DIOGO AYRES-DE-CAMPOS, MD, PhD is currently Associate Professor at the Medical School – University of Lisbon, Portugal, and Chair of the Obstetrics Department of the Santa Maria University Hospital, Lisbon. Until December 2016 he worked at the Medical School University of Porto and S. Joao Hospital in Porto, where he was Associate Professor, Senior Consultant, Director of the labour ward in 2004-2008, and coordinated post-graduate studies in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2008-2011.
His main scientific areas of interest are intrapartum fetal monitoring and obstetric simulation. He is a co-inventor of the “Omniview-SisPorto®” program for computer analysis of fetal monitoring signals (Speculum, Lisbon, Portugal, 2006), the clinical record database Obscare (Virtualcare, Porto, Portugal), and was the medical consultant for the development of the “Lucina®” obstetric simulator (CAE Healthcare, Montreal, Canada, 2014).
He has published 130 papers in international Medline-indexed journals, edited 2 international books, authored 18 international book chapters, and has given 182 invited lectures at international scientific meetings. He was Editor-in-chief of the “Acta Obstetrica e Ginecologica Portuguesa” 2006-2010, and Associate Editor of “ISRN Obstetrics and Gynecology” 2012-2014. He chaired the scientific committee of the 1st , 2nd and 3rd European Congress of Intrapartum Care (ECIC).
He is the President-elect of the “European Association of Perinatal Medicine – EAPM” and was Secretary General of this society from 2016-2018. He is Council Member of the “European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynecology – EBCOG”, and co-ordinator of EBCOG Part 2 Exam. Between 2010 and 2018 he integrated the “Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health committee” at the “International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology – FIGO”, where he co-ordinated the 2015 revision of the “FIGO guidelines on intrapartum fetal monitoring”. He participated in the World Health Organisation consensus panels for “Recommendations on antenatal care” and “Intrapartum care and reduction of unnecessary caesarean section” in 2016.
He is the Secretary-General of the “Federation of Portuguese Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology – FSPOG”, is a Board member of the Subespeciality in Maternal-Fetal Medicine of the Portuguese General Medical Council, and presided over the “National Commission for Reduction of Cesarean Section rates”, nominated by the Portuguese Ministery of Health, that led to a 10% decrease in overall national cesarean section rates between 2009 and 2014.

Education
Graduated from Tel Aviv University (TAU), Board certified in Ob/Gyn in Israel and USA.
1983;1992: Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, in Israel and USA
1984-1987, NIH Fellow in Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology, Department of Ob/Gyn, Hospital of University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia
2009: Member of world College of Reproduction; Chairmen of Scientific Program, Venice, Italy
Medical Experience
1989: Professor, Tel Aviv University
1991-2007: Chairmen, Department of Gynecology, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, and Golda Campus
1997: Incumbent of the Tarnesby Chair of Fertility and Fertility Regulation Tel Aviv University
1999-2005, President, Israeli Menopause Association
Currently, IVF unite, Laniado Medical Center
Congress Experience
1989: Secretary, 6th world Congress in “In Vitro Fertilization’, Jerusalem
Founder and Chairman of the Mediterranean Sea Congress, Eilat
2006: Co-Founder, World Congress on Controversies in Obesity, Diabetes and Hypertension (CODHy)
2006–2007: Founder & Co-Chair, Gender Based Medicine World Congress
1999 – present: Founder and Chairmen, COGI-World Congress of Controversies in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Infertility
Scientific Publications
About 400 Scientific Publications; 2 books written 12 books edited
Reviewer and previously editorial board in International Journals including F&S
Founder and editor of a Series of debates entitled “Controversies” in the “J of IVF and Genetics”
Supervisor of MD thesis to numerous doctors
Advisor to start up and medical device companies
Biking, Hiking, Skiing, Reading history

Christoph Berg, is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, head of the Division of Fetal Surgery at the University of Bonn, head of the Division of Prenatal Medicine at the University of Cologne and head of the Division of Prenatal Medicine at the Marienhospital in Witten.
C. Berg received his medical degree in 1997 from the Ludwig-Maximilians University in München. He did his residency at the University of Lübeck under the administration of Professor Klaus Diedrich. In 2002 he joined the University of Bonn as Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology under the administration of Professor Ulrich Gembruch. In 2010 he became head of the Division of Prenatal Medicine at the University of Köln under the administration of Professor Peter Mallmann and simultaneously head of the Division of Fetal Surgery at the University of Bonn.
C. Berg has made substantial contributions to the medical literature in the areas of prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart defects, rare congenital malformation syndromes, multiple gestation, first trimester diagnosis of fetal anomalies, diagnosis and monitoring of fetal growth restriction and fetal interventions.
C. Berg participates on numerous national committees and is currently Vice President of the World Association of Perinatal Medicine (WAPM).
Under his guidance the already well renowned Division of Fetal Surgery at the University of Bonn has evolved to one of the leading institutions for intrauterine therapy in Germany. The spectrum of challenging interventions includes among others intrauterine transfusion, shunting, valvuloplasty, laser therapy of twin-twin transfusion syndrome, minimally invasive fetal surgery and transplacental treatment of arrhythmias. C. Berg is one of the principle investigators of the international TOTAL-trial (Tracheal Occlusion To Accelerate Lung Growth).

Johannes Bitzer is Former Chairman and Professor em of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University Hospitals of the University of Basel.
He is former president of the European Society of Contraception and of the International Society of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynecology.
He is member of Executive Committee of the European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Director of the knowledge based assessment in the education committee of EBCOG.
He was member of the Exexutive Board of ESSM.
Former President of the Swiss Society of Sexology
He is presently member of the Board of ISSM
Member of the Multidisciplinary Joint Committee of Sexual Medicine
Fellow of the International Society for the Studies of Womens Sexual Health (ISSWSH)
Director of the Diploma of Advanced Studies in Sexual Medicine at the Advanced Study Center of the University of Basel
Lecturer at the ESSM School
Editor in Chief of The European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care
Associate Editor of the Journal of Sexual Medicine.
His scientific work includes female sexual health in the context of gynecological disorders, life course approach to female sexual dysfunction, contraceptive counselling, care for women in the peri and postmenopause, sexual and reproductive health and the interface between obstetrics/gynecology and psychology/psychiatry, which includes infertility counselling and psychooncology and sexooncology
He has more than 200 peer reviewed publications, has edited three books, written 20 book chapters and given more than 300 invited lectures and workshops

MD, Phd, DrMedSci, specialist and consultant of occupational medicine, currently part-time professor of Occupational Medicine at the University of Copenhagen. Former chair of the Danish Occupational Medicine Society, epidemiological research on environmental risk to human reproduction past 35 years, authored more than 475 journal papers, comments and editorials, leader of several national and international research projects in the field.

Dr Francesc Xavier Bosch conducts epidemiological research focusing on cancers linked to infectious agents. His main research studies focus on cancer of the liver, the cervix, the skin, vagina, anus, penis and cancers of the head and neck. He has also conducted studies on diet and colorectal cancer and headed a program of implementation and methodological research in cancer registration.
Dr Bosch’s research projects on viruses and cancer have been instrumental in demonstrating the causal role of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) in cervical cancer and played a catalytic role for the initiation of the first vaccine trials and for the evaluation of HPV tests as screening tools. Dr Bosch was an early introducer of the now called molecular epidemiology, by designing studies that integrate novel biological assays at DNA level to assess exposure to viral carcinogens. Relevant epidemiological field studies have been carried out in over 35 countries around the world, particularly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. The final and more practical goal of his research has extended into the application of the aetiological knowledge to the prevention of cancer.

