prelude to life

fetal medicine

Wednesday | April 17th 2024

PRELUDE TO LIFE

Bial

Medicine, as we know it today, focuses on the treatment of fetal illness outside the womb, addressing challenges once they arise.

But what if we shared with you a paradigm-shifting perspective?

Imagine a realm where we have the power not just to treat but to alter the fate of an unborn child, sculpting a healthier beginning even before life takes its first breath.

From groundbreaking diagnostics to innovative treatments, the Prelude to Life module will spotlight the cutting-edge technologies and compassionate care that define Fetal Medicine.

In the module PRELUDE TO LIFE: FETAL MEDICINE, let us venture together into this realm where science meets the delicate dance of life.

On the 17th of April we’ll welcome…

Avner Hershlag, MD

Specialized in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology

CMO of Modern Fertility

Dr. Avner Hershlag is dual board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Modern Fertility. His research has recently focused on the impact of genetics on infertility and the fertility preservation and prevention of cancer through genetic screening and preimplantation genetic testing (PGT).

Mark Kilby, MD

Obstetrician, subspecialized in Fetal Medicine

Emeritus Professor of Fetal Medicine at the University of Birmingham

Professor Mark Kilby is an accredited obstetrician, subspecialized in fetal medicine, who is emeritus Professor of Fetal Medicine at the University of Birmingham, honorary consultant at Birmingham Women’s Foundation Trust, and Senior Principal Clinical Scientist at Illumina, in Cambridge. A former president of the British Maternal Fetal Medicine Society, he has over 350 publications, and multiple books, focusing mainly on prenatal diagnosis, fetal therapy and intrauterine fetal growth restriction.

Fàtima Crispi, MD PhD

Fetal Medicine i+D Research Center Scientific Coordinator

Associate Professor at the University of Barcelona

Dr. Fàtima Crispi is a Fetal Medicine leader in the cardiology realm. She combines a clinical position as consultant at Clínic Barcelona Hospital with leading the Fetal Cardiac Programming research team at IDIBAPS and teaching at Barcelona’s University.
She is also an academic editor of the journals PlosONE and Scientific Reports, and author of more than 150 scientific articles in international journals.
She is an inspirational leading researcher in the field of cardiology and fetal programming that loves translational research aimed to improve cardiovascular health of the future generations.

Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, PhD

Head of the Climate Change Unit at WHO Headquarters

Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum is the Head of the Climate Change and Health Unit at WHO Headquarters. He has worked on this cause for over 20 years, playing key roles in the first quantitative estimates of the global health impacts of climate change, World Health Assembly resolutions, WHO Global Conferences, and the expansion of WHO’s Climate Change and Health Support to over 30 low and middle income countries.

Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum is the author of over 100 scientific articles, reports and book chapters, lead author of three Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and the first health report for the UN Climate Negotiations.

Moderator

Rúben Oliveira, MSc

Biologist, Ecologist, and Science Communicator

Rúben Sousa de Oliveira is a biologist, ecologist, and science communicator. He has a Master’s Degree in Conservation Biology from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, and a post-graduation in Ecology and Environmental Management. He is a member of cE3c‘s Communication Office, the National Board for the League of Nature Protection (LPN), the Portuguese Society of Ecology (SPECO), where he coordinates the Network for Communication and Dissemination of Ecology, and the Portuguese Society of Etology (SPE). He is co-founder of the Science Festivals Pint of Science Portugal and FIC.A, as well as co-author of “Um Pouco Por Toda a Parte: A Ecologia no Século XXI”.

Scientific Committee

Sérgio Almeida, PhD

Director of the SAlmeida Lab at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon

Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon

BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Coimbra

PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Porto

Post-doctoral fellow from the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon

Isabel Gordo, PhD

Group Leader of Evolutionary Biology Research Group at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência

Member of The Committee of The PhD Program at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência

BSc in Physics from the Instituto Superior Técnico

PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Edinburgh

Former Deputy Director of the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência