This working group has two topics of special interest: Early fetal echocardiography (Early FE) and Management of pregnancies with maternal anti-Ro antibodies (Anti-Ro). The group aims to develop collaborative studies, guidelines and information for ISUOG education activities.
Chair
Fetal Heart Special Interest Group (Chair)
Professor Carvalho is a paediatric cardiologist who specialises in imaging and managing abnormalities of the fetal heart during pregnancy. She works in London, at the Royal Brompton and St George’s NHS Foundation Trusts and is Professor of Practice at St George’s University of London.
Professor Carvalho graduated with Honours in Brazil (MB BS) and initiated her Cardiology training in São Paulo. She obtained her PhD and completed her specialist training in paediatric cardiology in London. Since 1999, she has focused her interest in imaging the fetal heart throughout pregnancy and managing high-risk pregnancies (fetal cardiology). She is Head of ‘Brompton Centre for Fetal Cardiology’ at the Royal Brompton Hospital, Lead Fetal Cardiologist at St George’s Hospital and Professor of Practice at St George’s University of London.
She is Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), Fellow of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG), and Chairperson of ISUOG Fetal Heart Special Interest Group. She was ISUOG Board Member and Trustee (2009-2016), Editor for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (2011-2014) and Council Member of the British Congenital Cardiac Association (BCCA, 2016-2019).
She is known internationally for her clinical, educational and research interests in Fetal Cardiology and lectures regularly at national and international conferences.
Country: UK
Field: Obstetrics/Fetal and Pediatric Cardiology
Specialties: Fetal heart
Languages: English; Portuguese
Membership
Prof. Dr Rabih Chaoui, was born and schooled in Beirut, Lebanon. His medical studies and specialisation in obstetrics and gynecology were undertaken at the Charité Medical School, Humboldt University, in Berlin, Germany. Between 2001 and 2004, he was professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Charité University Hospital, Berlin and since 2004 he has worked at the Center of Prenatal Diagnosis and Human Genetics in Berlin. An ISUOG member since 1994, he has been a Board member from 2003 to 2013, including two terms as Chair of the Education Committee, and received the Stuart Campbell Award for Education in 2018.
Prof. Dr Chaoui has written three books on fetal ultrasound and more than 250 papers and monographies. Since 1986, his major interest has been in fetal ultrasound to include fetal heart, fetal 3D, first trimester ultrasound, ultrasound in genetic diseases and high-resolution ultrasound.
Fetal Heart Special Interest Group, UOG Editorial Board
Prof. Josh Copel is a Professor of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences and pediatrics at Yale University School of Medicine. He is past President of ISUOG and in addition, he is an active member of the society having served as Treasurer from 2007 to 2011, and is a part of several ISUOG Committees. He is also a past President of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and a past President of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.
Notable Publications:
Moore CL, Copel JA. Point-of-Care Ultrasonography. N Engl J Med 2011;364:749-757.
Werner EF, Han CS, Burd I, Lipkind HS, Copel JA, Bahtiyar MO, Thung SF. Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of prenatal surgery for myelomeningoceles: a decision analysis. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2012 Apr 18. doi: 10.1002/uog.11176.
Country: USA
Field: Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; aneuploidies; fetal heart; fetal interventional procedures
Language: English
Honours Committee, Nominations Committee
Dr Fatima Crispi is a physician scientist, consultant and professor in Maternal Fetal Medicine at BCNatal, University of Barcelona, with a strong focus on fetal cardiology. She has spent stays abroad (i.e. Harris Birthright Research Center with Kypros Nicolaides and St. Georges Hospital London with George Sutherland) and developed a PhD, directed by Eduard Gratacós, that first demonstrated postnatal persistence of in utero cardiac remodelling after fetal growth restriction. She has pioneered research on Fetal Cardiac Programming, establishing fetal cardiac function standards, developing animal and in silico models of placental disease, applying -omics in preeclampsia, implementing artificial intelligence tools and exploring the link between fetal and adult cardiac disease. She established a unique clinic on fetal cardiac function incorporating new imaging tools for assessing the fetal heart. She is fully committed to education having directed 17 PhDs and leading a Postgraduate degree on Fetal Cardiology at the University of Barcelona.
She has been involved with ISUOG for almost 20 years, with numerous scientific communications and invited participations to ISUOG congresses and educational activities and contributions to the Fetal Heart Special Interest Group.
Country: Spain
Field: Obstetrics; Imaging; Fetal Medicine
Specialties: fetal cardiology; fetal biometry and wellbeing; preeclampsia; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; echocardiography; congenital heart disease; cardiac function
Languages: English, Spanish, Catalan
Dr Greggory DeVore has pioneered work in the identification of congenital heart defects using 2D, 3D, 4D, and color Doppler ultrasound. As a result of Dr DeVore’s research, he has published numerous studies in the peer-reviewed medical literature describing the use of fetal echocardiography to detect fetuses with Down syndrome and other chromosomal defects. Dr DeVore has the highest detection rate reported in the medical literature for the detection of Down syndrome using Genetic Ultrasound.