Mark Brincat
MRCS, LRCP, PhD(Lond), FRCOG, FRCPI
Professor Brincat served as Chairman and Director of Obstetrics and Gynaecology with the Department of Health on the Maltese Islands from 1991-2018.

He is currently Professor at the University of Malta Medical School (O&G) and Hon. Clinical Professor at Queen Mary University London (QMUL), from Nov ’17 to present (Medical Education). He is also an Associate Dean at QMUL, Bart’s Medical School (Malta).

Professor Brincat has held several posts and has served on several committees including ISGE, EMAS, IMS and ESHRE. His academic work was mostly in Gynaecological Endocrinology. He has had a special interest in Menopause and his PhD (King’s College, University of London) concerned work on the relationship of the Menopause and HRT on connective tissue, particularly on the skin and bone.

He has presented keynote lectures and published extensively on the subject of the menopause in a broad range of subjects. He also founded the first Maltese ART (IVF) Unit and has also had a long-standing interest in reproductive endocrinology and infertility.

Prof Brincat continues to lecture both undergraduates and postgraduates and is still actively involved in Menopause and Infertility, recently also picking up an interest in the application of gynaecological laser techniques.

Professor Campbell is the former Academic Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at both Kings College Hospital and St George’s Hospital Medical School, London
He is the first President of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ISUOG).
He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Scientific Medical Journal ‘Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology’.
Professor Campbell is an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
He is a Doctor of Science of London University.

Prof.Dr. Rabih Chaoui,
Medical studies and specialization in Ob/Gyn at the Charité Medical School, Humboldt University in Berlin Germany
Since 1986 major interest in the fetal ultrasound
2001-2004 Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Charité University Hospital, Berlin-Germany.
Since 2004 working in the Center of Prenatal Diagnosis and Human Genetics in Berlin. Germany
Member of national and international societies
2003-2013: Chair of Education committee of ISUOG
2018: ISUOG Stuart Campbell Award for Education
Author of 3 Books on fetal ultrasound and more than 250 papers and monographies
Major Interest in Ultrasound: Fetal heart, Fetal 3D, First Trimester Ultrasound, Ultrasound in genetic diseases, High-Resolution Ultrasound.

Herjan Coelingh Bennink (HCB), MD, PhD, trained in Internal Medicine and Gynaecology in Deventer, Leiden and Utrecht, the Netherlands (Dr Pannekoek, Prof Jon van Rood and Prof Ary Haspels) and certified in 1976 as specialist in ObGyn. In 1974 he was Research Fellow at the Center of Reproductive Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA (Prof Jan Behrman). Since 1976 he was director of the Department of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University Hospital in Utrecht. In 1980 he completed his PhD thesis on Gestational Diabetes.
In 1987 HCB joined Organon in the Netherlands as Executive VP of the Women’s Health (WH) R&D programme, where he was responsible for the development of drugs such as recFSH (Puregon) and a GnRH antagonist (Antagon) for IVF, a contraceptive vaginal ring (Nuvaring), a progestin-only implant (Implanon) and a progestin-only pill (Cerazette) for contraception and Tibolone (Livial) for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). From 1997-2005 HCB was visiting professor Reproductive Medicine at the Dutch speaking Free University in Brussels, Belgium (Profs Paul Devroey and André van Steirteghem).
HCB founded Pantarhei Bioscience early 2001 for the development of new drugs for WH applications, such as the natural fetal estrogen Estetrol (E4) for contraception and HRT, a new combined oral contraceptive (COC) preserving sexual function by preventing the loss of testosterone due to COC use (Androgen Restored Contraception) and an immunological method for the treatment of Zona Pellucida 3 (ZP3) antigen expressing ovarian cancer. Late 2014 HCB founded Pantarhei Oncology for the development of drugs for endocrine and reproductive tract cancers such as ZP3 expressing ovarian, prostate and lung cancer and Estetrol for the treatment of breast and prostate cancer.

GIAN CARLO DI RENZO
MD, PhD, FRCOG (hon) FACOG (hon) FICOG (hon)
Prof. Di Renzo is Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Perugia in Italy. He is Director of both the Reproductive and Perinatal Medicine Center in Perugia and founder of the Permanent International and European School of Perinatal and Reproductive Medicine (PREIS) in Florence. He is full Professor at the Dept of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the I.M. Sechenov First State University of Moscow since 2019. He is coordinating the Women’s Library ( GLOWM ) of FIGO after being General Secretary for two terms (2012-2018) . He holds multiple other positions including Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, based in London, corresponding Editor of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Editor in Chief of the Chinese Journal (in English language) “Maternal Fetal-Medicine”. He is an Advisory Board Member for the March of Dimes Foundation based in New York. Further, he is a Fellow ad eundem of RCOG and a Honorary Fellow of American ACOG and of Indian ICOG. He is also member of the WHO Strategic Committee on “Maternal and Perinatal health”. Prof. Di Renzo is an Honorary Professor and Doctor Honoris Causa at 16 different Universities throughout Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States. He is an Academic Member of the Romanian and Russian Academy of Sciences. Prof. Di Renzo has received six awards for his work in human reproduction and maternal-infant’s health, scientific research, and teaching. He has organized more than 350 international congresses and courses, some of these are held regularly (Diabetes in Pregnancy: DIP, Birth, World Congress of Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, TWINS, etc). His scientific production comprises over 1,300 papers of which more than 400 have been published in peer reviewed international journals and 82 books. He has been an invited speaker in over 1,500 national and international congresses and meetings and in academic courses in over 115 countries.

Prof. Marie-Madeleine Dolmans earned her medical degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain in Brussels in 2000, and her PhD degree on “Cryopreservation and transplantation of human ovarian tissue” in 2006. She completed her internship in Gynecology and Obstetrics in 2007 and since then has divided her time equally between clinical and research activities. Her research work focuses primarily on human ovarian follicle isolation and xenotransplantation, and the risk of reimplanting malignant disease. She succeeded Prof. Donnez as Head of the Gynecology Research Unit at the Université Catholique de Louvain in October 2012.

Jacques Donnez was born in Tournai (Belgium) on 16 July, 1947.
He studied at the Catholic University of Louvain.
He defended his PhD thesis in 1984, entitled “The fallopian tube: normal and pathological
histophysiology”.
He became Full Professor and Head of the Department Gynaecology and Andrology in 1986.
He also founded the Infertility Research Unit of the Catholic University of Louvain in 1986.
He has focused his research activities on three main topics: tubal infertility, endometriosis
and finally, ovarian cryopreservation and transplantation.
He published over 600 original articles in peer-review journals.
Prof. Donnez was the first President of the recently created International Society for Fertility
Preservation (until end of 2010) and has been elected in Februari 2009 at the Royal Belgian
Academy of Medicine.

