Obstetrics, Gynecology, Perinatal Medicine, Neonatology, Multi-Specialtiesand the Law

January 2-7, 2025

THE ROYAL SONESTA HOTEL
San Juan, Puerto Rico

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THE 40^TH ANNIVERSARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE OBSTETRICS, GYNECOLOGY, PERINATAL MEDICINE, NEONATOLOGY, MULTI-SPECIALTIES AND THE LAW
JANUARY 2-7, 2025

THE REVIEWS OF THE 39^th ANNUAL CONFERENCE WERE AGAIN OUTSTANDING, OVER 90% OF ATTENDEES RATING THE CONFERENCE AS EXCELLENT, CONTINUING THE TRADITION OF THIS HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL SERIES

REGISTRATION, RESERVATIONS, PROGRAM

THE ROYAL SONESTA SAN JUAN
San Juan, Puerto Rico

 

Major Topics Include:

• Genes, Neurodevelopmental disorders, L & D 
• Genetic Testing in Alleged HIE 
• Cerebral Palsy 
• Medical and Legal Consequences of the History not Taken 
• Brain Injury in the Preterm Infant 
• Timing Brain Injury in the Term Infant 
• Safety in the NICU 
• Out of Hospital Births 
• Patient Safety 
• Genetics in Court 
• MRI and HIE
• Telemedicine and Liability
• Post-Natal Collapse
• Nursing Intervention
• Post-Partum Hemorrhage
• Error of Judgement or Medical Negligence
• Cancer, Genetics, and Liability
• Insights from Obstetric Malpractice 
• Management of Labor 
• Risk Stratification of Labor and Delivery  
• Vaginal Delivery of Twins 
• Amniotic Fluid and Pulmonary Embolism 
• Cervical Cerclage and Progesterone 
• Shoulder Dystocia Prediction 
• Post-partum Cardiomyopathy 
• Documenting an Obstetrical Emergency 
• Gynecology and the Law 
• Iatrogenic Urinary Incontinence 
• Pelvic Mesh and Litigation 
• Urologic Standards of Care and Liability 
• Uterine Contraction Patterns
• High-Risk Preterm Delivery

Faculty

Aubrey Milunsky, MD, DSc, FRCP, FACMG, DCH

Conference Co-Chair

Founder and Co-Director

Center for Human Genetics, Cambridge, MA

Formerly Professor of Human Genetics, Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology and Pathology,

Boston University School of Medicine

Boston, MA

Professor Milunsky is internationally known for his work in prenatal genetic diagnosis, molecular genetics, and the epidemiology of birth defects. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of 27 books and author or co-author of 460 scientific communications. He is the Founding Editor, author, and Co-Editor of Genetic Disorders and the Fetus: Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment (8^th ed), the world’s reference text for prenatal diagnosis. The 6^th edition received the “Highly Commended” Award from the British Medical Association. He has given invited lectures in 36 countries, (including the Vatican), and has been honored, by election, as a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of England, and with an award for excellence in teaching. His published study in the New England Journal of Medicine set the stage for maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein screening for neural tube defects (e.g. spina bifida). Among other research accomplishments, he led the team that discovered the gene for Waardenburg syndrome. He is an editorial board member of Prenatal Diagnosis. Boston University has named the Aubrey Milunsky Chair in Human Genetics. His recent book was I Didn’t Know, I Didn’t Know: Avoidable Deaths and Harm Due to Medical Negligence. Professor Milunsky was honored by inclusion in the book A Century of Achievement that selected the biographies and accomplishments of 101 physician scientists including five Nobel Prize winners from South Africa over 100 years (1890-1990) for their contributions to Global Medicine.

