-17 September 2009, Hamburg)
- Chairman of the 29th World Congress on Ultrasound in O&G (12-16 October 2019, Berlin)
Natasha Hezelgrave is a Subspeciality trainee in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at Queen Charlottes Hospital, Imperial College London. She has extensive translational and clinical trial experience in the field of preterm birth prediction and prevention, with additionalinterest in global maternal health, having worked with the World Health Organisation and Gates funded multi-country randomised controlled trials of pre-eclampsia detection in low and middle-income country settings.
I have worked for over 30 years on placental and fetal development and on the diagnosis and management of placental related complications of pregnancy. I am the author/co-author of over 480 peer-reviewed original articles and has edited/co-edited 14 books, including Embryonic medicine & therapy with Sir Bob Edwards (Nobel Prize in Medicine 2010). I am currently working on the ultrasound imaging, pathophysiology of accreta placentation and the impact of the environment on human pregnancy. I am currently the lead developer for RCOG GTG27 (A: placenta praevia placenta accreta and B: vasa praevia).
Professor Kumar is an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Leadership Fellow and Mayne Professor and Head of the Mayne Academy of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland and Visiting Professor at Imperial College London. He is an accredited Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist both in the UK and Australia. He is a Senior Specialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine/Obstetrics at the Mater Mothers’ Hospital and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospitals in Brisbane, Australia. His practice covers all aspects of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities including complex fetal interventional procedures.
He trained in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Singapore, United Kingdom and Australia. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (UK) and Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists. He completed his subspecialist Fellowship in Maternal & Fetal Medicine at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital/Imperial College London. He has >220 publications and his area of research is in fetal therapy, fetal growth restriction, prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes and placental biomarkers.
Christoph Lees is Professor of Obstetrics at Imperial College London and Honorary Consultant in Obstetrics and Head of Fetal Medicine at the Centre for Fetal Care, Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.
He leads research into assessment of fetal health with Doppler ultrasound, scanning in labour, and non-invasive fetal surgery, including the first in human studies of high-intensity focused ultrasound.
Her research aims to improve the care for women with multiple pregnancies, fetal anomalies, growth restriction, reducing infection in maternity and prevention of preterm birth, employing prognostic and diagnostic research, modelling, systematic reviews and clinical trials. She has received research funding from the HTA, RfPB, MRC and charities. She sits on the RCOG Research Committee and Scientific Advisory Committee, RfPB West Midlands Panel, Wellbeing of Women Scientific Advisory Committee, British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society Executive Committee as Past President and is National Clinical Speciality Lead for Reproductive Health and Childbirth.
Her clinical practice is at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust where she cares for women with complex pregnancies including maternal cardiac disease, fetal growth restriction and multiple pregnancies including providing fetal therapy. She is lead for the Women’s and Children’s Health theme of Birmingham Health Partners.
Dr. Nada Mufti is a subspecialist trainee in maternal and fetal medicine working in Queen Charlottes and Chelsea Hospital in Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust. She has completed a PhD in application of advanced MRI to fetal medicine and surgery at the Institute for Women’s Health, and Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering at University College London funded by the Wellcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS).
Kypros Nicolaides, Professor of Fetal Medicine. Director of the Research Centre for Fetal Medicine of King’s College Hospital and Founder and Chairman of the Fetal Medicine Foundation. He has been honoured with highest awards of excellence from many national and international professional bodies, including the Eardley Holland Gold Medal of the RCOG,International Society Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynaecology, National Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III from the Republic of Cyprus, Gold Cross of The Order of the Phoenix from the Republic of Greece.He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA) and the recipient of Honorary Doctorates in Medicine from 14 Universities across the world. He published over 1600peer-review papers in Scientific Journals.
Yinka Oyelese, MD is the Director of Obstetric Imaging at Beth Israel Medical Center and a Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA. An internationally renowned expert in high-risk pregnancy, he specializes in prenatal ultrasound and pregnancy-related bleeding and placental disorders. Dr. Oyelese earned his medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, in 1986, followed by Ob/Gyn training in Nigeria before advancing his expertise in London, UK, under ultrasound pioneer Professor Stuart Campbell. While in London, he also trained with leading ultrasound specialists, including Professors Christoph Lees, Tom Bourne, and Yves Ville.
In 1999, he relocated to the United States, where he completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Georgetown University Hospital and a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Rutgers University.
Recognized globally as a leading authority on placental and umbilical cord disorders, Dr. Oyelese has made significant contributions to the understanding and management of vasa previa, placenta previa and accreta, and placental abruption.