Notable Publications:
Genetic sonography: the historical and clinical role of fetal echocardiography. Devore GR. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2010 May;35(5):509-21. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 20443195 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Tomographic ultrasound imaging of the fetal heart: a new technique for identifying normal and abnormal cardiac anatomy. Devore GR, Polanko B. J Ultrasound Med. 2005 Dec 24(12):1685-96.
Country: USA
Field: Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening 1st and 2nd Trimester; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; 3D & 4D ultrasound
Language: English
ISUOG World Congress Chair 2019
ISUOG Board Member (2000-2010)
ISUOG President (2006-2008)
Editor of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (since 2003), Deputy Editor-in-Chief since 2011 and Chairman of the 19th World Congress on Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (13-17 September 2009, Hamburg)
Country: Germany
Field: Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; fetal interventional procedures; multiple pregnancy
Languages: English; German
Fetal Heart Special Interest Group
Prof. Mauricio Herrera is an OB/GYN with a particular speciality in maternal fetal medicine, fetal cardiology and fetal neurology. Prof. Herrera began his work in MFM and prenatal diagnosis in 2000. In the same year, he created the Maternal Fetal Unit of Colsanitas Clinic in Bogota, Colombia. He is also responsible for begining the first recognised fellowship program in MFM at the University of Rosary School of Medicine in Colombia.
Currently, he is the Director of the Fellowship program in MFM, Fetal Cardiology and Fetal Neurology at the Sanitas University and University of the Rosary. As Director of the fellowship program, he is responsible for research and education in the unit and for all courses and online education offered by Sanitas University.
He is currently ISUOG's Ambassador to Colombia and Latin America at large.
You can follow him on Twitter at @mherreram
Country: Colombia
Field: Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal brain; fetal growth restriction; multiple pregnancy; preeclampsia; preterm delivery; fetal neurology; fetal CNS
Languages: English; Spanish
"Through my ISUOG membership I have delivered 14 ISUOG Approved courses in Latin America, since 2006, attracting around 300 delegates to each course and taking great care to share with the quality educational opportunities that the Society provides. I was also pleased to organise ISUOG’s 9th International Symposium in Colombia, attracting 550 delegates from the regions and introducing them to ISUOG. Since then I have also contributed to translating ISUOG’s guidelines, helping to extend the reach of the Society into my region."
"I have served in various capacities with ISUOG for over two decades. ISUOG provides an wonderful opportunity for all of us to improve the level of clinical practice, education, and research initiatives in Women’s Health Imaging through a global outreach effort that is second to none."
Fetal Heart Special Interest Group;
Country: Chile
Field: Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal brain; fetal growth restriction; multiple pregnancy; preeclampsia; preterm delivery
Languages: English; Spanish
ISUOG Advisory Group, Bids Committee, Executive Committee, Finance & Risk Committee, Nominations Committee (Chair), Honours Committee, ISUOG Special Interest Groups
Prof. Boris Tutschek is an ISUOG Board Member, a fetal medicine and gynecology ultrasound specialist in Zürich, Switzerland, as well as a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Düsseldorf University in Germany. His expertise includes fetal maternal medicine, fetal cardiology, teaching and training obstetrics and gynecology as well as new technologies. He is an active member of several ISUOG Working Groups.
Country: Switzerland
Field: Gynecology/Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 and T2; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal brain; maternal and fetal Doppler; ultrasound on the labour ward; 3D & 4D ultrasound; gynecological ultrasound
Languages: English; German
Head, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centers, Jerusalem, Israel
Prof. Simcha Yagel heads the Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centers in Jerusalem and the Ultrasound Unit within the department. He teaches in the Faculty of Medicine and at the School of Ultrasound of the Israel Society for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He founded the Obstetrics and Gynecology Research Laboratory, and was a founding member and president of the Israel Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as founding member and president of the Israel Society for Placenta Research. Prof. Yagel has served as editor of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is one of the past members of the ISUOG Board of Trustees.
He has published over 380 basic and clinical research articles in leading peer-reviewed journals. In the clinical sphere, his work focuses primarily on 3D/4D ultrasound of the fetal cardiovascular, CNS, and other fetal organ systems, and the female pelvic floor. He is best known for his work on the 3-vessel-and-trachea view and the 5-planes approach to fetal cardiac scanning, the developmental nature of fetal anomalies, and the fetal head circumference and its impact on the birth process. His recent work has branched out to applying artificial intelligence to develop predictive algorithms for obstetric care.
Prof. Yagel’s work in basic and translational research focuses on placental cell function and gene expression in the development of the placenta, and NK cells at the maternal-fetal interface and their role as builders in implantation and placental and fetal development. With the advent of the pandemic Prof Yagel and colleagues have investigated the prevalence of CoViD-19 antibodies in the peripheral blood of three groups of parturients: infected-recovered, vaccinated, and unvaccinated, as well as in their placentas and newborns, to determine the rate of vertical transmission of the virus in pregnancy and transmission of vaccine protection.
Country: Israel
Field: Obstetrics and Gynecology, Perinatology
Specialties: Fetal Cardiology, Fetal Anatomy Scanning, Congenital Malformations, Fetal Venous System, Basic and Translational Research
Languages: Hebrew, English