Professor Olivier Donnez, M.D. Ph.D. received his medical degree in 2000 and his PhD in 2013 from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). He is actually Co-founder and Co-CEO of the Institut du sein et de Chirurgie gynécologique d’Avignon (I.C.A.) since 2016. He is gynaecological and oncological surgeon in polyclinic Urbain V in Avignon, France from 2015. He was the head of department of gynaecology and in vitro fertilization, CHU Dinant Godinne UCL Namur in Belgium from 2005 until 2015. He is involved in research projects in the “Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique”, GYNE pole, of the UCL.
Olivier Donnez is member of the European Society of Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESGE), European society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO), American association of gynaecologic laparoscopist (AAGL), International society of fertility preservation (ISFP)
He is member of the advisory board of the Society of Gynaecological Endoscopy (ESGE). He is reviewer for the European Journal of Obstertrics and Gynecology, Plos One, The Journal of Minimally invasive Gynecology and Gynecological surgery. He is a member of the editorial board of Fertility and Sterility.
His daily practice is mainly devoted on the laparoscopic surgical management of benign and oncologic gynaecological pathology and reproductive medicine. His research interests deep nodular endometriosis, uterine fibroids, isthmocele and deep neuromuscular blockade.
He has authored or co-authored more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has delivered more than 120 presentations at international congresses on gynaecological endoscopy and anaesthesiology.

Joachim W. Dudenhausen
Graduate Training: 1962-69 Faculty of Medicine, Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz, Germany and Faculty of Medicine, Free University Berlin, Germany
Postgraduate Training: 1970-77 Institute of Perinatal Medicine, Free University of
Berlin, 1974 Board Certificate of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1977-82 Chief staff member, Department of Obstetrics, Woman´s Hospital Berlin-Neukölln, 1982 associate Professor at the Free University of Berlin
Positions: 1982-87 Deputy Head of the Dept of Obstetrics, Women´s Hospital Berlin-Neukölln, 1987-89 Deputy Director of the Dept of Obstetrics, University Hospital, Zürich, Switzerland, 1989 – 2010 Professor and Director of the Depts of Obstetrics, Charité, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Campus Benjamin Franklin and Campus Mitte, 2010 -2011 Visiting fellow of the Dept.OBGYN Medical College of Cornell University New York, 2011 – 2014 Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Sidra Clinical and Research Center, Professor of Weill Cornell Medical College, Doha/State of Qatar, 2015 – 2019 Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Weill Cornell Medicine New York, 2017 – Founding Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg of the University Potsdam, BTU and MHB, 2019 – Adjunct Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the School of Medicine, Hoffstra University, Hempstead, New York
Publications: More than 500 publications and books, author of the textbook “Praktische Geburtshilfe” („Practical Obstetrics“)

Thomas Ebner, PhD, graduated with honours from the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Austria, in 1992. Completing his doctorate and post-doctoral thesis, he became a university professor in Linz, Salzburg and Graz. He has published more than 160 papers and book chapters as first and co-author. Research interests include time-lapse imaging, non-invasive IVF selection processes, andrology, vitrification and culture media. He was certified as a senior clinical embryologist by ESHRE in 2008 and re-certified in 2012. He was EC Board Member of ALPHA – Scientists in Reproductive Medicine. Recently, Thomas Ebner was recently elected to the Executive Committee of ESHRE.

Prof. Dr. Christian Egarter was appointed as specialist for OB/GYN at the University of Vienna in 1988. From 1991-1993 he was Head of the Department of OB/GYN in Vöcklabruck, Upper Austria. Thereafter, he returned to Vienna to become Deputy Head of the Department of Obstetrics. Since 2007 he served as Deputy Head of the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology & Reproductive Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and became Head of the Department in 2011. In 2012 Prof. Egarter became President of the “Austrian Society for Sterility, Fertility, and Endocrinology” and Vice-president of the “Austrian Family Planning Society”. In 2014 he was appointed as Member of the Bioethics Commission at the Federal Chancellery of the Austrian government. Prof. Egarter published more than 300 papers in national and international journals and the elaborate number of research grants includes the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science and Concerted Actions of the EU Commission.

Dan Farine, MD, is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Toronto. He is cross-appointed to the Departments of Medicine and Public Health. And an honorary professor at the Universities of Vienna and Moscow
He received his medical degree at Tel-Aviv University and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Toronto in 1986. He finished his fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) at Columbia University, New York in 1988, after which he was appointed as a perinatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital (MSH) in Toronto (the largest obstetrical unit in Canada). He became Head of MFM at MSH in 1990 and Head of Obstetrics in that hospital in 1992. He was Head of the MFM Division at the University of Toronto from 2004−2012.
Dr Farine has published more than 180 peer-reviewed papers, of which nine received research awards. These included two Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) best paper awards and several best poster awards, as well as awards from the Society for Gynaecologic Investigation (SGI) and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC). He is an Editor of a book on new technologies in labour monitoring and Co-editor of textbooks on obesity and malignancies in pregnancy. He has authored 20 book chapters.
Dr Farine has had several different appointments in the area of medical education. His last position was heading up the MFM Fellowship Program at the University of Toronto. He has received five awards for his teaching capabilities.
He was a member and Head of the MFM Committee of SOGC for many years (1998−2009), and was involved in writing many of the SOGC guidelines. He is the founder of the Canadian Society of MFM.

Bart C.J.M. Fauser, MD, PhD, FRCOG, is Emeritus Professor of Reproductive Medicine at the University of Utrecht and the University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands. He is the former Head of the Department for Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecology and Chair of the Division of Woman & Baby at the University Medical Center, Utrecht. Professor Fauser is also a member of the board of the Dutch Medical research Counsel (ZonMW), Editor in Chief of Reproductive Biomedicine Online, and PAST chair of the World Health Organisation (WHO) steering committee for infertility guidelines, and visiting professor at the London Women’s Clinic, London, UK.Professor Fauser previously held posts as visiting professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, California, USA; Free University, Brussels, Belgium; University of Siena, Italy; University of Southampton, United Kingdom; and the University of Adelaide, Australia. In addition, he held the following positions: Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, San Diego, California, USA (1987–1988); Professor of Reproductive Endocrinology and Director of Center of Reproductive Medicine, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (1996–2003), and Editor-in-Chief for Human Reproduction Update (2001–2007),
His major research interests include the pathophysiology of human ovarian function. He has published over 440 peer-reviewed articles, with a Hirsch factor of 100. He has served on many international editorial boards, has been active in many international societies, acted as referee for all major journals and his work has been widely covered in the national and international lay press.

Professor Simon Fishel is the Founder and President of the CARE Fertility Group – the UK’s largest independent provider of fertility services. He began his research career at the University of Cambridge in 1975 with Bob Edwards, who was responsible with Patrick Steptoe for the birth of the first IVF baby in 1978. During the 1978-1980 he was the first to publish on the metabolic responsiveness of embryos to their environment, and he also published on demonstrating the presence of specific uterine glycoproteins suggesting bidirectional signalling. Simon joined Patrick and Bob at Bourn Hall as Deputy Scientific Director when it opened in 1980, where he was part of the “original” clinical team of four undertaking IVF (the other member being John Webster). In 1979 he was appointed a Research Fellow at Churchill College, and on the same night as Bob Edwards was appointed a Fellow of the same college. In 1980 he was awarded the prestigious Beit Memorial Fellowship and in1984 Simon was the first to publish on the secretion of HCG by the human embryo. He has published over 200 papers and three books and, with Alison Campbell, the first atlas of time-lapse images of the human embryo. His pioneering work in the field of IVF has resulted in many honorary awards from countries such as Japan, Austria, Italy, South Africa and the US, amongst others. In 1992 he founded the world first degree course in IVF and he has advised several international Government committees reviewing policy and legislation on IVF, including advisors to the Vatican. In 1997 he was awarded a Personal Professional Chair in Human Reproduction, is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and in 2009 was honoured by the Liverpool John Moores University with their highest award of ‘University Fellow’ for “outstanding contribution to science and to humanity”. He Founded the Rachel Foundation, a charity for both research to help children rendered infertile due to medical treatment, and also to help raise awareness for secondary infertility. Simon is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of CoGEN: Controversies in Preconception, Preimplantation and Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis. Simon is also Co-Founder and CEO of ProFaM, the world first organisation to off ovarian tissue cryopreservation for premenopausal hormonal preservation, along with fertility preservation. Simon’s professional interests span all elements of Human Reproduction, fertility and embryology, and IVF technologies in particular.