 

Jeff M. Milunsky, MD, FACMG

Conference Co-Chair

Co-Director, Center for Human Genetics

Director, Clinical Genetics

Senior Director, Molecular Genetics

Cambridge, MA

Formerly Professor of Pediatrics, Genetics and Genomics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA

Professor Milunsky is known nationally and internationally for his work in clinical and molecular genetics with special reference to his expertise in the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of genetic connective tissue disorders. He discovered the gene that causes the Branchio-Oculo-Facial syndrome and found that mutations in the gene FGF10 can cause Lacrimo-Auriculo-Dental-Digital syndrome. He is the co-editor of Genetic Disorders and the Fetus: Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment (8^th edition). The 6^th edition received the British Medical Association “Highly Commended” Medical Book Award. Professor Milunsky is the author or co-author of at least 310 scientific communications. He is an elected member of the Society for Pediatric Research. He has been listed repeatedly in Top Doctors in Boston (Genetics).

 

Ryan T. Bakelaar, MD, JD, FACOG 

Ellis & Winters, LLP

Raleigh, NC

Dr. Bakelaar is a defense Super Lawyer and partner in this law firm. He has represented health care professionals before various professional licensure boards and administrative entities including the North Carolina Medical Board and the North Carolina Board of Nursing, and assisted hospitals with drafting their responses to administrative complaints to the Joint Commission. As a licensed obstetrician he has brought the full power of medical knowledge to his medical defense challenges. During his training he also served as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health in the laboratory of human carcinogenesis. He has made a number of presentations on obstetric subjects with a legal perspective. He has previously published on a woman’s right to know, on cutaneous melanoma, and on placenta percreta. He was honored as a Super Lawyer, which demonstrates excellence in the practice of law and granted to no more than 2.5% of attorneys in the state of North Carolina.

 

Frank A. Chervenak, MD

Hugh R. K. Barber Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Lenox Hill Hospital

Dean of International Medicine, Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, NY

New York, NY

Professor Chervenak is known internationally for his work in high risk obstetrics, ultrasound and ethics. He is the author, editor or co-editor of over 1300 scientific communications and the co-editor of 45 books and author or co-author of 219 book chapters, two of the most recent being Current Progress in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Vol. 6andEthics and Professionalism Guidelines for Obstetrics and Gynecology [2^nd edition]. Professor Chervenak has been the recipient of at least 12 honorary degrees awarded in many countries in Europe and South America. He has been the recipient of dozens of national and international honors and awards, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. He has served on multiple editorial boards and now serves on the boards of Perinatología y Reproducción Humana and the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. He has served in many leadership positions including being president of the World Association of Perinatal Medicine and Chairman of the Ethics Committee of FIGO.

 

Amit Mathur, MD, MRCP 

William K. Keenan MD Professor of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

Director, Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine

Medical Director, NICU

SSM-Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital

St. Louis, MO

Professor Mathur is known nationally and internationally for his work on neonatal brain injury with special reference to hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy. He is the author or co-author of more than 124 scientific communications and editor or co-editor of at least eight book chapters. Professor Mathur is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Director of the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, at St. Louis University School of Medicine. He is a member of the Society for Pediatric Research and co-chair of the Membership Committee of the Newborn Brain Society. He has delivered many lectures nationally and internationally focused especially on neonatal neurology and neonatal brain injury. Included in his honors was “Lecturer of the Month” at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

 

Jesse M. Reiter, JD 

Reiter & Walsh, P.C.

Bloomfield Hills, MI

Mr. Reiter is a plaintiff Super Lawyer with an extensive experience in birth injury cases. He is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an executive board member of the Birth Trauma Litigation Group, of which he was a past chair. He is a Governor of the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice since 2015, and a member since 1987. Mr. Reiter has held many leadership positions in the American Association for Justice. He has been president of the Michigan Association for Justice and also held multiple positions in that organization. He has been the recipient of many awards and listings that have included Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News & World Reportsince 2008, Leading Lawyers(peer-selected) in 2023, the Hall of Fame in Michigan’s Lawyers Weekly in 2022, The Best Lawyers in the Midwestin 2022, and recipient of the Dan Cullan Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Justice, and many more awards. Mr. Reiter is also the author or co-author of over 20 papers relating to birth trauma. He has also lectured widely on subjects related to birth trauma.