A prolific contributor to obstetrical literature, he has authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles, including editorials, reviews, and commentaries for The American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, and the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, among others. A peer reviewer for more than 30 medical journals, he is a sought-after speaker, delivering lectures at conferences worldwide.
Beyond medicine, Dr. Oyelese is a passionate photographer, musician, and record producer.
Dr Katherine Papanikolaou is a Specialist Doctor in Fetal Medicine at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital. After completing her training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology has successfully completed the two-year fellowship in Fetal Medicine at King’s College Hospital under the supervision of Professor Kypros Nicolaides and was awarded with the Diploma in Fetal Medicine . Dr Papanikolaou specializes in complex fetal medicine performed at a Level 3 tertiary regional unit .Her research interests are in Placenta accreta spectrum disorder, vasa praevia and Neurosonography .
Dr Harsha Shah is a medical doctor and academic researcher in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She has completed her doctoral research (PhD) at Imperial College London in novel three-dimensional ultrasound imaging in pregnancy for fetal anatomy assessment. Her research goals are to improve the assessment of fetal anatomy in the first trimester using three-dimensional imaging techniques with embryological correlation.
As part of this work, she is the co-founder of an online, open-access ultrasound image library www.3dultrasoundatlas.com. Her further appointments include lecturer at Imperial College London on the MSc course: Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Trainee Representative for the Association of Early Pregnancy Units and former Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Junior Careers Advisor and Chair of the North West Thames Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trainees’ Committee.
Dr Shaw is a Consultant Obstetrician and subspecialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine. She completed her subspecialty training at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital, London. She was awarded a PhD from Imperial College London for her research developing a non-invasive treatment (HIFU) for twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and was part of the team who introduced HIFU as new treatment for TTTS. She has published and presented internationally and authored chapters on multiple pregnancy and fetal physiology. She continues to be active in research.
Dr Shaw’s interests include all areas of fetal medicine and prenatal diagnosis, and she has a special interest in complex multiple pregnancy. She is currently part of the team that runs the fetal medicine and complex multiple pregnancy clinics at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
I am a Consultant Obstetrician and Lead for Cerner & Fetal Medicine at London Northwest Hospitals NHS Trust. I have special interest in Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS) and Vasa Previa and have published extensively on PAS. Whilst completing my MD with Prof Christoph Lees, we set up the PAS/AIP pathway at Imperial College NHS Trusts. I am an Honorary Consultant at ICHT where I organise placenta clinics.
I am a Consultant Obstetrician and Lead for Cerner & Fetal Medicine at London Northwest Hospitals NHS Trust. I have special interest in Placenta Accreta Spectrum (PAS) and Vasa Previa and have published extensively on PAS. Whilst completing my MD with Prof Christoph Lees, we set up the PAS/AIP pathway at Imperial College NHS Trusts. I am an Honorary Consultant at ICHT where I organise placenta clinics.
Dr Laura Vazquez is a Consultant Fetal and Paediatric Cardiologist at the Royal Brompton Hospital and Evelina London Children´s Hospital, both part of GSTT. Most of her fetal cardiology clinics are in the fetal medicine unit at Queen Charlotte´s and Chelsea Hospital, ICHT, where she works very closely with the maternal-fetal medicine and neonatal teams. She has a special interest in imaging and fetal arrhythmias.
Professor Kilby worked as the lead clinician in Fetal Medicine & Therapy at the University of Birmingham between 1995-2022. He performs a monthly fetal genomics Clinic at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Foundation Trust. Between 2022-2024, he was the Principal Senior Scientist at illumina, UK in Cambridge. His research interests include: (i) Advances in treatment and understanding of pathogenesis of conditions amenable to Fetal Medicine & Therapy. (ii) Fetal Genomics and New Technologies in Prenatal Diagnosis. (iii) the management of complex multiple pregnancies, including twin and higher-order gestations.
He worked in the management of the complications of Twin and Higher-order pregnancies at the Fetal Medicine Centre at Birmingham Women's and Children's Foundation Trust. He established the fetoscopic laser service for the management of TTTS in Birmingham and received referrals from all across the North and Midlands of England.
He was PI of the Prenatal Assessment of Genomes and Exomes study (published in 2019), which led to the establishment of Next-Generation Sequencing in Fetal Medicine in the UK and has published on the critical appraisal of genomic sequencing in prenatal diagnosis.
