Gil Mor, MD, PhD

Yale School of Medicine     gmor@med.wayne.edu

Dr. Mor is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chair (Intern) of the Department of Physiology and the John M. Malone Jr. MD, Endowed Chair and Scientific Director of The C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development at Wayne State University.  Before moving to Wayne State University he was a Tenured Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Yale University School of Medicine. In his research he examines topics related to the immunology of pregnancy and the role of inflammation in cancer formation and progression. He was the Division Director of the Reproductive Science Division at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Yale and directed the Reproductive Immunology Unit and the Translational Research Program “Discovery To Cure”.  Dr. Mor was the Editor in Chief of the American Journal of Reproductive Immunology since 2009 to 2019 and is the President of the American Society for Reproductive Immunology.

Dr. Mor has been funded by grants from National Institute of Child Health Development (NICHD), National Cancer Institute (NCI) and National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as well as by several pharmaceutical companies and is widely published in the area of immunology and reproduction with more than 300 publications and is the editor of a four books on “Immunology of pregnancy” and “Apoptosis and Cancer”.  He is also the Senior Editor of a book series on Reproductive Immunology with Elsevier. And the Editor (Americas) of the journal Placenta.

Dr. Mor is recipient of several national and international prizes, including the Pearl River Professor from Jinan University Guangzhou China, the  J. Christian Herr Award- and the AJRI Award from the Society for Reproductive Immunology.  Dr. Mor is member of the American Association for Cancer Research, the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, American Association of Immunologist and the American Society of Reproductive Immunology. He is also Member of the International Advisory Committee for the Sino-American Center of Translational Medicine. Southern Medical University, China, Guest Professor at Tongji Medical College in Wuhan China and Honorary member and Professor of several scientific societies in Asia, South America and Europe.

DAJIN Li, MD, PhD

Fudan University     djli@shmu.edu.cn

Dr. Li is the vice president of Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Fudan University, in charge of the teaching and research. He is the director of the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Fudan University. He got his doctor＇s degree of reproductive immunology, obstetrics and gynecology in Shanghai Medical School in 1992. He is engaged in the research of reproductive immunology, clinical work and teaching on reproductive medicine. He took charge of the NSFC projects for eight times; He took charge of the key project of NSFC in 2007, the National Major Basic Research (973) project in 2006. He has published over 100 SCI papers in recent years; He won fifteen prizes of Science and Technology Progress Award of Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Government and State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is the chief editor of more than 10 Academic Journals.  More about Dr. Li

Chandrakant Tayade, DVM, PhD

Queen’s University     tayadec@queensu.ca

Dr. Tayade’s research interests lie in interlinking mucosal, innate and adoptive immune responses to provide improved understanding of the pathophysiology of endometriosis. His long-term goal is to explore therapeutic manipulation of uterine immune cells in the context of angiogenesis during pregnancy or in pathological conditions such as endometriosis. More about Dr. Tayade

Karen Racicot, PhD

Michigan State University     racicoka@msu.edu 

Dr. Racicot received a BS from the University of Florida and a PhD from The Pennsylvania State University, majoring in Animal Science with a focus on Reproductive Biology and Immunology. Afterwards, she completed post-doctoral training in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the Yale School of Medicine, primarily working with murine models of polymicrobial infections during pregnancy in laboratory of Dr. Gil Mor. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology within the College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University. Her research program has two major themes: Understanding how the placenta responds to environmental factors and how this response affects fetal immune development. Understanding how viral infection of the cervix affects cervical competency and pregnancy outcomes.  More about Dr. Racicot

Irina Burd, MD, PhD 

Johns Hopkins University            iburd@jhmi.edu

Dr. Burd, is an Associate Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University.  She was recruited to the Johns Hopkins University to spearhead the development of the field of Fetal Medicine and Fetal Neurology, and is the founder and Director of the Johns Hopkins Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine and Director of Perinatal Research.  The trans-disciplinary approach of the Center brings together physicians, scientists and physician-scientists across the Johns Hopkins University. Monthly seminars unite faculty, fellows and graduate students of the IRCFM and provide an opportunity to interact with nationally and internationally recognized faculty from US and abroad.  Research within the Center includes work on basic science (mouse model studies), translational (biomarker discovery research) and clinical (randomized clinical studies) projects and is a perfect environment for training of scholars/fellows. Dr. Burd’s research focuses primarily on how maternal infection and inflammation affect pregnancy and fetal development. Since 2014, Dr. Burd is a member of NICHD Obstetrics and Maternal Fetal Medicine Subcommittee, and from 2016 its Chair.  More about Dr. Burd

Nazeeh Hanna, MD

Dr. Hanna is a Professor of Pediatrics, State University of New York at Stony Brook and the Chief of Neonatology at Winthrop University Hospital since 2007. Dr. Hanna received his Neonatal fellowship training at Brown University. His research track is focused in the area of immune tolerance in human placenta and the potential impact of maternal exposure to environmental toxicants on preterm births. Dr. Hanna research interests were funded by several national agencies including NIH, NICHD, American Lung Association, March of Dimes and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is currently the director of Women and Children Research Center at Winthrop University Hospital.  More about Dr. Hanna

Vikki Abrahams, PhD (2018-2022)

Yale University School of Medicine     vikki.abrahams@yale.edu

Dr. Vikki Abrahams received her B.Sc. (hons) in Immunology in 1996, and was awarded a Ph.D. in Immunology in 2000, both from University College London. She continued her studies as a postdoctoral associate at Dartmouth Medical School and then at Yale University in the field of Reproductive Immunology. In 2004 she joined the faculty in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at Yale University. Since 2006 she has also been an Honorary Lecturer in the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Center at The University of Manchester, UK.   More about Dr. Abrahams