Overview

Dr Simon Meagher is consultant sonologist at the Perinatal department, Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne. He also serves as Medical Director of Monash Ultrasound for Women where he oversees a team of 50 sonologists, sonographers, genetic counsellors, phlebotomists and administrative staff in delivering a tertiary level ultrasound service across south east Melbourne. Dr Meagher has dedicated 30  years of his term as Medical Director, teaching and lecturing in obstetric and gynaecological ultrasound both locally and overseas. He has delivered over 800 lectures, across 17 countries, and 43 cities worldwide. In 2015, he was awarded ‘Sonologist of The Year’ by the Australian society of Ultrasound in medicine (ASUM) in recognition  of his teaching skills and his commitment to  hands on training within the hospital setting at the Mercy Hospital for Women and for  his commitment and contributions to ASUM.

His interest in clinical research has focussed on early pregnancy screening and diagnosis he has published over 100  articles in peer review journals, including 15 articles  in the last 3 years focusing on first trimester  pregnancy screening and diagnosis. Dr Meagher has described five original sonographic fetal markers during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. He is now focusing his interest on aneuploidy and embryo development from  seven to 10 weeks as we approach the dawn of a new era of genetic screening via free fetal DNA analysis.  

Dr Meagher has taken on multiple leadership positions - early in his career as the Chair of the Standards of Practice Committee at ASUM, examiner and executive board member for the ASUM Diploma of diagnostic ultrasound and later as council member of ASUM. Thereafter he served as Chairman of the Victoria Obstetric Sonologists group and on several  ISUOG Sub-Committees  at the  International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetric and Gynaecological Ultrasound.

Country: Australia

Field: Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Specialties: Prenatal Diagnosis. First and Second Trimester Fetal anomaly screening. Aneuploidy screening and diagnosis. NIPT and prenatal Exome sequencing. Maternal and Fetal Doppler Ultrasound. Invasive Prenatal Procedures.  Ultrasound and Infertility. Tubal Patency Testing. 

Languages: English

Prof. dr. C.M. (Katia) Bilardo is Professor of Fetal Medicine at UMCG in the Netherlands and is an expert on ultrasound and invasive prenatal diagnosis. 

Caterina (Katia) M. Bilardo was born in Savigliano (Piedmont), Italy. After completing
cum laude in 1983 the Medical studies and the Specialization in Obstetrics and
Gynaecology at the University of Turin, she trained as Fellow in Prenatal Diagnosis and
Fetal Medicine (1985- 1989) at King’s College Hospital, London, where she worked
under the supervision of Prof. S. Campbell and Prof. K. N. Nicolaides.

Since 1989 she has relocated to the Netherlands where she has worked as Consultant
and Head of the Prenatal Diagnosis Department at the Academic Medical Center
Amsterdam (1992-2010). From 2010 to 2017 she has worked as Head of the Fetal
Medicine Department at the University Medical Center Groningen where, in 2011, she
has been appointed Professor in Fetal Medicine. Since October 2017 she has moved
with the same position to the Amsterdam UMC, location VU Medical Center in
Amsterdam, where she has also been appointed as Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology
and Fetal Medicine. In the Netherlands she has been President of the Dutch Working
Party for Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is currently member of the
Committee Prenatal Screening of the National Health Council.

Since 2007 she is in the Editorial Board of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Since 2009 she is Board member of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics
and Gynecology (ISUOG). Between 2013-2017 she was Chair of the Education
Committee within ISUOG. And in 2018-2020 she has been President of the same
Society.

She has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and supervised numerous PhD students.
In 2021 she was bestowed the Stuart Campbell award for Education.

Research Areas
• Doppler study of the utero-placental and fetal circulation (chief researcher
Truffle study)
• Fetal dysmorphology ( 2D and 3D studies)
• First and second trimester ultrasound screening for aneuploidies
• First trimester ultrasound
• Psychological aspects of Screening
• Fetal cardiology

Field: Obstetrics

Country: The Netherlands

Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; fetal biometry and wellbeing; aneuploidies; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal brain; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; fetal interventional procedures; 3D & 4D ultrasound; genetics

Languages: English; Italian; French; Dutch