Mehreen Zaigham

Sweden/Pakistan

Ethnically from Pakistan, Mehreen is a specialist doctor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Skåne University Hospital in Malmö, and an Associate Professor at Lund University, Sweden. Her research explores the intricate relationship between maternal health during pregnancy and childbirth and its long-term impact on newborn health and child development later on in life. She is a Fulbright Scholar and a Paul Farmer Research Fellow from the Program in Global Surgery and Social Change at Harvard Medical School. Her work focuses on improving the quality of maternal and newborn healthcare services globally and strengthening obstetric healthcare systems in resource-limited settings. Through her research and advocacy work, she is actively engaged in international collaborations aimed at reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity and shaping global health policies.

Gerard H.A. Visser

Emeritus Prof Obstetrics. Past Chair FIGO Committee Safe Motherhood Newborn Health, past President European Association Perinatal Medicine. Actively involved in the reduction of unnecessary Caesarean sections.

Kwame Adu-Bonsaffoh

Ghana

Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Ghana Medical School, and Consultant Gynecologist at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana with remarkable clinical experience. He has extensive research experience and multi-country collaborations in maternal health including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, C-sections, postpartum hemorrhage, preterm birth, respectful maternity care and maternal morbidity/mortality. Kwame has served as a Consultant for WHO on several Maternal and Reproductive Health projects including respectful maternity care.

Adeline Boatin

USA/Ghana

Adeline Boatin is an Assistant Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School and at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, USA. She is a researcher, clinician, and educator with over a decade of experience in both high and low-resource settings. Through her research, she aims to reduce global reproductive health inequities, focusing on the use of digital technology to improve surgical care, ranging from decision-making for surgery to appropriate timing of surgery and post-operative recovery.

Queen Dube

Switzerland

Dr. Queen Dube is a consultant paediatrician and clinical epidemiologist. She currently serves as the Newborn Health Program Lead at WHO Headquarters in Switzerland. Previously, Dr. Dube served as Chief of Health Services for Malawi’s Ministry of Health and was the head of the department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, the largest tertiary hospital in Malawi. Dr. Dube has worked with the Ministry of Health, Saving Newborn Lives, WHO, Pediatrics and Child Health association of Malawi, and UNICEF to improve the quality of newborn care in district hospitals and to improve the quality of care for the small and sick newborn in Malawi. She took a leading role in the development of the “Every Newborn Action Plan for Malawi”. She has identified challenges in neonatal care, developed and implemented new technical solutions at various Malawian hospitals. She has also worked with Ministries of Health in Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, and Ethiopia to improve the quality of care for the newborns and children in the respective countries through development of national strategies and trainings. Dr. Dube has led several research studies on the small and sick newborn. She formerly served as co-principal investigator on NEST360, a multi-institutional initiative to halve in-patient neonatal mortality in Africa. She is also part of various technical advisory panels for neonatal research trials.

Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent

Netherlands

Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent OBE, is the first Chief Midwife for the ICM and is responsible for championing the interests of midwives globally, elevating the profession’s profile, and emphasizing the significant benefits of a well-resourced, educated, regulated, and empowered midwifery workforce. Prior to that post, she served as England’s first Chief Midwifery Officer and Safety Champion appointed by the Secretary of State. She is an experienced midwife, manager, leader, educator, and academic.

Alison Eddy

New Zealand

Alison is the Chief Executive of the New Zealand College of Midwives. She has broad midwifery practice experience from community based caseloading to tertiary hospital settings. She holds a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of Otago and is the current board ICM board member from the Western Pacific.

Frank Louwen

Germany

Dr Louwen studied Human Medicine at the University of Münster and received his doctorate in 1993 with a thesis on the definition criteria of HELLP syndrome. He is the current President of the European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (EBCOG) for 2023-2025. His work and research focus on molecular biochemistry and cell biology (stem cells) findings and complications in obesity and hypertensive disorders during pregnancy (preeclampsia, HELLP syndrome) as well as the care and delivery of multiple pregnancies and breech births (he is the initiator of the FIGO & WATOG initiative ”Teach the Breech”). In addition to his honorary board work in international and national professional societies, he has served 12 years on the board of the German Society of OBGYN DGGG and also works on a voluntary basis as chairman of the board of the German Foundation for Women’s Health and as Chairman of the Board of Pro familia Hessen. He is the current President-elect for FIGO.