Professor Rene Frydman,
Current Positions and Rank:
Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University Paris XIand Head of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of AntoineBeclereHospital, since 1990 – Director of Research Unit on Reproductive Medecine
Awards of Distinction:
Officer of the French Legion d’Honneur
Areas of Special Interest and Accomplishments:My special areas of interest in Gynecology and Obstetrics include infertility and high- risk pregnancy. My work in infertility led the first baby born in France as a result of in vitro fertilization in 1982, after embryo freezing in 1986, after PGD in 2000, after oocyte cryoperservation 2010.
My other area of interest has been biomedical ethics. My work in this realm led to many invitations to debate the moral issues created by the use of the techniques of artificial procreation. I have had an active participation in the preparation on the law on bioethics.
I have actively worked with the Medecins du Monde and Medecins sans Frontieres.

Prof. Juan A. García-Velasco obtained his Medical Degree from Complutense University in Spain in 1990. Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynaecology through residency at La Paz Hospital from 1992 to 1995 and obtained his PhD in Medicine and Surgery through Autonoma University of Madrid in 1995. He did a fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Yale University (USA) in 1997/98. He is now Director of IVI Madrid and Full Professor of Gynaecology at Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid, Spain. Active lecturer around the world at major scientific meetings, he has published more than 200 scientific articles published at impact journals, several chapters and edited sx books. He is the Principal Investigator of projects funded by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health. Member of the Editorial Committee of Fertility & Sterility and Associate Editor or Reproductive Biomedicine Online as well as active member of SGI, ESHRE, ASRM, SEGO and SEF.

TULLIO GHI graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Bologna in 1997 (110/110 and honours). In 2002 he graduated in Obstetrics and Gynecology with honors from the same University. After a year in London at King’s College Hospital, from 2005 to 2014 he worked as a medical consultant at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Hospital S. Orsola Malpighi Hospital in Bologna. Since 2014 he is Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Parma.
In addition to the skills of surgeon and specialist obstetrician – gynecologist he has mastered the main techniques of invasive and non-invasive prenatal diagnosis.
Tullio has over 150 scientific papers published in international journals as well as a number of books and monographs. He is a regular speaker at national and international courses and congresses.

Alessandra Graziottin, MD
Alessandra Graziottin is currently Director of the Centre of Gynaecology and Medical Sexology at the H. San Raffaele Resnati in Milano, Italy. She is specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in Oncology and a certified Psychotherapist in Sexual Medicine.
She is Founder and Chair of the Alessandra Graziottin Foundation for the cure and care of pain in women NPO.
She was Consultant Professor at the Advanced Master in Andrology and Sexual Medicine of the University of Firenze, Consultant Professor at the Advanced Master in Clinical Sexology of the University of Pisa, and Professor at the Master Course of Sexual Medicine for Students of Psychology of the University of Venezia and Salesian University (UPS) of Roma.
Prof. Graziottin has published: 24 scientific books (as author, co-author or editor); more than 90 chapters of scientific books, more than 120 refereed papers and more than 300 proceeding contributions and non-refereed articles; 7 lay books and 8 educational booklets for women. Since 1984 she has been regular columnist on women’s health in Italian national newspapers and magazines.
She wrote, with Filippo Murina:
– Clinical management of vulvodynia (Springer Verlag, 2011);
– Vulvar pain from childhood to old age (Springer Verlag, 2017).
As a leading expert and teacher in Gynaecology and Medical Sexology, with special focus on Chronic Pelvic pain, Vulvar pain and associated comorbidities, she has given more than 1700 lectures (more than 90 state of the art lectures) at international and national meetings and courses.
She is currently:
– Regional Contact for Lombardy for the International Society of Dietary Supplements and Phytotherapy (ISDSP);
– member of the Scientific Board for the “Comorbidity and Psychopathology” Area of the Gruppo Italiano per lo Studio della Motilità dell’Apparato Digerente (GISMAD);
– member of the Core Faculty of the European School of Oncology (ESO);
– member of the permanent International Organizing Committee (IOC) of Controversies in Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility (COGI);
– coordinator of the Italian Association of Hospital Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (AOGOI) for the Milan Metropolitan Area.
She also served in the Board of:
– the Italian Menopause Society from 1997 until 2001;
– the Italian Menopause Project (PMI) from 1997 to 2007;
– the European Society of Menopause and Andropause (EMAS) from 2000 to 2006;
– the Italian Society of Psychosomatic Gynecology and Obstetrics (SIPGO) from 2002 to 2008;
– the Italian Society of Psychosomatic Gynecology and Obstetrics (SIPGO) from 2008 to 2012, as Vice-President;
– the Italian Society of Gynaecology of the Elderly (SIGITE) from 2003 to 2006;
– the Italian Society of Preventive and Social Paediatrics (SIPPS) from 2008 to 2012;
– the Italian Society of Ginecology and Obstetrics (SIGO), as Coordinator of the Special Interest Area on “Pelvic Pain” (2009-2011);
– the Female Sexual Function Forum, FSFF (2000-2001), as Vice President;
– the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, ISSWSH (2001-2002), as President;
– the International Society for Sexuality and Cancer (ISSC) from 2003 to 2010;
In June 2004 she was awarded the Honorary Membership by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC).

Georg Griesinger is a full Professor at Luebeck University, Germany, and chair at the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology and Reproductive Medicine, University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein, Luebeck, Germany. He trained at the University of Vienna, where he worked in trophoblast research for his MD thesis at the Department of Obstetrics, and then did postdoctoral studies at University College London, where he obtained an MSc in prenatal genetics and fetal medicine. His PhD was on ovarian stimulation for IVF using GnRH-antagonists. His research interests include the endocrinology of ovarian stimulation, evidence-based medicine in reproductive health care, epidemiological studies in IVF, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, and basic aspects of folliculogenesis and cryopreservation of human ovarian tissue. He has been an Associate Editor for Human Reproduction 2008-2012, for Fertility and Sterility 2010-2012, and for the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2013-2016. He is currently section editor for Reproductive Biomedicine Online and editor in-chief at Gynaekologische Endokrinologie. Furthermore, he is past coordinator of the special interest group REPRODUCTIVE ENDOCRINOLOGY of the ESHRE and served on the Executive Committee of the ESHRE from 2013-2017.

Univ.-Professor Dr. med. Wolfgang Henrich

Position Held
• Director of the Department of Obstetrics and head of ultrasound division, Charité, Campus Virchow Clinic and Campus Mitte, Berlin Germany.
• President of the Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology Berlin.

Education
1983-1989 Medical school: University of Heidelberg/Germany, San Diego/USA, Zürich/Switzerland
1990-1997 Clinical Education at the Charité, Virchow-Clinic, Berlin
1997 Board Certification for Obstetrics & Gynecology
1999 Board Certification in Feto-Maternal Medicine
2000 Diploma in Fetal Medicine (Fetal Medicine Foundation London UK)
2009 Board member German Society of Ultrasound in Medicine

Memberships and publications
Member of several national and international societies (ISUOG, DGGG, DEGUM, DGPM etc.)
More than 500 national and international publications

Clinical and Research fields
Prenatal Diagnosis and Therapy / First and Second Trimester Screening / Fetal Echocardiography / 3D Ultrasound / Noninvasive Prenatal Testing / Prevention of Congenital Anomalies / Intrauterine Therapy / Fetomaternal Doppler Sonography / Preterm Birth / Cervical Assessment / High risk pregnancy and delivery / Peripartum Hemorrhage / Ultrasound in the Labor Ward.

