Morning Session

8:20 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Moderator:
Young Ju Kim, MD, PhD
Chairperson, PREBIC, Australasia Branch
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Ewha Womans Hospital, Seoul, South Korea

8:20 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Preterm Birth International Collaborative - Launching European Branch and Introduction of Leaders
Nanbert Zhong, MD, PhD
President, PREBIC
New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, New York, NY, USA

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

The Future of Prematurity Research - A Clinical/Translational Approach
Kelle Moley, MD
Senior Vice President of Research and Global Program
Chief Scientific Officer March of Dimes, Washington, DC, USA

9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Improving the Diagnosis and Management of Preterm Labor
Sarah Stock, MD
Wellcome Trust Clinical Career Development Fellow
Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics
The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Break

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Moderators:
Hanns Helmer, MD
Past PRESIDENT- PREBIC
Dept. Obstetrics and Maternal - Fetal Medicine
Medical University Vienna
Vienna, Austria

Nanbert Zhong, MD, PhD
President, PREBIC
New York State Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities
New York, NY, USA

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Role of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and Epithelial Exfoliation on GBS Infections
Lakshmi Rajagopal, PhD
Associate Professor, Pediatrics
Adjunct Associate Professor, Microbiology and Global Health
University of Washington
Seattle Children’s Research Institute, Seattle, WA, USA

10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Using cfRNA to Predict Gestational Age and Preterm Delivery
Mira Noura Moufarrej PhD Candidate
Department of Bioengineering
Stanford University
MS Candidate, Department of Computer Science at Stanford, Stanford, CA, USA

11:00 a.m. - 11:05 a.m.

Introduction to Calvin J Hobel, MD Lecture Series by PREBIC
Ramkumar Menon, MS, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Galveston, TX, USA
Executive Director - PREBIC

11:05 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

1st Calvin J. Hobel, MD “Keynote Lecture”

New Developments in the Understanding of Preterm Labor with Implications for Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention
Roberto Romero, MD, DMedSci
Chief, Perinatology Research Branch Director, Division of Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Intramural Division
NICHD, NIH, DHHS
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Lunch

Afternoon Session

1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Moderators:
Sam Mesiano, PhD
Treasurer, PREBIC
Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

Elizabeth Bonney, MD
Secretary General, PREBIC
Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
University of Vermont, VT, USA

1:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Can Cervical Bacterial Load and Cytokine Profile Be Used as a Predictor of Pre-term Birth in High Risk Women?
Gendie Lash, PhD
Principle Investigator, Division of Uterine Vascular Biology
Guangzhou Institute of Pediatrics
Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, PR China

2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Extracellular Vesicle Bioamplification Profiles in Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes
Terry Morgan, MD, PhD
Professor Depts. Pathology, Ob/Gyn, and Biomedical Engineering
Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

The Endocrine Role of Fetal Membranes in Parturition
Gang Sun, MD PhD
Professor, Vice Director, Center for Reproductive Medicine
Ren Ji Hospital
Shanghai Jio Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, PR China

3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Is Immune Cell Migration and Activation Required for Myometrial Activation?
Mark Johnson, MD
Clinical Chair in Obstetrics Faculty of Medicine, Department of Surgery & Cancer
Imperial College, London, UK

3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Break

4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Moderator:
Cynthia Gyamfi Bannerman, MD
Vice President, PREBIC
Ellen Jacobson Levine and Eugene Jacobson Professor of Women's Health in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Columbia University, NY, USA

4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Preterm Birth Heterogeneity: Its Impact on Understanding the Mechanism and Prevention of Preterm Delivery
Bo Jacobsson, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Sahlgrenska Academy
Gothenburg University, Gothenburg, Sweden Department of Genetics and Bioinformatics Domain of Health Data and Digitalisation, Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Can We Implement Prediction Strategies to Improve Preterm Birth Management?
Andrew Shennan OBE MBBS MD FRCOG
Professor of Obstetrics, Clinical Director South London CRN Department of Women and Children’s Health
School of Life Course Sciences
Kings College London, UK