Medical Conference 2014: Politics, Ethics & Controversies

SAVE THE DATE - FRIDAY, March 7-8, 2014 Endometriosis Foundation of America

Fifth Annual Medical Conference Coincides with Endometriosis Awareness Month

Program - March 8

Arnold Advincula, MD, FACOG, FACS has been named vice-chair of women's health in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Columbia University Medical Center and chief of gynecology at the Sloane Hospital for Women at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia. He joins New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center from Florida Hospital Celebration Health, where he held a number of leadership positions, including medical director of The Center for Specialized Gynecology as well as the Gynecologic Robotic Surgery Program. Dr. Advincula has also served as director of the surgical program at the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement and held an academic appointment as clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. He is board certified in obstetrics and gynecology and is a Center of Excellence in Minimally Invasive Gynecology (COEMIG)-designated physician.
Dr. Advincula, the president-elect of the AAGL, serves on the editorial boards of several peer-reviewed Journals, and is the author of numerous book chapters and more than 100 publications. He has received a patent for an energy-based surgical device (EBSD) designed to minimize tissue damage in gynecological surgery and also helped develop a uterine manipulator, the Advincula Arch.

Ali Akoum, PhD is a Full Professor, Faculty of Medicine at Laval University; and National Researcher, Fonds de la recherche en Santé du Québec (FRQ-S). His research targets human reproduction, female infertility, and reproductive immunology with an interest in the pathophysiological processes of gynecological diseases including endometriosis.  His early research led to the discovery of Myxalin and subsequent research of the molecule and its medical applications led to French and European patents. At the Faculty of Medicine, he contributed to the creation of a new program of BSc in Biomedical Sciences, which started in 2011. He has been a member of several national and international review committees and is a faculty member of F1000 Prime. He has received numerous research and academic awards, has published 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals, seven book chapters, and over 200 abstracts and communications in the field of human reproduction and gynecology.

Byllye Y. Avery, founder of the Black Women's Health Imperative, formerly the National Black Women's Health Project, and the Avery Institute for Social Change, has been a health care activist for over 30 years, focusing on the specific needs of women. She is a co-founder of Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need and a member of the LLuminari and Be Well health expert network.
Byllye has combined activism and social responsibility to develop a national forum for the exploration of the health issues of Black women. She continues to gather, document and speak on Black women's health experiences in America, rallying support for Black women. Her work with Black women sparked a movement of women of color to become involved in defining and work on health issues important to their constituencies.
Byllye has been the recipient of many honors and awards, and has earned several honorary degrees.  She has served on several boards and as a visiting fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Jeffrey Braverman, MD is the founder and Medical Director of Braverman Reproductive Immunology.

Hayama Brill, MD, FACOG is a gynecologic surgeon with a special interest in endometriosis.
After she completed her residency and established her private practice, Dr. Brill did a Fellowship in Advanced Laparoscopy and Robotic surgery to enhance her expertise in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery, particularly the excision of endometriosis. Dr. Brill is active in research with a special focus on histopathology and etiology of reoperative endometriosis. She is Board-certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology and is an Associate Attending Physician at Lenox Hill Hospital.

Frank A. Chervenak, MD is the Given Foundation Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as Obstetrician and Gynecologist-in-Chief and the Director of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
He received his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson University and served his internship in Internal Medicine at New York Medical College, residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York Medical College in St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, and a fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. He received his Master in Medical Management degree from Carnegie Mellon University in 2002 and earned fellowship status from the American College of Physician Executives in 2008.
He has published over 260 papers in peer review literature and has co-authored 28 textbooks. He currently serves as President of the International Society of the Fetus as a Patient, Vice-President of the International Academy of Perinatal Medicine. He is Co-director of The Ian Donald Inter-University School of Medicine and Ultrasound, and on the March of Dimes Bioethics Committee and Prematurity Research Advisory Committee.

Dennis S. Chi, MD, FACOG, FACS, has served as a faculty member on the Gynecology Service, Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, since 1997. He is the Deputy Chief of the Gynecology Service, Director of the Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship (since 2001) and the Pelvic Reconstruction Clinical Research Fellowship.  He helped to establish the International Gynecologic Oncology Fellowship program at MSKCC. His experience in population-based and patient-oriented research have led to numerous first-author publications and international presentations that have demonstrated the safe use of advanced minimally invasive surgical techniques in the management of early ovarian cancer, the beneficial effects of the use of extensive surgical procedures for advanced and recurrent gynecologic cancers, and the establishment of clinical guidelines to determine appropriate candidates for second and third operations in cases of recurrent uterine and ovarian cancer. On a national level, over the past 10 years, he has served multiple times as the director or faculty member of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology's annual postgraduate courses aimed at instructing gynecologic oncologists throughout the world on the most up-to-date surgical treatments for women with gynecologic malignancies.