Prof. Dr. med. Dr.h.c.mult. Wolfgang Holzgreve, MBA, FACOG, FRCOG

Wolfgang Holzgreve graduated in medicine from the University of Münster in Germany and in genetics from the University of California in Berkeley.
He became a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology in Germany and did his postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive genetics at the University of California in San Francisco. In 1995 he was appointed as Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Basel, Switzerland. From there he was recruited back to Germany to become the Medical Director and Chair of the Board of Directors of the University of Freiburg. In 2010/2011 he has been on a sabbatical at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. Since 2012 he is Physician-in-Chief and Chair of the Board of Directors (CEO) of the University Bonn Medical Center.
Prof. Holzgreve´s main research has been in the area of prenatal diagnosis and therapy, and he was involved with the development of invasive techniques such as chorionic villus sampling and Non-invasive Prenatal Diagnosis from maternal blood. His research resulted in more than 600 original papers, more than 10 books, Editorial Board memberships of 15 journals. His Hirsch index is > 60.
He received many awards including the Maternite award, the Liley medal etc, and received seven honorary doctoral degrees. He was President of many professional organizations such as the German Societies of Reproductive Medicine and of Perinatal Medicine, as well President of the Swiss Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Treasurer of the European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (EBCOG) and of the World Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) for six years each.
In 2018 he received the Ordination of First degree (Bundesverdienstkreuz 1. Klasse) from the President of the Federal Republic of Germany.
He has served the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina in various Capacities; and in 2019 was elected into the Executive Committee of the Inter Academy Partnership (IAP).
In 2020 he was reelected as Medical Director and CEO of the Universit Medical Center Bonn for the period of Jan.1, 2022 – Dec. 31, 2026.

Geranne Jiskoot works as a psychologist and obtained a master degree in epidemiology in 2014. She is a PhD Candidate in the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and the Department of Medical Psychology and Psychotherapy at The Erasmus MC. Geranne’s main research interests include lifestyle treatment for obesity, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and the emotional effects of premature Menopause (POI).

Asma Khalil is a professor subspecialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at St George’s Hospital, University of London. 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 150 peer reviewed papers, and many published review articles and chapters. She was awarded many research prizes, both at national and international meetings. Her research interests include multiple pregnancy, hypertensive disease in pregnancy and fetal growth restriction. She is committed to the implementation of clinical guidelines in practice and believes that they could reduce inequalities in care across the NHS. She is a member of the NICE Quality Standards and co-chairs the South West Maternity Network. She also chairs the Steering Committee of the Maternity Engagement Project to improve the outcomes of multiple pregnancies. She is a member of the national fetal medicine Clinical Study Group. She has active collaborations with international societies, particularly in developing countries.
She is an active member of the Royal College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists (RCOG), British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS), International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG), International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (ISSHP) and Society of Reproductie Investigation (SRI). She works closely with the team in the Twin and Multiple Birth Association (TAMBA).

Ludwig Kiesel, MD, PhD, is Chairman of the Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics at the University of Münster School of Medicine, Germany.
He has studied at the University of the Heidelberg School of Medicine Germany, and the Royal Free Hospital Medical School at the University of London UK. Thereafter he earned a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland from 1981-1982. Following his residency at the University of Heidelberg he was faculty member at the University of Tübingen until 2000.
Professor Kiesel is the president of the German Society of Gynecological Endocrinology and Fertility (DGGEF) and member of the board of the European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS). He has served previously as president of the German Menopause Society (DMG), the German Joint Societies of Reproductive Medicine (DVR), the German Endometriosis Society (SEF) and as board member of the World Endometriosis Society (WES). His main interests are endometriosis, menopause, minimal invasive surgery and mechanisms of endocrine regulation.

Dr Elena Labarta is a certified specialist in OBGYN. Since July 2005 belongs to the Human Reproduction Unit of IVI-RMA Valencia, Spain, where she combines clinical practice with research activity, having participated in several clinical research projects and authored many publications in peer reviewed international journals.
She is frequently invited to give lectures about her research activity.
Dr Labarta´s research is now focused on the Predictive Value of Mid-luteal Serum Progesterone Levels; Ovarian Stimulation and Embryo Quality; use of 3D Ultrasound for Uterine Evaluation; and the impact of mitochondrial transfer on Embryo Quality in IVF Patients.

Professor Joop S.E. Laven is professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and was initially trained at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. After Medical school he completed his Ph.D. thesis on clinical and experimental aspects of varicocele at Utrecht University in 1991. From 1991 till 1997 he continued his training at the University Medical Center St. Radboud in Nijmegen. In 1997 he became board certified in OBGYN (FRCOG) and moved to the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. In 2000 he became certified subspecialist Reproductive Medicine. He is a member of ESHRE, ASRM, the Endocrine Society, the Society of Gynaecological Investigation (SGI) and the Royal Dutch College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He is the past president of the Dutch Society of Reproductive Medicine.
For many years he had a particular interest in the management of polycystic ovary syndrome covering the full spectrum from the effects of the syndrome during adolescence and adult life on the menstrual cycle, fertility, body weight and cosmetic aspects. During the last decade the research focussed on more fundamental effects that PCOS may have on quality of life and long-term health risks as well as the genetic basis of the disease. More recently he was also involved in Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) exploring the genetic basis of PCOS, premature ovarian insufficiency, menarche and menopause.
Clinical work focuses on women’s health in particular reproductive endocrinology and menopause as well as on infertility treatment and ART and pregnancy outcome in infertile couples especially women with PCOS. For many years he is involved in preconception care and counselling as well as organizing life style modification programs. He is the person Responsible for the Rotterdam Erasmus MC Reproductive Medicine Unit, which performs approximately 2500 IVF cycles, 600 IUI cycles and about 250 cycles of ovulation induction per annum. Within the outpatient clinic of the unit about 10,000 individual patient visits take place on a yearly basis. He works as a full-time clinician and is currently head of the Division of Reproductive Medicine of the department of OBGYN at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.
He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers and several reviews as well as chapters in books, and has delivered over 200 lectures to international scientific audiences. Books to which he has contributed include Endocrinology, De Groot and Jameson, IVF in the complicated patient, Insulin Resistance and PCOS. He is a member of the editorial board of Human Reproduction Update and the Journal of Endocrine Society.
Currently he is living together with Annemarie Rietveld, he is the proud father of 4 sons: Niels, Pim, Jannes and Loek. In his rare free private time you might see him fly-fishing or biking or just being lazy on these Sunday afternoons listening to Van Morrison.