He has written and published extensively on the management of twin pregnancies. He was Chairman and then Senior Topic Advisor for the NICE Guidelines for the Management of Twin and Higher-order Pregnancies published in 2011 (CG129) and then again in 2019 (NG137). He is also an author of the RCOG's Green Top Guideline on the management of Monochorionic twins (published in 2025 [but also previous editions published in 2008 and 2016).
He has over 400 peer-reviewed publications (h-index of 89; i10 index of 302 and RG score of 72.1) and has been a contributor and editor for numerous textbooks in this field.
Mr Yazbek is highly experienced in performing complex open and minimally invasive surgery for both malignant and benign gynaecological conditions. He has a particular interest in fertility-sparing surgery and the use of intraoperative ultrasound guidance to optimise fertility preservation.
His primary research focus is on transforming pathways for managing women with suspected gynaecological cancers. Additionally, he is dedicated to improving the preoperative differentiation between benign, borderline, and invasive ovarian tumours. His ongoing investigations explore the role of intraoperative ultrasound in various gynaecological malignancies, including recurrent borderline ovarian tumours and gestational trophoblastic disease.
Mr Yazbek is widely published in peer-reviewed journals, contributing to advancements in gynaecology and gynaecological oncology.
Miss Yu has over 25 years’ experience in the NHS and her private practice. She offers private obstetric care (antenatal, labour and postnatal) for mothers and babies at the Lindo Wing, St Mary’s Hospital and the Portland Hospital.
Her specialist skills are high-risk obstetrics, fetal-maternal medicine, ultrasound scanning, and managing medical disorders in pregnancy.
Miss Yu’s leading research into pre-eclampsia is widely published in numerous journals worldwide. In 2004, she was awarded an MD from the University of London for her landmark research into the use of low-dose aspirin in the prevention of pre-eclampsia in women with abnormal uterine artery Dopplers at 23 weeks’ pregnancy.
Shabnam is a doctor practicing obstetrics and gynecology in the UK, with a special interest in early pregnancy and reproductive medicine. She was previously an NIHR-funded PhD Research Fellow at Imperial College London. Her research interests focus on improving the care of women with a pregnancy of unknown location and ectopic pregnancy, of which the resulting publications have influenced both RCOG and ISUOG clinical guidelines.
Professor Tom Bourne is Chair in Gynaecology at Imperial College London and Consultant Gynecologist at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital London. He is visiting Professor and Consultant at KU Leuven in Belgium. He is a founder and sits on the steering committee of the International Ovarian Tumor Analysis Group (IOTA) and is director of early pregnancy research at the Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage care in the UK. He is an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) and an honorary member of the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine (ASUM). He is immediate past President of the UK Association of Early Pregnancy Units (AEPU) and a Trustee of the Ectopic Pregnancy Trust. He is the ISUOG immediate Past President (2020 - 2022). Professor Bourne is an authority on early pregnancy complications, emergency gynecology and gynaecological ultrasonography. He has also worked closely with the BMA and RCOG on research relating to the psychological impact of medical accidents and complaints on physicians as well as burnout. He has edited seven books and published over 430 papers; his h-index is 99 (Google scholar).
Dr Nina Cooper is a Ph.D fellow within the International Ovarian Tumour Analysis (IOTA) group at Imperial College London and KU Leuven, Belgium.
She leads two international multicentre IOTA studies applying IOTA models to adnexal pathology in the pregnant and paediatric populations. She is a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust where she works as a clinical research fellow in gynaecological ultrasound
Chris Kyriacou is an honorary clinical lecturer at Imperial College London and specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology in Northwest London. He has completed a clinical and laboratory-based Ph.D. focusing on the use of clinical, sonographic and biochemical markers to investigate pregnancy of unknown location and ectopic pregnancy. He has contributed to research on point of care testing, novel biomarker evaluation, risk assessment, mathematical modelling and machine learning, and has published and presented internationally. He is a National Health Service clinical entrepreneur, and contributes to early pregnancy and gynaecology education as a trainee representative of the Association of Early Pregnancy Units and as a member of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ISUOG) education sub-committee and working group.
Chiara Landolfo, MD, PhD, is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London. She has a special interest in gynaecologic ultrasonography, working in fields of gynaecology oncology, rapid access for suspected gynaecologic cancer, complex benign gynaecology and acutegynaecology. She joined the IOTA group during her PhD, and since then she has been active in IOTA research on gynaecologic ultrasound, translational analyses and artificial intelligence on ovarian tumours. She is member of the ISUOG Basic Training Task Force and of the ISUOG Clinical Standards Committee to improve and standardise medical practice guidelines for the use of diagnostic imaging procedures in gynecology. She also collaborated to VISUOG project and worked as a member of the ISUOG “Next Generation group”. She regularly takes part in education, scientific presentations and courses on gynaecologic ultrasound at national and international conferences.