Hadiza Galadanci

Nigeria

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Director Africa Center of Excellence for Population health and Policy at Bayero university Kano. She has won multiple awards for her leading work in maternal health including FIGO Women Award 2018 and 2023 Heroine of Health Award and recently been named one of the 100 most influential people in health in 2024 by TIME magazine.

Bo Jacobsson

Sweden

Bo Jacobsson is professor in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Prof Jacobsson leads the Perinatal Research Laboratory at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden. He is studying basic and applied aspects of the mechanisms of preterm delivery and genetics of complex diseases. He is presently the FIGO Division Director of Maternal and Neonatal Health 2021 and the past chair of the FIGO’s Committee of Preterm Birth 2019-2021. He was leading the European Branch of PREBIC 2020-2023. Prebic Executive Committee Member 2024-. He is a part of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, Knowledge and Evidence Working Group.. He co-edited the ”Born-too-soon – the decade version” (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, PMNCH report.. He is also serving and has served as an expert on several WHO special task groups.

Tamar Kabakian-Khasholian

Lebanon

Associate professor and coordinator of the graduate public health program at the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut. She has led a multi-country implementation study on labor companionship and conducted interventions to improve experiences and quality of maternity care including her with refugee and displaced populations. She has served on a number of WHO and UNICEF expert groups including on respectful maternal newborn care.

Koiwah Koi-Larbi

Ghana

A highly driven and an enthusiastic Maternal & Newborn Health Activist, Community Engagement & Involvement Specialist and Social Enterpreneur with a background in Medical Law and Ethics. In 2017, she founded Action on PreeclampsiaGhana (APEC Ghana), the sole national patient advocacy organization in Ghana with the aim of creating awareness to reduce infant and maternal mortality and morbidity associated with Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy (HDP) and its related conditions.

Marzia Lazzerini

Italy

Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) UK and Director of a WHO Collaborating Center in Maternal and Child Health in Italy. PI of the IMAgiNE Research network, currently collecting indicators of Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care, including Respectful Care, in 32 countries. WHO consultant and member of several WHO/UNICEF boards on indicators development, including the MONITOR and the Life Stage Quality of Care Metrics (LSQM) technical working Group.

Allisyn Moran

Switzerland

Maternal health unit head in the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at the World Health Organization (WHO/MCA) in Geneva. She has worked with various governmental and non-governmental organizations for over 25 years to strengthen research, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of maternal and newborn health at the global, regional and national levels. Particular areas of focus include developing and testing innovative models of service delivery to improve maternal and newborn outcomes and strengthening data systems to track quality of care and progress toward targets. She is also an honorary professor at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Inês Nunes

Portugal

Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Gaia/Espinho Local Health Unit, Portugal. Invited Full Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University of Aveiro (UA) and researcher at RISE-Health-CINTESIS – University of Porto. General Secretary of the Portuguese Society of Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine 2022-2025; member of the Special Interest Group on Intrapartum Care – European Association of Perinatal Medicine, since 2018 and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Childbirth and PPH of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), since 2024.

Swaraj Rajbhandari

Nepal

Dr. Swaraj Rajbhandari is a senior obstetrician/gynecologist, currently working as Head of the Department (Ob/Gyn Unit) in Helios Hospital, Nepal.
Dr. Rajbhandari is a recognized advocate for increasing access to quality services, including introduction of innovative approaches and evidence based practices in maternal/neonatal health both at the community and health facility level, at the regional, national and district levels in Asia, Africa, Caribbean, Pacific and Middle East.She has written and published several papers in National and International Journals. Past Steering Committee member Align MNH.

