The American Society forReproductive Immunology |
President (2018-2020)
| Vice President (2018-2020)
|
Gil Mor, MD, PhD
DAJIN Li, MD, PhD
President Elect (2018-2020)
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 | Immediate Past President (2016-2018) |
Irina Burd, MD, PhD 
Council Members |
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
Vanderbilt University Medical Center d.aronoff@vanderbilt.edu The overarching goal of the Aronoff lab is to improve human health through discovery, with a primary interest on maternal-child wellness. The Aronoff lab studies reproductive immunology with a focus on bacterial infections that complicate pregnancy. These infections include perinatal streptococcal infections and postpartum clostridial infections. Our major interest is revealing root molecular mechanisms whereby bacterial pathogens evade innate immunity within the female reproductive tract. We also study the impact of metabolic stressors such as obesity and diabetes on reproductive immunology and placental function. Our work with toxigenic clostridia has extended to non-reproductive tract infections, such as colitis caused by Clostridium diffficile. Members of our lab engage in a range of research approaches, from purely bench science to translational science to purely clinical research. We value interdisciplinary team science. More about Dr. Aronoff |
Vikki Abrahams, PhD (2018-2021)
David Aronoff, MD (2017-2020)
Mei-Rong Du, PhD (2018-2021)
Sylvie Girard, PhD (2019-2022)
University of Montreal sylvie.girard@recherche-ste-justine.qc.ca
Dr. Sylvie Girard completed her Ph.D. in Immunology at the Université de Sherbrooke, working on perinatal inflammatory processes and their impact on brain development in the newborn. She then pursued post-doctoral studies at the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and then at Yale University in the United States where she acquired expertise in reproductive immunology. Dr. Girard joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Université de Montréal in 2014 and focuses on inflammatory mechanisms at the materno-fetal interface in both humans and animals and the effects on the development of the newborn. She is now accredited with the Department of microbiology, infectiology and immunology at the Université de Montréal since 2015.
Charles Wira, PhD (2019-2022)
Dartmouth University charles.r.wira@dartmouth.edu
Dr. Wira's research focuses on how female sex hormones influence immunity in the female reproductive tract using animal models and human tissues. Dr. Wira has been funded by NIH for the past 35 yrs, has published approximately 160 research papers, and serves as editor on several scientific journals. He has received numerous awards including a National Institutes of Health Merit Award, which is awarded to approximately 0.1% of scientists by NIH. He is also the recipient of the Distinguished Investigator Award in Reproductive Immunology by the American Society of reproductive Immunology (ASRI). As Principal Investigator of an NIH funded Program Project grants for the past 14 years, he heads a major collaborative effort at Dartmouth Medical School to characterize immune functions in the Fallopian tube, uterus, cervix and vagina and to define the roles of sex hormones in mucosal immune regulation.