EGA Institute for Women's Health & UCLH WH Division - 19th Annual Conference 2024

This year we are celebrating 20 Years of the EGA Institute for Women's Health!

Link to Register

The in person event will again this year be held at Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, NW1 2BJ

Event details

This year the format will include oral presentations from IfWH/UCLH Researchers presenting their work, and undergoing a Q&A session. Presentations will be judged by our panel, and prizes awarded for the overall best performances.

In addition to this, as like every year, we will have our poster presentations and prizes, as well as highlights from our Institute staff of the high profile research that has been undertaken.

Furthermore, this year we will be hosting a Debate and a Key Note Lecture from externally invited speakers of clinical and academic backgrounds.

Details regarding the Key Note Lecture can be found below.

In order to illustrate the successes and achievements of the UCL Institute for Women’s Health and UCLH Women’s Health Division, the meeting will be recorded.

If you have any queries, please get in touch with the IfWH Annual Conference Organising Committee

Call for Abstracts  

Do you have an audit. quality improvement project or research project carried out over the past year which you would like to showcase?  
Selected abstracts will be invited to present at the EGA Institute for Women's Health & UCLH WH Division 19th Annual Conference 2024, which is taking place as a hybrid meeting – In person at Friends House and also online, on Friday 6th December 2024.

Download the Abstract Submission form from the Conference webpage.  Once completed please upload it to the 2024 Annual Conference ONEDRIVE LINK, listing your name as the title of the file. Please note, all abstract submissions should be in PDF only.  Please remember to indicate in the “Abstract Type” section whether you would like to be considered for an oral presentation and/or for a poster presentation. (Please note, submissions for the oral presentation option are for early-career researchers/PhD students only).

* Please note, this conference will be an open meeting, so we advise you to speak with supervisors regarding any potential regulations related to intellectual property, before submitting abstracts *

The deadline for submitting abstracts is to Monday 4th November 2024 at 5pm. You will be informed in due course of the outcome of your submission.

Please note you must be registered to attend the conference at the time of submitting your abstract. 

Keynote Speaker

Bo Jacobsson 

FIGO Division Director Maternal & Neonatal Health

'Born too Soon: from basic genetics to global health for reduction of preterm birth'

Professor Jacobsson is a leading expert on the mechanisms and epidemiology of preterm birth. His research group is the world's leading in the genetics of preterm delivery and the timing of birth. The main research aim is to identify and apply different strategies to prevent preterm birth to improve the clinical outcomes of preterm-born children.

He has published over 370 peer-reviewed papers. Among other journals, he has published in Nature, Science, New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Genetics, PLOS Medicine, and JAMA. H-index: 83 Google Scholar.

Professor Jacobsson has been involved in the work of different international Maternal and Child Health organizations for more than 20 years. He co-leads the MNCH workstream in the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health. He co-edited the "Born-too-soon - the decade version" (WHO) and co-chaired the Global Advocacy group. He is also serving and has served as an expert on several WHO special task groups.

Debate - Choice is an Illusion in women's health

Invited Speakers

Dimitrios Siassakos

Professor of Maternal & Fetal Medicine, EGA Institute for Women's Health

Dimitrios is Professor in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at UCL. He has been awarded a Personal Chair (effective October 2021). He is Founder of the Clinical and Bereavement Care Group of the International Stillbirth Alliance, Lead developer of several global training courses, and member of the National Institute for Health Research HTA prioritisation panel. Dimitrios is lead author of several national and international guidelines.

Dimitrios leads a comprehensive portfolio of research in stillbirth care and prevention including initiatives relevant to diabetes and glucose dysmetabolism, prevention of neonatal brain injury, intrapartum care and operative birth, obesity in pregnancy, postpartum haemorrhage, simulation training. He has held grants in excess of £31m, and has more than 100 publications including the Lancet Stillbirth Series.

Françoise Shenfield

Honorary Associate Professor in Reproductive Health, EGA Institute for Women's Health/UCL 

Françoise Shenfield is an Honorary Associate Professor in Reproductive Health at the EGA Institute for Women’s Health at University College London She was a Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (1999-2002)

She was involved in the care of infertile couples for over 30 years at UCLH and has a special interest in the ethical and legal aspects of reproduction -in particular the European comparative dimension of ART.

She has published over 60 articles and 10 chapters in ethics and law in ART in different books, and co edited 5 books on this specific subject. She is a regular speaker at international meetings, workshops and working groups on ethical dilemmas of ART and Cross border reproductive care issues in particular. She takes part in post graduate teaching at UCL and at international meetings (ESHRE, ASRM, FIGO, national fertility societies).

As a member of the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESRHE), she set up a special interest group in medical law and ethics for the Society, and is a founder member of the ESHRE Ethics and Law taskforce which reflects on ethical issues on behalf of the Society; the resulting considerations numbering 22, are on ESHRE’s website (www.eshre.eu). She was a member of its executive committee for 6 years till July 2013, coordinator of its Taskforce for Cross Border Reproductive care, which led to the first international publication of data in the field, and is current coordinator of the Special interest group Socio cultural aspects or (in)fertility (SCAIF),studying oocyte cryopreservation for self use with other European colleagues.

She has been also a member of the ethics committee of FIGO (international federation of Obs. and Gynae. societies) for 15 years, and co-chair of the committee for 3 years. All published ethics considerations are on FIGO’s website (www.FIGO.org).

Other speakers

 Hot Topic Speakers

Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine, Centre for Genomics and Child Health, Queen Mary University of London   Pollutant particles, where do they go to and what effects do they have on the fetus and child