Özge Tunçalp

Belgium

Dr Özge Tunçalp is a distinguished physician and epidemiologist and currently serving as the Executive Director of Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp since 1 January 2025. Prior to her role at Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, she was a medical officer in the Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research, including the research programme of the UN agencies and the World Bank (HRP), at the World Health Organization (WHO). She spearheaded large-scale implementation and innovation research, and developed evidence-based guidelines and knowledge translation tools for country impact, focusing on antenatal care and quality of care. In collaboration with country, regional, and global partners, she employed quantitative and qualitative methodologies, along with innovative approaches, to improve the quality of maternal and perinatal healthcare, including safe abortion services in low- and middle-income countries.

Dr Tunçalp holds an MD from the Istanbul School of Medicine, an MPH and PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale School of Medicine. Additionally, she is an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has co-authored over 200 publications.

John Varallo

USA

Dr. John Varallo is Team Lead for Women’s Health at the Global Surgery Foundation. He is a board-certified Ob/Gyn, based in Washington, DC, with over 20 years of clinical and surgical experience working in low-resource settings on three continents, and continues working clinically in Alaska. He prioritizes working in solidarity with local stakeholders and teams to develop and test innovative, practical solutions to accelerate change and improve the quality and safety of respectful maternal and newborn health, including obstetric surgical care.

Matteo Bruschettini

Sweden

Matteo Bruschettini, MD, PhD, is Director of Cochrane Sweden, and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Lund University. A specialist in Neonatology, he obtained his PhD in the Netherlands in 2007 and has worked in Sweden since 2015. Matteo is co-coordinator of the Nordic GRADE Network and has contributed to the Cochrane Collaboration since 2011. He has authored more than 160 scientific papers, including over 45 Cochrane reviews. His work has supported the WHO and is guiding Sweden’s first national guidelines using the GRADE approach.

matteo.bruschettini@med.lu.se

Sabera Turkmani

Australia/Afghanistan

Dr Sabera Turkmani is a midwife from Afghanistan and holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of Technology Sydney. Her research focuses on improving the quality of maternity care, strengthening midwifery education, promoting midwife-led models of care, and addressing inequities in reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH). She is a Research Fellow at the Burnet Institute and at the Centre for Midwifery, Child and Family Health, University of Technology Sydney. She leads international projects on maternal and newborn health and mentors midwives and early-career researchers across the Asia-Pacific region. Her work has had significant global impact, shaping RMNCH policy, education, and practice. Dr Turkmani has a strong track record in research and is committed to evidence-informed policy and knowledge.

sabera.turkmani@burnet.edu.au

Kitty Bloemenkamp

The Netherlands

Professor Kitty W.M. Bloemenkamp is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist at WKZ Children Hospital/UMC Utrecht, the Netherlands. She was trained and worked in Leiden (LUMC) and London UCLH), UK. Her research spans maternal health across the reproductive lifecycle, with expertise in maternal mortality and morbidity, postpartum haemorrhage, COVID-19 in pregnancy, maternal vaccination, and induction of labour. She has authored over 300 publications and leads national and international studies, including RCTs, cohort and experimental designs. Professor Bloemenkamp chairs Nethoss (Netherlands Obstetric Surveillance Systems), the Dutch Audit Committee on Maternal Mortality, and is board member of INOSS (former chair). Her main aim is to improve maternal and newborn outcomes through collaborating globally on implementation of lessons learned from population-based registration systems and audit of morbidity and mortality and research. This in a context specific, bottom approach and by capacitybuilding through training of research PhD fellows from LMICs.

k.w.m.bloemenkamp@umcutrecht.nl 

Maria Fernanda Escobar Vidarte

Colombia

Gynecologist and Obstetrician from the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, specialist in Critical Care Medicine and Intensive Care from the Universidad del Valle, observer at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, master’s degree in clinical Epidemiology from the Universidad de la Frontera, Temuco, Chile, and master’s degree in management for Social Innovation from the Universidad ICESI, Cali. Currently, she serves as the Chief of the Global Health Equity Unit and leader of the Hospital Padrino strategy at the Fundación Valle del Lili in Cali, Colombia and a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Universidad ICESI, Cali, Colombia. She has represented Latin America on the Maternity and Safe Childbirth Health Committee of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). She is a consultant for the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

maria.escobar.vi@fvl.org.co