The 2020 Annual Academic Meeting, incorporating the Blair Bell Research Society annual meeting, was held on 27-28 February at the College.
Presentations were of an extremely high standard, across a breadth of topics in the field of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The two-day meeting featured talks on current issues in women’s health, including Professor Steve Charnock-Jones delivering a presentation on the placental microbiome.
With delegates from both clinical and scientific backgrounds across the UK, the meeting provided an engaging forum for new ideas and new collaborations.
Workshop highlights included a genomics workshops, sessions on training opportunities and dedicated presentations on how to get started in clinical trials and grant writing among other areas.
There were also presentations from invited speakers describing their approach to improving antenatal care in Nepal and discussions around if we are over treating Thyroid dysfunction in ART and early pregnancy.
The meeting also featured the annual William Blair Bell Memorial Lecture from Dr Mary McCauley, Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine describing her work about global maternal multimorbidity.
The meeting closed with the highly engaging keynote lecture ‘It worked in the lab – does it work in clinical practice?’ given by Professor Arri Coomarasamy.
Abstracts submitted to the Blair Bell Research Society meeting were invited in the categories of free communications, poster presentations, and 3-minute "pitch your poster" sessions. Work presented in all categories was of a very high standard.
Dr William Cooke (Academic Clinical Fellow, University of Oxford) presented a strong study about tRNA halves: a striking new discovery in preeclampsia and was awarded best oral presentation. Congratulations to Dr Cooke and all prize winners.