Dr Emmeline Lee
Emmeline graduated from the University of Western Australia with an MBBS, who then went on to obtain a Diploma in Obstetrics from RANZCOG before specialising in Radiology in WA. She then completed fellowships in Women’s Imaging and in Breast Imaging. She currently a partner in a specialist O&G Imaging practice, Western Ultrasound for Women, as well as in the public sector at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and BreastScreenWA.
Emmeline is the Co-Lead examiner in O&G Imaging for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, and is a keen teacher of Radiology registrars and sonographers in Western Australia.
Emmeline is the current Chair of the Obstetric and Gynaecological Special Interest Group of the RANZCR.
Emmeline is the Expert Advisor for Obstetric Imaging in the popular website, Radiopaedia, which is the premier reference website for Imaging professionals around the world (http://radiopaedia.org).
She was the recipient of the Professor Turab Chakera Award for Radiology Teaching in 2014.
Emmeline received the Australasian Society of Ultrasound in Medicine’s Sonologist of the year award in 2019.
As part of her commitment to education, Emmeline is Co-Lead in Obstetrics and Gynaecology for Radiology Across Borders, and has done multiple trips supporting Sonographers, Radiologists, Registrars and Medical Students in developing nations.
Emmeline also has a keen research interest, particularly in the field of Subfertility.

Ariel Many MD MHA
Professor
Director, Labor & Delivery Division,
Lis Maternity Hospital
Sourasky Tel Aviv Medical Center
Tel Aviv University
1990 – MD- Tel Aviv University
1991 – Residency in OB& GYN at Tel Aviv Medical Center
1993-1995 – Clinical and research fellowship- Magee Women’s Hospital, University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2004-2005 – Research associate at Mount Sinai research Institute, Toronto, Canada
2014-2018 – Chairman, Israeli Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine
Dr Many published numerous publications in perinatology and Obstetrics, currently interested in Preeclampsia, advanced maternal age and delivery patterns of different populations.

Dr. Sebastiaan Mastenbroek is an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam and one of the Senior Clinical Embryologists of the Center for Reproductive Medicine of the Amsterdam UMC. An important focus of his research has been Preimplantation Genetic Screening (PGS / PGT-A). Publication of his RCT on PGS in the New England Journal of Medicine started a fiercely debated controversy on the use of PGS as it showed that the technique actually lowered pregnancy rates after IVF instead of increasing them. He is an associate editor of Human Reproduction Open, editor of the Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility Group, chair of the Science Committee of the Dutch Society for Clinical Embryology, board member of the special interest group ART of the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, board member of the SAF foundation, and board member of the Amsterdam Reproduction and Development Research Institute.

Rajiv McCoy is an assistant professor in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. McCoy received his PhD in Biology from Stanford University, then completed postdoctoral work at the University of Washington and Princeton University. The McCoy lab uses computational and statistical approaches to investigate the functional and fitness effects of human genetic variation, as well as the evolutionary mechanisms that shape such variation among cells, individuals, and populations. This includes work studying the genetic determinants, mechanistic origins, and developmental consequences of embryonic aneuploidy and mosaicism.

Ben (Willem) Mol (MD PhD FRANZCOG) is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Monash University. Ben is focused on the organisation of multi-centric evaluative research in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Fertility. The research is focused mainly upon everyday practices. As a Professor, Ben considers his most important task to be the stimulation and innovation of evaluative research in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine.
Ben studied Medicine at the University of Amsterdam and trained as a Gynaecologist at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht. Ben was instrumental in initiating the Dutch consortium for Research in Women’s health, in which 70 hospitals collaborate in multicenter trials. Main topics that were evaluated were timing and methods of induction of labour, prevention of preterm birth with pessary, tocolysis, indications for IVF, tubal flushing for infertility and treatment of menorrhagia. The trial initiative has been incorporated by the Dutch Society for Obstetrics and Gynaecology and is supported by the Dutch national funder and the Dutch health insurance companies. In 2010, Ben co-initiated the Global Obstetric Network GOnet that aims to better coordinate global efforts in clinical effectiveness research.
Ben came to Australia in 2014 and started at Monash in 2018. Ben holds an NHMRC investigator grant. During his time in Australia, he developed extensive relations with Asian universities. Ben has mentored >110 PhD students and published >1000 papers, many in high impact journals as NEJM, Lancet, JAMA, PLOSmedicine and BMJ. A publication in Nature acknowledged Ben as one the most prolific medical scientists. Ben is since 2014 the world’s most published author in Obstetrics/Gynaecology. His professional adage is ‘A day without randomisation is a day without progress.’.

Professor Geeta NargundFounder and Medical Director, CREATE Fertility and Lead Consultant for Reproductive Medicine services at St George’s Hospital, London.

Affiliations: President, International Society for Mild Approaches in Assisted Reproduction (ISMAAR).
Board Member of the British Red Cross.
Board of the charity- London Emergencies Trust.
Director, Walking Egg Foundation, a Belgian Charity.
Member of the Guild of Health Writers, UK.
Founder and CEO, CREATE Health Foundation.

Awards: “Woman of the Year Award for Charity and Community work” by RED magazine in December 2013.
“RBS Chairman’s Award”, as the Asian Woman of the Year at the Asian Women of Achievement awards ceremony, 2014.
Woman of the Year at the 60th Women of Year Anniversary Lunch by Women of the Year, 2015.
Inspirational Woman Award at the 9th Inspiration Awards, 2015.
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics ) Heroes by the Daily Telegraph in 2015.
Top 10 most influential Asian women in the UK by the Asian Sunday Newspaper to mark International Women’s Day, 2016.
“Doctor of the Year” by the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin in November 2017.

Publications: Professor Nargund has published several peer-reviewed scientific papers including abstracts and also several book chapters in the field of reproductive medicine and advanced ultrasound technology.

SPECIAL INTRESTS: She is a regular blogger on Huffington Post on Health and Lifestyle.
She introduced Fertility Education in London Secondary Schools.
Campaigner for the welfare and safety of women in IVF.

Dr. Mona Orady is currently the Director of Robotic Surgery Services at St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco California practicing GYN Minimally Invasive Surgery at Dignity Medical Foundation. Formerly she served as the Chief of Quality and Education in OB/GYN at Tawam Hospital in affiliation with John Hopkins Medicine in Alain, UAE. Prior to this, she was the Director of Robotic Surgery Education at the Cleveland Clinic Obstetrics & Gynecology & Women’s Health Institute from 2012-2015, specializing in robotic surgery in benign gynecology. There she developed and oversaw the minimally invasive surgery curriculum for the Gynecology residents at the Cleveland Clinic. She previously spent three years as a Senior Staff Physician in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, Michigan. There, she was a member of the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecology and Robotic Surgery and was faculty for the AAGL accredited Minimally Invasive Gynecology fellowship at Henry Ford Hospital. She is actively involved in teaching medical students and residents and advancing MIS surgery education with involvement on the Robotic SIG at AAGL and most recently serving for the last 4 years as an active Board member of SLS. After completing a B.Sc. from McMaster University and an M.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 2001, she completed her residency in OB/GYN at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Board Certified from the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology since 2007, she is a current a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. She was trained in Robotic Surgery in 2009 completing more than 1000 complex cases to date. Her research focus is benign hysterectomy and robotic surgery applications.

