Life, the condition that makes us and all other living organisms special. Defined as the ability to grow, function, change, reproduce and eventually die. But what’s the secret behind human life? Somehow two simple cells manage to give rise to a complex and multi-organic system, a full-grown human body.

We may not fully understand the mysteries behind it, but it has passed the time when we settled for ignorance. If it fails, can we intervene? If there’s an error, can we fix it? Are we changing the way we look at reproduction? Are we changing the way we look at sex itself? Alongside dolphins, we are the only mammals that have sex for non-reproduction purposes. So many questions and an arduous search for answers, but that’s the beauty of pursuing The Secret of Life.

Kypros Nicolaides, MD

Maternal and Fetal Medicine Expert,  Director of the fetal medicine unit at the King´s College Hospital in London, Professor of Fetal Medicine at King’s College London

Professor Kypros Nicolaides is a Greek-Cypriot maternal and fetal medicine expert, recognized worldwide for his fetal diagnostic, intervention and surgery developments. He was one of the world´s pioneers on fetal medicine. He graduated from the King’s College School of Medicine and Dentistry in London and joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. At first, he focused his studies on the use of fetoscopy in conditions such as Rhesus iso-immunization, fetal hydrops, and intrauterine growth restriction. Afterward, he became director of the Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine, the first fetal medicine unit in the United Kingdom. His work demonstrated that the assessment of the risk of pregnancy complications at an early time in pregnancy can prevent some complications, such as pre-eclampsia or premature birth. He also introduced the screening of chromosomal and structural abnormalities and allowed the development of fetal therapy.

Currently, he is the director of the fetal medicine unit at the King´s College Hospital in London, where he also holds the position of Professor of Fetal Medicine. He has contributed to over one thousand journal articles and more than thirty books and monographs. The National Geographic documentary television programme ” In the Womb” is mainly about his work.

Neel Shah, MD

Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs, Obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Dr. Neel Shah is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Delivery Decisions Initiative at Ariadne Labs and an Obstetrician-gynecologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston. He is globally recognized for designing, testing, and spreading solutions to improve healthcare and for his efforts to expose how overtreatment can harm patients. His team is currently collaborating with hospitals across the United States to reduce the epidemic of avoidable c-sections. Dr. Shah earned joint degrees in medicine and public policy from Brown University and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He completed residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital.

He has been listed among the “40 smartest people in health care” by the Becker’s Hospital Review. He is senior author of the book “Understanding Value-Based Healthcare”, highly acclaimed by his peers and called by Atul Gawande “a masterful primer for all clinicians”.  Dr. Neel Shah is also the Founder and Executive Director of Costs of Care, a global NGO that curates insights from clinicians that help delivery systems provide better care at lower cost, and March for Moms Association, an organization that aims to improve the well being of mothers.

Marci Bowers, MD

Pelvic and Gynecologic Surgeon,  Sex Reassignment Surgeon, Pro-bono Clitoral Restoration Surgeon, Founder of the first US Transgender Surgical Educational Program, Member of WPATH, Member of the board of directors for GLAAD and the Transgender Law Center

Dr. Bowers is a pelvic and gynecologic surgeon with nearly 28 years of experience, based in California. She was born under the name of Mark Bowers in 1958 and graduated from the University of Minnesota Medical School. After finishing her Ob/Gyn residency at the University of Washington, she kept practitioning in Seattle, where she delivered more than 2000 babies. Dr. Bowers married and had three children. In 1998, Dr. Mark Bowers went through gender reassignment surgery becoming Dr. Marci Bowers. Later she joined Dr. Stanley Biber, a pioneer in sex reassignment surgery, in Colorado, becoming the first woman in the world to hold a personal transgender history while performing transgender surgery. She also worked with the French surgeon Pierre Foldès, gaining expertise on how to functionally restore the damage caused by Female Genital Mutilation. Since then, Dr. Bowers has participated in numerous pro-bono clitoral restoration surgery missions in Africa.

In 2016, she established the first transgender surgical educational program in the USA. She’s a member of WPATH and serves on the board of directors of multiple organizations that fight for LGBT rights. She was considered one of the 100 most influential LGBT people on the world by The Guardian and is also recognized as one of Huffington Post’s 50 Transgender Icons. Her work has been featured in numerous documentaries and TV shows.