Dr. Gerard DeGregoris III is an Interventional Pain Management Physician specializing in debilitating and painful conditions of the spine, abdomen, chest wall, and large joints. He utilizes ultrasound and x-ray guided techniques to help people manage their pain. He was trained at the tri-institutional pain management fellowship program at Weill Cornell/New York Presbyterian Hospital, Hospital for Special Surgery, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame.  He attended Medical School at the University of Michigan and completed his residency in Anesthesiology where he was chosen as co-Chief Resident for his department at New York-Presbyterian Hospital's Weill Cornell Medical Center. After his fellowship in pain management, he worked as an anesthesiologist at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center before joining Manhattan Spine and Pain Medicine in 2012. Dr. DeGregoris, who has authored several articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, maintains a busy acute and chronic pain service at Lenox Hill Hospital.

Jon I. Einarsson, MD, PhD, MPH is the Director of the Division of Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery (MIGS) at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and an Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Harvard Medical School. He earned his MD degree from the University of Iceland School of Medicine and completed his fellowship in Minimally Invasive Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Einarsson is internationally recognized in his field and has lectured and operated nationally and internationally and has won several prestigious awards, including the Golden Laparoscope Award in 2011. Dr. Einarsson's referral practice is devoted to advanced laparoscopic surgery with a particular interest in severe endometriosis surgery and the MIGS Division, which he directs, is very active in several clinical research projects and teaching activities.

Asgi T. Fazleabas, PhD is Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology and Director of the Center for Women's Health Research and Co-Director of the Reproductive and Developmental Sciences Program at Michigan State University. Dr. Fazleabas received his BS degree from California State University, Fresno, and his PhD in Reproductive Physiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Following his post-doctoral training in Reproductive Biology/Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, he joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he held the rank of Professor and Director of the Center for Women's Health and Reproduction until October 2009.

Linda C. Giudice, MD, PhD, MSc is Distinguished Professor and Chair, The Robert B. Jaffe, MD Endowed Professor in the Reproductive Sciences Department at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned her PhD in biochemistry at UCLA and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Rockefeller University, working under Nobel Laureate, Gunter Blobel.  She earned her medical degree at Stanford University and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford and Washington University in St. Louis, and a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Stanford. An esteemed biochemist, gynecologist, and reproductive endocrinologist, her research focuses on environmental impacts on reproductive health, steroid hormone signaling in human endometrium, endometrial-placental interactions, endometrium as a mucosal tissue, and translational applications of human embryonic and endometrial stem cells. Her clinical interests are endometriosis, infertility, assisted reproduction, and implantation and ovulatory disorders. She is director of the Center for Research on Origins and Biological Consequences of Human Infertility and the UCSF Women's Reproductive Health Research Career Development Center. A co-author of Endocrinology, 7th Edition and Women's Health Review, and a recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Giudice is an immediate past-president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Victor Gomel, MD holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine of the University of British Columbia where he served as Chairperson of his Department for fifteen years. Dr. Gomel's special research interests lie in the fields of gynecologic surgery and reproductive medicine. In the field of human reproduction, his work included infertility associated with tubal and peritoneal causes, fertility control, reproductive surgery, operative laparoscopy and in vitro fertilization. His other research interests include reproductive physiology and formation and prevention of peritoneal adhesions. Internationally known for his pioneering work in both microsurgery and operative laparoscopy, Dr. Gomel was responsible for the introduction of laparoscopy in Canada and was the first to demonstrate the efficacy of laparoscopic fertility-promoting procedures and other general gynecologic procedures using laparoscopic surgical access.

Peter K. Gregersen, MD is Director, Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics & Human Genetics, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Professor, Molecular Medicine at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. He earned his MD from Columbia University in 1976. During the 1980's, Dr.Gregersen first described the "shared epitope" hypothesis that underlies the complex HLA associations with RA. In the 1990's he founded the North American Rheumatoid Arthritis Consortium (NARAC). This led to the identification of over 100 genetic loci for RA, and Dr. Gregersen has become an international leader in genetic studies of many other human autoimmune disorders. In 2013, he was awarded the Crafoord Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, presented by the King of Sweden. Dr. Gregersen has recently developed an interest in the genetics and biology of endometriosis, and is now the lead investigator for the Research Out Smarts Endometriosis (ROSE) project. Dr. Gregersen developed an interest in the genetics and biology of endometriosis, and he is now the lead investigator for the Research Outsmarts Endometriosis (ROSE) project, sponsored by the Endometriosis Foundation of America.