Dr George Lockett is currently a Research Fellow working at Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, developing an ultrasound-based radiomics model to aid in the diagnosis of endometrial cancer.
I am Francesca Moro (MD, PhD), a gynaecologist at Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS in Rome, with a focus on clinical research in ultrasound and gynaecology.
I am currently an Associate Professor at UniCamillus – International Medical University.
I serve on the Scientific Committee of ISUOG and am an editor for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. I am also a member of the editorial board of IOTAplus.
I have authored over 100 publications and have been an invited speaker at more than 100 courses and congresses.
Mr Osama Naji is a Consultant Gynaecologist at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, he specializes in the early detection of gynaecological cancerous conditions using advanced outpatient facilities such as colposcopy, ultrasound and hysteroscopy. Additionally, he has expertise in the field of ultrasound-guided minimally invasive procedures to treat infertility, menopause, emergency gynaecological conditions and early pregnancy.
Dr Nina Parker is a clinical research fellow at Imperial College London and a specialist registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Nina is a PhD candidate with a research focus on miscarriage, she has a particular interest in psychological impact of early pregnancy loss and how this can be targeted to improve care for women and their partners.
Sotirios is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Accredited Subspecialist in Reproductive Medicine and Surgery at the Trust. He also holds an Honorary Clinical Lectureship at Imperial College London. Sotirios has helped develop guidelines on topics such as recurrent miscarriage and congenital uterine anomalies for the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (RCOG), the European Society of Human Reproduction & Embryology (ESHRE) and the European Society for Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESGE). He has a special interest in reproductive endocrinology, complex fertility treatment and reproductive ultrasound.
Dr Srdjan Saso (MRCS MRCOG PhD) is a consultant gynaecologist and gynaecological cancer surgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust, London, UK. He is also an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, Imperial College London.
His main research interests lie in gynaecological surgery (cancer and non-cancer) and the diagnostic application of ultrasound, with a focus on fertility-sparing surgery and oncofertility in general. His other main research themes focus on the growing influence of Artificial Intelligence and Technology in Women’s Health. In particular, focusing on the relationship between machine learning and ovarian cancer diagnosis. His final interest lies in the application of biomedical engineering in gynaecology.
Dr Harsha Shah is a medical doctor and academic researcher in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. She has completed her doctoral research (PhD) at Imperial College London in novel three-dimensional ultrasound imaging in pregnancy for fetal anatomy assessment. Her research goals are to improve the assessment of fetal anatomy in the first trimester using three-dimensional imaging techniques with embryological correlation.
As part of this work, she is the co-founder of an online, open-access ultrasound image library www.3dultrasoundatlas.com. Her further appointments include lecturer at Imperial College London on the MSc course: Reproductive and Developmental Biology, Trainee Representative for the Association of Early Pregnancy Units and former Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Junior Careers Advisor and Chair of the North West Thames Obstetrics and Gynaecology Trainees’ Committee.
Dr. Tina Tellum is a Senior Consultant at the Department of Gynecology in Oslo University Hospital and an assistant professor at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her research focuses on ultrasound in benign gynecology, with particular emphasis on adenomyosis and endometriosis as well as early pregnancy complications. The main emphasis in her clinical work is endometriosis, adenomyosis and endoscopic surgery. Dr. Tellum is the Assistant Chief Editor of AOGS and section editor of FVVO. ).
Joseph Yazbek is a Consultant Gynaecological Oncology Surgeon at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and an Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at Imperial College London.
Mr Yazbek is highly experienced in performing complex open and minimally invasive surgery for both malignant and benign gynaecological conditions. He has a particular interest in fertility-sparing surgery and the use of intraoperative ultrasound guidance to optimise fertility preservation.
His primary research focus is on transforming pathways for managing women with suspected gynaecological cancers. Additionally, he is dedicated to improving the preoperative differentiation between benign, borderline, and invasive ovarian tumours. His ongoing investigations explore the role of intraoperative ultrasound in various gynaecological malignancies, including recurrent borderline ovarian tumours and gestational trophoblastic disease.
Mr Yazbek is widely published in peer-reviewed journals, contributing to advancements in gynaecology and gynaecological oncology.
