Annual Conference 2024
Welcome to the EGA IfWH & UCLH WH Division 19th Annual Conference - Report page.
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This year we celebrated our 20th Anniversary! It great to celebrate the 20th year of the Institute together with our UCLH colleagues, and we were lucky at the conference to have some reflections from their time at the Institute from the previous Institute Directors.
As we look ahead to 2026 which marks UCL's 200th Anniversary and the start of a year of Bicentennial activity and celebration, the Institute for Women’s Health is stronger than ever. With over 270 registrants and more than 75 abstracts, this meeting showcased how together we are providing excellence in research, education and clinical care towards our mission of better lives for women and babies across the world. The Institute and UCLH staff support several global programmes and this was presented at the conference by Professor Jenny Hall.
The debate is always a highlight and this year’s was no exception. Women’s choice is more important than ever in healthcare but is it an illusion? Our two debaters revealed all the the results are below. We also considered the importance of violence and hostilities faced by those working on the frontlines of women’s health with a presentation given by Dr Vicky Bowdell.
Reproductive health topics focused on endometrial and ovarian regulation, the importance of linking reproductive health datasets and fertility education, both in schools and for men considering fatherhood. In women’s cancer we learnt about early detection of ovarian cancer and using artificial intelligence to deliver clinician-validated clinical information to patients.
In neonatology our invited speaker Professor Jonathan Grigg highlighted how pollutant particles are affecting fetal and childhood development. We also heard about a new multidrug preclinical trial in hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, a continuing global problem with great impact on families and their babies. In maternal fetal medicine we featured technological advances, including deep learning for placental monitoring using near infrared spectroscopy and how Virtual Reality may aid obstetric management. There was also a great opportunity to try out a VR headset in the interactive session at lunchtime.
The Audit and Quality Improvement session hds two presentations featuring the UCLH placenta accreta spectrum service and hospital admissions following fertility treatment.
We had another very successful poster session after lunch with over 70 posters presented and great engagement.
A particular highlight was hearing from Professor Bo Jacobsson, FIGO Division Director Maternal and Neonatal Health, who will spoke about how basic genetics to global health may reduce preterm birth.
Thank you to the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital Charity who made a substantial financial contribuation to helping support the conference and for funding the two recipients of the Anne Boutwood Travelling Fellowship, Dr Jennifer Davies Oliveira and Dr Sarah Solangon. Finally, we also celebrate future doctors in women’s health with Dr Salsabeel Kazi, winner of the University of London MBBS Gold medal in 2024. She spent her 6 week elective at UCLH in 2024 and we are delighted to hear her talk about supporting undergraduate medical trainees to reach their potential.
Finally, I would like to thank the Core Programme Planning Committee and the Organising Committee for enabling this conference to take place.
Recordings and pictures of the event can be found below.
| Please see Full abstract booklet and programme for EGA IfWH & UCLH WH Division Annual Conference 2024 |
If you didn't manage to get to any of the sessions you can catch up via the recording links below:
Recording - Morning Session
Recording - Afternoon Session
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Introductions to the Day, and Session 1: 20th Anniversary - Reflections
Session 2: Debate: Choice is an illusion in women's health
PDF Presentations - Dimitrios Siassakos & Francoise Shenfield
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Session 3: Early Career Researcher Presentations:
PDF Presentations - Break Out Room 1 (Maternal & Fetal Medicine & Neonatology)
PDF Presentations - Break Out Room 2 (Reproductive Health, Neonatology)
Session 4: Women Wellness in 2024
Session 5: Medical Student Prize Talk
PDF Presentation - Meghna Balakrishan
Session 7: EGA Key Note Lecture - Born too Soon: from basic genetics to global health for reduction of preterm birth
Professor Bo Jacobsson (Figo Division Director Maternal & Fetal Health)
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Session 8: EGA Hospital Charity Presentations
Anne Boutwood Travelling Fellowship
Dr Jennifer Davies Oliveira - Self sampling for cervical screening in Kenya
PDF Presentations
Session 9: UCLH WH Division: Audit and Quality improvement
Ms Claire Boevink - The UCLH Placenta Accreta Service
Katrina Sherlock - Emergency Gynaecology admissions to UCLH following fertility treatment
PDF Presentations
Session 10: Global Connections - Looking forward to the next 20 years
Professor Jenny Hall
PDF Presentation
Session 11: Invited Lecture
Dr Vicky Boydell - Violence and hostilities faced by those working on the frontlines of women's health
PDF Presentation
Session 12:
PDF Presentation
Oral Presentations - Winners
| Oral Presentations - Prize Category | Winner | Title |
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| Best Overall Medical Student | Meghna Balakrishnan | Female Fertility preservation in a primary brain tumour cohort |
| Oral - Session 1 - First Prize | Raymand Pang | Efficacy Ranking of Cytoprotective Therapies in Newborn Piglets following Inflammation-Amplified Hypoxia-Ischaemia: a Large Multidrug Preclinical Tria |
| Oral - Session 1 - Runner up | Georgina Murray/Sofia Mastrodima-Polychroniou | Antenatal care and management in optimizing outcomes of open fetal surgery for open spina bifida at UCLH/GOSH and UZ Leuven Fetal Surgery Centres within the NHSE |
| Oral - Session 2 - Joint First Prize | Zonglun Li | Early detection of ovarian cancer using LOWESS |
| Oral - Session 2 - Joint First Prize | Daniel Reisel & Serina Dweh | Using AI to deliver clinician-validated clinical information to patients’ |
Poster Presentations - Winners
| Poster Presentations - Prize Category | Winner | Title |
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| Best Medical Student | Babita Panesar | 'Exploring the Consent Process: A Qualitative Interview Study of Ovarian Cancer Patients' Experiences of Consenting to Treatment |
| Best PhD Student | Freweini Tesfai | Deep learning prediction of surgical skills and technical errors during robotic-assisted gynaecological surgery |
| Best MSc Student | Penny Chamberlain | Being a solo mother: An exploration of parenting experiences and support needs of women who intentionally choose to become mothers without a partner |
| Best Clinician or Researcher | Iona Evans | EPI-SURE Study: Performance of the WID-qEC test versus sonography to detect uterine cancers in women with abnormal uterine bleeding’ |
| Best NHS Audit/QI Poster | Halimah Alazzani | Is 6 months the optimal time to undergo test of cure following treatment of CIN? |
| Best Overall | Juan Antinao Diaz | AAV9-mediated gene targeting of natural antisense transcript as a novel treatment for Dravet Syndrome |