Santiago Palacios, MD, PhD
Santiago Palacios is the Director of the Palacios Institute of Health and Women’s Medicine, in Madrid, Spain and, in addition, he is the President of the Private Assistance Section of the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SEGO), President of the Spanish Foundation of Women and Health (FEMYS), President of the Hispanic Foundation of Osteoporosis and Metabolic Bone Diseases (FHOEMO), Professor of Universities and Head of Masters at the Distance University of Madrid (UDIMA) and the Menéndez Pelayo International University (UIMP) ). He has also received two recognitions from Doctor Honoris Causa.
He is also Past President and Honorary Member of the Spanish Menopause Society (AEEM), Past Chairman of the Council of Affiliated Menopause Societies (CAMS) of the International Menopause Society (IMS), and Past President of the Ibero American Society of Osteology and Mineral Metabolism (SIBOMM).
Education: Dr. Palacios received his MD degree, completed his residency in obstetrics and gynaecology, and earned his PhD degree from Complutense University of Madrid.
Research and special interests: Dr. Palacios is highly experienced as a principal investigator, having participated in more than 100 clinical trials. His most important areas of research are menopause, osteoporosis and female sexual dysfunction.
In 1989, Dr. Palacios founded the first Spanish unit devoted to the advancement of information on menopause at the Jimenez Diaz Foundation.
Publications and congresses: Dr. Palacios has contributed to more than 400 books and journal articles, nationals and internationals, on women’s health. He is editor in chief and member of the Editorial Board of several indexed journals related to menopause and gynaecology.
He is a frequent speaker in national and international congresses and has participated in more than 1000 presentations.

Laura Rienzi is a Senior Clinical Embryologist and Laboratory Director at the GENERA Centres for Reproductive Medicine in Rome, Marostica, Umbertide and Naples in Italy.
She obtained her biological degree magna cum laude at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ in 1993. Research Fellow at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine, Hôpital Necker in Paris, France in 1994 and Laboratory Director at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine of the European Hospital in Rome, Italy from 1996-2007. She also obtained a II Level Master in “Reproductive Medicine” at the University of Padua. From 2000-2004 was adjunct Professor of Clinical Embryology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Perugia, and was elected in 2014 President of the Italian Society of Embryology Reproduction and Research.
Since 2016 Laura is Adjunct Professor of Biotechnology in Assisted Reproduction at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Urbino, in Italy.
Laura’s field of interest includes in vitro fertilization, ICSI, studies of human gametes, zygote and embryo morphology in relation to their developmental ability, and chromosomal constitution, as well as the cryopreservation of sperm, oocytes and embryos.
Author and co-author of 154 articles, reviews and book chapters (Scopus H-Index is 44), she is passionate about sharing her knowledge as evidenced by the more than 250 invitations to speak at national and international scientific meetings.
Involved in different Academic Activities, she has supervised 7 B.Sc students and 2 PhD students to successful completion and is currently involved in tutoring and teaching activities for various Italian Universities.
She has also held editorial positions: Associate Editor of Human Reproduction, Reproductive Biomedicine Online, Fertility and Sterility, and Focus on Reproduction and Associate Editor of Human Reproduction Update.

Professor Ute M. Schaefer-Graf is chairwoman of the Berlin Center for Diabetes & Pregnancy at St. Joseph Hospital in Berlin which serves as a tertiary Center for Perinatale Medicine. She is gynaecologist with specialisation in both Perinatale Medicine and Diabetology. Academically she is associated with the Charité, the University Hospital of the Humboldt University. She published in several areas of diabetes and pregnancy including congenital anomalies, lipid metabolism, amniotic fluid insulin and maternal postpartum testing after GDM. Her research interest is ultrasound and management of GDM with focus on fetal parameters. Since 2000, she is speaker of the German Diabetes & Pregnancy group and is responsible for the implementation of guidelines in the field of Diabetes and Pregnancies.

Gerald P. Schatten, Ph.D.
Professor Schatten is Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Cell Biology, Bioengineering and Division Director of the Division of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Schatten has directly trained >50 doctoral and postdoctoral fellows, along with several MD, MD-PhD and DVM trainees. He is active in advanced research training and was the founding director of the FRONTIERS IN REPRODUCTION, the premier reproduction training vehicle for MD and PhDs. He is currently President of UNESCO’s International Cell Research Organization. With extensive funding from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Schatten is the recipient of an NIH MERIT, and earlier a Research Career Development, Award, was honored by the Czech Academy of Sciences with their Purkinje Medal of Science, elected as a Delegate of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, a Mentor Awardee of the American Society for Cell Biology, Elected Australian Society for Reproductive Biology President’s Lecturer, awarded the Daniel Mazia Award from Stanford University and a Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate) from the University of Nova Gorica, presented by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, among other honors. The Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole awarded him their new FOUNDER’S AWARD in 2018 and he is the 2019 Johan Gregor Mendel Medal for Outstanding Scientific Achievements speaking at Mendel’s home, the Augustinian Abbey in Brno. Czech Republic. His > 300 papers on stem cells, regeneration, fertilization, cell biology, development, infertility, assisted reproductive technologies, as well as strategies for rectifying past injustices in scientific careers, have appeared in premier journals including Nature and Science. Dr. Schatten is also an eloquent advocate for research in reproduction, development, regeneration and stem cells.

Dr. Michael Schumacher
Born in 1958 in Verviers (Belgium), Michael Schumacher conducted his doctoral research under the supervision of Pr. Jacques Balthazart and received in 1985 his PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Liège (Belgium). After postdoctoral trainings in the laboratories of Pr. John B. Hutchison at the University of Cambridge (U.K.) and Pr. Bruce S. McEwen at the Rockefeller University (New York), he became in 1991 Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Paris-Sud. In 1993, he has been appointed Director of Research of Inserm, the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, and he pursued his research on neurosteroids in the laboratory of Pr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu. Since 1998, he is heading research units of Inserm and University Paris-Sud. In 2009, he also became the Dean of the Doctoral School “Signaling and Integrated Networks in Biology” (Univ. Paris-Saclay).
His Research Unit “Diseases and Hormones of the Nervous System (U1195 Inserm and University Paris-Sud) is located in the suburbs of Paris. It is aimed at developing new neuroprotective and neuroregenerative therapies for the treatment of lesions and diseases of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Major lines of research concern the mechanisms of the neuroprotective, neuroregenerative and promyelinating actions of small molecules, including neurosteroids, ligands of the translocator protein (TSPO) and activators of the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signalling pathways. Combinations of reconstructive microsurgery with pharmacological treatments or gene therapy are explored for promoting peripheral nerve regeneration. The laboratory has made relevant contributions to the use of Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) gene therapy and the delivery of siRNA and nanoparticles for the treatment of monogenic peripheral neuropathies and it integrates both basic and clinical research. The laboratory has also a prominent training activity through the key participation in the Doctoral school “Biosigne” of University Paris-Saclay and has contributed to the creation and management of a degree of University Paris-Sud entitled “Translational Research and Therapeutic Innovation for Diseases of the Nervous System”.

Professor Jalid Sehouli is the Director of Department of Gynaecology, Charité Campus, Virchow-Klinikum and Campus Benjamin Franklin. He is the head of the gynecological cancer center of the Charité in Berlin, Germany. He plays an active role in many key societies and is a Board Member of the German Gynaecological Oncology Working Group (AGO) as well as a chair of the official ovarian cancer guideline commission for AGO. He is also an Official German Member of the Gynaecologic Cancer Intergroup (GCIG), the president of the North-Eastern German Society of Gynaecological Oncology and Pan-Arabian Research Society of Gynecological Oncology (PARSGO). He has published extensively in the area of gynaecological oncology and serves on the advisory board of numerous journals including the International Journal of Gynaecological Oncology and Onkologie as well as a reviewer for many important international journals. Furthermore, he founded the German Foundation for Ovarian cancer to improve the information for patients and their relatives. In this context, he published various brochures and movies in different languages

Dr. Thiers Soares Raymundo is currently Chief of Gynecologic Endoscopy Section, Cardoso Fontes Hospital, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and member of Gynecologic Endoscopy Section, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is also Professor of Gynecologic Endoscopy Postgraduate Course, Suprema University, Minas Gerais, Brazil.
He is a member of the Board of the Brazilian Society of Videosurgery (SOBRACIL), Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS) and Global Society of Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain (GSEPS). He is also a member of the first Team of Robotic Surgery in Gynecology in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Edgardo Somigliana graduated in Medicine in 1994 and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1999. In 2006, he completed a PhD in Prenatal Medicine. Since 2001, he is working as a clinical physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Fondazione Ospedale Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan, Italy. Since 2012, he is the Head of the Infertility Unit of the hospital. Since 2016 he is also Associate Professor at the Università degli Studi of Milan, Italy. His major scientific interests are infertility and endometriosis. He is author or co-author of more than 300 articles in international journals.