Lone Hummelshøj is Secretary General of the World Endometriosis Society (WES), Chief Executive of the World Endometriosis Research Foundation (WERF), and Publisher/Editor-in-chief of www.endometriosis.org, the largest online global forum for evidence based facts on endometriosis. She is well known as an advocate in the field of endometriosis, in particular for her work in getting the disease recognized in the European Parliament and European Commission, and for being instrumental in the implementation of the first-ever national legislation, which provides referral guidelines to specialist centers for the treatment of endometriosis in Denmark. Ms. Hummelshøj, who co-founded the Danish Endometriosis Society in 1997, is active in the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and AAGL Special Interest Groups on Endometriosis. She is a member of the Royal Society of Medicine, and serves as a Special Advisor to the Journal of Endometriosis, on the faculty of F1000 for Medicine, and as an ad hoc peer reviewer for several scientific journals.

David L. Keefe, MD earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard College and medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine. He completed a residency in Psychiatry at Harvard and an NIH funded fellowship in Neuroendocrinology at Northwestern before completing his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology and fellowship in Reproductive Medicine at Yale – where he received the Miller Meehan and Irving Friedman prizes, as well as the Kennedy Dannreuther Research Fellowship. He directed the Division of Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Brown and served as the James M. Ingram Professor and Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of South Florida, before joining NYU School of Medicine as the Stanley Kaplan Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is a physician-scientist whose research focusing on egg infertility, reproductive aging and stem cells has received funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and the King Foundation. His research has been awarded several U.S. patents and his work has been presented to peers internationally. An award-winning teacher and researcher, he has published more than 150 papers and abstracts.

Robert J. Kurman, MD is the Richard W. TeLinde Distinguished Professor of Gynecologic Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine with appointments in the Departments of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Pathology and is the Director of the Division of Gynecologic Pathology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is boarded in Pathology and Obstetrics and Gynecology and has had a specific interest in gynecologic pathology for nearly 30 years. Dr. Kurman, a national and internationally recognized authority in the field of ovarian pathology, has published extensively on all types of ovarian neoplasms.  His research has included work on germ cell tumors, gonadal stromal tumors and in the last ten years epithelial tumors. He is the editor of Blaustein's Pathology of the Female Genital Tract and in the 6th edition of the text, he co-authored the chapter on surface epithelial tumors of the ovary.  Dr. Kurman is also on the WHO committee charged with revising the ovarian tumor classification and is one of the editors of the WHO classification of Gynecologic tumors, which will be published in March.  

Professor Dr Med Liselotte Mettler was born in Vienna, Austria.  From 1959-1981 she did her medical studies, doctorate, medical specialist training in Obstetrics-Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine, habilitation, and professorship in Tübingen, Vienna and Kiel in Germany and Austria.
Her main fields are Reproductive Medicine, Gynaecological Endoscopy and Gynaecological Endocrinology.  She has written over 700 publications, 20 books and 4 textbooks, and is active in many societies and organizations.
She is Emeritus Professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel, GERMANY, Honorary Patron of the Kiel School of Gynecological Endoscopy and Reproductive Medicine and Lecturer and Surgeon at the German Medical Center, Dubai Healthcare City, UAE. 
She is Past President of the German and European Society of Gyncological Endoscopy and EXCEL member of SLS.  She serves as General Secretary of the International Academy of Human Reproduction (IAHR). The next World Congress is October 2015 in Berlin.

Christine N. Metz, PhD received her BS degree from Cornell University (1986) and PhD in immunology from NYU (1993). In 2002, Dr. Metz joined the North Shore-LIJ Research Institute (renamed The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research) where she is currently an Investigator. In addition, she is a Professor at the Hofstra-North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine in the Department of Ob/Gyn. Her current research focuses on identifying mechanisms that underlie dysfunctional inflammatory responses, including vascular inflammation. Throughout her career, she has studied numerous conditions that affect women including rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, preeclampsia, and preterm labor, as well as endometriosis. Dr. Metz has mentored over 45 trainees in her laboratory and has been funded by several grants from NY State, the American Heart Association, as well as the NIH.  She has published >115 peer-reviewed research papers and 12 review articles/book chapters, and is an inventor or co-inventor on 5 patents.  

Harry Reich, MD, FACOG, FRCOG, FACS is a pioneer in the field of laparoscopic surgery having performed many firsts, including the first laparoscopic hysterectomy, the first pelvic lymphadenectomy for cancer, and the first excision of cul-de-sac endometriosis that included rectal resection. A graduate of Lehigh University and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he was Director of Advanced Laparoscopic Surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons) until June 2000. In 2012, he was appointed a Fellow (ad eundem) of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He has operated at more than 60 sites around the world, and has been the chairperson of the advanced laparoscopic course in Moscow, Russia, for the past 10 years. The recipient of several prestigious awards and honorary memberships he is world renowned for his many publications, presentations, textbooks and chapters, lectures and research. He serves as a reviewer for various gynecologic scientific journals and as President of ISGE (International Society for Gynecologic Endoscopy).

William H. Rodgers PhD, MD is Chairman of the Department of Pathology of New York Hospital Medical Center of Que