 

Julian N. Robinson, MD 

Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology

Harvard Medical School

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Boston, MA

Professor Robinson has been Chief Medical Officer and subsequently President of the medical staff at Mass General Brigham at the Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Earlier he had spent seven years as Chief of Obstetrics at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. He had also chaired the Obstetric Quality Control Rapid Review Committee of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital for seven years. He has been a member or chair of a large number of administrative or professional committees in three major hospitals. He has also been chair of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine as well as of the Quality and Patient Safety Division. He serves as a member of the ethics committee of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and a past editorial board member of prestigious journals including the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Professor Robinson has been the recipient of many honors and prizes including Partnersin Excellence awards repeatedly, including the Richardson Prize Paper from the American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has also been the recipient of multiple teaching awards. He is also the author or co-author of over 160 published papers and author or co-author of 18 book chapters. He is also co-editor of the book Management of Multiple Pregnancies: A Practical Guide and lead author of three important reports on clinical guidelines in obstetrics. Professor Robinson has also lectured widely.

 

Jeanne S. Sheffield, MD 

Professor, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Director, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Gynecology and Obstetrics

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

Baltimore, MD

Professor Sheffield is known internationally for her work in maternal-fetal medicine with special reference to infectious disease. She is the author or co-author of at least 175 scientific communications as well as author, co-author, or co-editor of at least 23 book chapters or monographs. She is a co-editor of the 24th edition of Williams Obstetrics. Professor Sheffield has been a member or chair of many advisory committees, review groups, or study sections at the National Institutes of Health, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Professor Sheffield has a very extensive teaching background. She has been the recipient of multiple awards and honors including a National Faculty Teaching Award, a Johns Hopkins Medicine Excellence Award in Service and Professionalism, and an ACOG District IV Outstanding Faculty Donald F. Richardson award. Professor Sheffield has delivered well over 200 invited lectures and has been recognized as an outstanding faculty teacher. She is also a board examiner for the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and is a board member of the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division. Most recently, she has participated in a White House symposium on “Medicine Response to Addiction” as a representative of the American Board of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and recently participated in the expert forum at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on antibiotic treatment and prophylaxis of tularemia.

 

Stanley Zaslau, MD, MBA, FACS

Professor and Chairman

Department of Urology

Medical Director

Surgical Clinics, Department of Urology

West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown

Attending Surgeon, Saint Mary’s Hospital, Huntington, West Virginia

Professor Zaslau is known internationally for his work in Surgical Urology. He is the author or co-author, of at least 217 publications as well as at least 26 books and chapters primarily on Urology including multiple monographs that are board review manuals. He is an Associate Editor of the West Virginia Medical Journal and Editor-in-Chief of the Internet Journal of Urology. Professor Zaslau has been repeatedly honored with awards for teaching excellence that included the Dr. Ronald Albuquerque Award for Excellence in Urology Student Teaching and the West Virginia Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching.He was a nominee for Distinguished Faculty Member of the Year at the West Virginia University School of Medicine. He also received the top 1% Press-Ganey Patience Satisfaction Award at West Virginia University School of Medicine. He has twice received the Clinician of the Year Award at the West Virginia School of Medicine. He is listed in Top Regional Doctor, Urology, by Castle Connolly Medical. Professor Zaslau has lectured widely, both nationally and internationally.

 

Mark R. Zonfrillo MD

Professor, Departments of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics

Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Director, Injury Prevention Research Fellowship

Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital

Providence, RI

Professor Zonfrillo is known nationally and internationally for his work in pediatric emergency medicine with special reference to the epidemiology of injury, violence, poison prevention, and patient safety. He is the author or co-author of at least 252 scientific communications and author of 18 book chapters. He serves on the editorial board of Pediatric Emergency Care, is associate editor of Academic Emergency Medicineand was associate editor of Trauma, PEMSoft, The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Software, Pty Ltd. Professor Zonfrillo has been the recipient of many awards and honors. These have included teaching and mentor awards at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School, an Innovation Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics Annual Leadership Forum, the Elaine Wodzin Investigator Award from the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, and the Clinical Director’s Award from Brown Emergency Medicine. Professor Zonfrillo has lectured widely nationally and internationally. He is an elected member of Safe Kids Worldwide Equity Advisory Committee (International).

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