Vincenzo Stanghellini, MD
PRESENT POSITION: Vincenzo Stanghellini is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Bologna, Chair of Internal Medicine in the Department Digestive Diseases of the St. Orsola University Hospital of Bologna, Director of the Subspecialty School in Internal Medicine of the University of Bologna.
EXPERIENCE: Research Fellow (1981-1983) and Visiting Professor (1983-1985) at the Gastrointestinal Unit of the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.
RESEARCH INTEREST: Leading a successful group of investigators, with main research focus on pathophysiology of functional disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, diagnosis and treatment of functional digestive syndromes.
AWARDS and HONORS: Master Award for Sustained Achievement in Digestive Sciences of the American Gastroenterological Association (2009).
PUBLICATIONS: over 300 papers on peer review journals (H-Index >60).
MEMBERSHIPS: Italian Society o Neurogastroenterology and Motility (SINGEM) (President); European Society of Neurogastroenterology and Motility (former member of the Steering Committee); United European Gastroenterological Federation (UEGF); Italian Society of Internal Medicine (SIMI) (past-President of the Regional Committee), Italian Society of Gastroenterology (SIGE), Italian Group of Intestinal Pseudo-obstruction (GIpsI) (President). Associate Editor, member of the Editorial Board and referee for many peer-review journals.

Fulco van der Veen, MD, PhD is emeritus professor in Reproductive Medicine at the University of Amsterdam since 2017 and was head of the Center for Reproductive Medicine of the AMC Amsterdam since 1997. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Amsterdam in 1977, received his PhD degree in 1982 and became consultant OBGYN in 1987. His research interests include evaluation research on diverse topics like prediction models in reproductive medicine, preimplantation genetic screening, ectopic pregnancy, male infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome and fertility preservation, and translational research on the Y chromosome and human spermatogonial stemcells. He was co applicant in over 30 research grants. He is author of 400 peer reviewed publications, including top journals like Nature Genetics, NEJM, JAMA, Lancet and supervised 50 PhD students.

Dr. Vassena earned a DVM and a PhD in Biotechnology applied to reproduction from the University of Milan, Italy. She has worked and trained in Canada and the United States, and has been a researcher at the National Stem Cell Bank in Barcelona, Spain.
Since 2011 she is the Scientific Director of the Eugin Group, where she directs the group international research, and supervises directly the group’s basic research unit.
Dr. Vassena is Associate Professor of translational medicine at the University of Barcelona; she is the co-director of the international master’s degree in human assisted reproduction techniques at Pompeu Fabra University, and the president of the Eugin ethics committee for clinical research.
Dr. Vassena is co-author of more than 90 scientific articles in high-impact international journals, has been the coordinator of the ESHRE stem cell special interest group, and has served for 4 years on the Executive Committee of the same society.

Gary Ventolini, M.D., is the Regional Dean and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at the Permian Basin since 2012. He came from the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine where he served as the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology for six years. He received a Doctorate of Medicine & Surgery from the University of Padova, Italy. Then in the United States had post-graduate training in Family Medicine in Spartanburg, South Carolina and an Obstetrics and Gynecology at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is board certified in both Family Medicine and Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Ventolini scholarly work includes authoring over 280 publications of peer reviewed journals, book chapters, and abstracts. He is a reviewer for 23 peer review journals and he is an Editorial Board Member for 11 including Journal of Gynecologic Surgery, Texas Medicine and the new Gynecological and Reproductive Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American Congress of Obstetricians & Gynecologists. He was also honored as University Distinguished Professor at TTUHSC and the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Stefan Verlohren
Privatdozent Dr. med. Stefan Verlohren, MD, PhD, born 1976, is a Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Obstetrics, Charité University Medicine, Berlin. He is specialized in Maternal-Fetal Medicine and DEGUM II certified 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 the Co-chairman of the German Preeclampsia Society and congress president of the European Congress of the International Society of the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (ISSHP) in Berlin, 2017.

Prof. Gerard H.A.Visser
Emeritus professor Obstetrics and former head of department, University Medical Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Member and past chair FIGO Committee Safe Motherhood Newborn Health. Former president of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine. Honorary Fellow of the Flemish, South African, Royal ( British; fellow ad eudem) and Romanian Colleges of O&G and of the German Perinatal Society. Awarded the Maternity price of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine in 2016. Research interests: fetal ( neurological) development, fetal monitoring, IUGR, diabetes and pregnancy. Over 460 PubMed articles, which have been cited over 26.000 times according to Google Scholar; supervisor of 73 completed PhD projects.

Dr. Jessica Ybanez-Morano practices at the Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio.
She is the Director of Women’s Services and the Director of the Women’s Clinic.
She specializes in reduced site gynecologic laparoscopic techniques and vaginal re-enhancement. She is specifically focused with single-site laparoscopic surgery for gynecology procedures. Dr. Ybanez-Morano continues to practice high-risk Obstetrics. Currently, she serves as President-Elect for SLS (Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons) 2019 and will be incoming President for SLS in 2020.
Dr. Ybanez-Morano is doubly boarded with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American College of Physician Executives (aka the American Association of Physician Leaders.) She maintains numerous academic positions. She received adjunct faculty appointments with the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, West Liberty University and West Virginia University School of Medicine.
She graduated with a combined degree. She received her MD/MPH from West Virginia University and the Johns Hopkins University. She is a Fellow in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology. She is a Certified Physician Executive and a Diplomate with the American College of Physician Executives (also known as American Association of Physician Leaders. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (JSLS.).

Prof. Yariv Yogev graduated medical school in The Technion University, Haifa, Israel and completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Helen Schneider Hospital, Rabin Medical Center. He completed his clinical and research fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Columbia University and St. Lukes-Roosvelt Hospital in New York. Currently, he is full professor at Tel Aviv University and the Chairman of Lis Hospital for Women in Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center which is a tertiary University affiliated Hospital with approximately 12,000 deliveries a year. Prof. Yogev is the past President of the Israel Society for Maternal and Fetal Medicine, the past moderator of the diabetes in pregnancy program in the American Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM) and board member in the Israel residency board exams. He contributed more than 240 peer-reviewed articles, editor of 2 books and wrote many chapters in books, and his main in interest in research are pregnancy complication, especially diabetes and preterm labor.

Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz is a Professor of Mammalian Development and Stem Cell Biology at the University of Cambridge. Her passion lies in understanding how the embryo is built and how embryonic cells decide their fate for the very first time. This passion led her to reveal the remarkable self-organising and self-correcting properties of embryos, pioneering the way for many studies of human and mouse embryogenesis. She directed studies of her team to create a technique that doubles the amount of time that human embryos can be cultured in the laboratory so they can reveal the beginnings of human life during embryo implantation.