Kenneth Chen (President)

​Kenneth K. Chen, MD FRACP, has been the President of ISOM since October 2018 after spending the previous 5 years as the Meetings representative on its executive council. He collaborated with NASOM, SAISOM & ISSHP in planning the past 3 scientific meetings of ISOM held in New Orleans (2014), Cape Town (2017) & Amsterdam (2018).

He has been the director of the Division of Obstetric and Consultative Medicine and co-director of the Integrated Program for High-Risk Pregnancy at Women & Infants Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, USA since January 2012. He has also been the Director of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism of Care New England Health since September 2019. He had completed dual fellowships in endocrinology at The Prince of Wales Hospital, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and in obstetric and consultative medicine at Women & Infants Hospital, Brown University, USA. He was introduced to the field of obstetric medicine by Dr Sandra Lowe whilst he was training in Sydney.

Dr. Chen is currently an associate professor of medicine and associate professor of obstetrics & gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is a recipient of multiple Dean’s Excellence in Teaching awards as well as the Beckwith Family Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2017.

He is a member of the International Network of Obstetric Survey Systems (INOSS). He is currently on the editorial board for the journal Obstetric Medicine. He is the current co-chair of the Health & Public Policy Committee of the American College of Physicians (Rhode Island chapter). He loves to travel & cannot wait to resume this once the pandemic subsides somewhat.

Paul Gibson (Secretary, NASOM Rep)

Gibson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

He obtained his medical degree and Internal Medicine residency at the University of Manitoba, followed by Fellowship training in Obstetric & Consultative Medicine at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Gibson founded the Obstetric Internal Medicine program in Calgary in 2001, and he provides inpatient and outpatient consultation for medically-complicated pregnancies in Calgary as well as an ongoing general internal medicine inpatient practice at Foothills Hospital. He is currently the Program Director for the Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of Calgary.

His research interests focus on medically complicated pregnancies with an emphasis on cardiac disease, thrombosis, hypertension and medical education.

Stefan Kane (President, SOMANZ)

Prof Stefan C. Kane MBBS BA BMedSc PhD FRANZCOG CMFM DDU(O&G) is a maternal fetal medicine subspecialist based at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne, where he has the privilege of serving as the Medical Director of Maternity Services and the Acting Director of the Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine. His clinical engagements cover the spectrum of high-risk pregnancy care, and include preterm birth prevention, multiple pregnancy, fetal medicine and maternal medical disorders in pregnancy. He also performs tertiary-level fetal and gynaecological ultrasound. Stefan’s primary research focus is on the maternal neurological effects of pre-eclampsia. His PhD research project evaluated the potential utility of maternal ophthalmic ultrasound in assessing changes in the cerebrovasculature and intracranial pressure of pre-eclamptic women. Other research interests include structural and genetic fetal anomalies, fetal haematology, preterm birth prevention, early pregnancy prediction of later complications, and models of maternity care. Stefan has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers on these topics, and has acted as site co-ordinator for a number of international randomised controlled trials. He holds an honorary position as a Clinical Associate Professor in the University of Melbourne Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Stefan has the honour of serving the Society of Obstetric Medicine of Australia and New Zealand as its current President, and is also the Clinical Lead for Preterm Birth with Safer Care Victoria.

(SOMANZ Rep)

Anita Bannerjee (MOMS Rep)

Anita Banerjee FHEA, FRCP is an Obstetric Physician, Internal Medicine and Diabetes and Endocrinology Consultant. She is an Honorary Reader in Obstetric Medicine, at King’s College London and Deputy Director of Medical Education at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her main interests are high risk pregnancies, the management of the deteriorating pregnant woman and medical education. She has published articles, guidelines and book chapters on a wide variety of medical conditions in pregnancy.

She is the current Secretary of the MacDonald Obstetric Medicine Society. She is member of the London Maternity Clinical Leadership Group and one of the central physician assessors for the UK confidential maternal deaths enquiries. She is one of the leading authors of the RCP Acute Care Toolkit on managing acute medical problems in pregnancy. She is the course director for the Medical Emergencies in Obstetrics (MEmO) simulation course running since 2015 and sits on the steering committee for mMOET, as the lead advisor for medical problems in pregnancy. Anita has led on the acute kidney injury obstetric bundle for the London Acute Kidney Injury Network. She has been involved in the curriculum design for midwives and doctors in training for high risk maternal medicine.

Lizemarie Wium (SOOMSA President)

Lizemarie Wium is a specialist physician with an interest in obstetric medicine. She practices at Kalafong academic hospital and the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She acquired an Mmed(Internal Medicine) and FCP(SA) from the University of Pretoria, and was then trained in obstetric medicine by professor Catherine Nelson-Piercy at the Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital Trust, London. Lizemarie is the founder and current chairperson of the Society of Obstetric Medicine South Africa (SOOMSA)

Meena Khandelwal (NASOM Rep)

Meena Khandelwal MD, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, is passionate about Maternal Medicine and advancing care of women with complicated pregnancies. This is exemplified in many ways, first is being triple-boarded in Internal Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Maternal Fetal Medicine. Secondly, her vision of a maternal center of excellence for women with multiple medical problems resulted in a Maternal Obstetric Medicine program with multidisciplinary coordinated care lead by MFM. Thirdly, education and research are critical to promoting the best care possible for these complex pregnancies. As Director of Research and Course Director at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU), she promotes diversity, equity and best practices in maternal medicine. She has over 30 publications, teaching awards and ‘Best Doc’ designations in NJ and Philadelphia area.

Atsuko Murashima (JSOM Rep)

Dr. Murashima graduated from the University of Tsukuba in 1982, and worked as a trainee physician at Toranomon Hospital. She joined the Department of Rheumatology in Juntendo University in 1985.
Since 2002, she has worked as the head of maternal physicians at the National Center for Child Health and Development, and now, as the vice director of Center of Maternal-Fetal, Neonatal and Reproductive Medicine and the director of the Japan Drug Information Institute in Pregnancy.
She is a committee member of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device System. She is the president of the Japan Society of Obstetric Medicine and a director of the Japan College of Rheumatology.