Robert N. Taylor, MD, PhD is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. Previously, he was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at The University of Utah, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Emory University, and Director of the Center for Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Taylor received his undergraduate education at Stanford University and the combined MD-PhD at Baylor College of Medicine. He is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive endocrinologist whose major research foci have included the role of placental angiogenesis and endothelial cell activation in preeclampsia, and the molecular actions of estrogen and progesterone on endometrial differentiation and neuroangiogenesis as they relate to endometriosis. Dr. Taylor served on executive committees of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, NIH Reproductive Scientist Development Program, the World Endometriosis Society and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Dr. Conrad has had a longstanding research interest in the hormonal, cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying maternal renal and systemic vasodilation, and increased arterial compliance during normal pregnancy with emphasis on the ovarian hormone, relaxin. More recently, he has been PD/PI of a NIH Program Project Grant designed to explore maternal pregnancy physiology and outcome in women conceiving through in vitro fertilization with focus on the contribution of the corpus luteum. Finally, Dr. Conrad has been exploring a role for dysregulated (pre)decidualization in the genesis of preeclampsia, and in the larger context of “endometrium spectrum disorders. Dr. Conrad has combined preclinical and clinical research throughout his career to translate findings in animal models, tissues and cells to humans or vice versa. The main disease focus of his pregnancy research has been preeclampsia—a hypertensive syndrome peculiar to human pregnancy. Dr. Davidge is a Distinguished University Professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta and Executive Director of the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Davidge received her PhD from the University of Vermont and completed her postdoctoral fellowship training at the Magee Womens Research Institute in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Davidge’s research program is focused on understanding mechanisms for vascular dysfunction in pregnancy complications, particularly preeclampsia, and subsequent impact on later-life cardiovascular health. Her fundamental studies are currently focused on developing early intervention strategies for improving pregnancy outcomes to enhance life-long maternal and offspring cardiovascular health. Davidge is a Fellow in the Canadian Academy of Health Science and a past president of Society for Reproductive Investigation (2017-2018). Anne Cathrine (Annetine) Staff, MD, PhD, is a full-time Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaceology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway. She is also Head of Research at the Division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. She obtained her Medical Degree in 1987 at The University of Oslo, where she also did her PhD in 2000 on “Preeclampsia and uteroplacental tissues: lipids, oxidative stress, and trophoblast invasion. She is a board certified specialist in Gynecology and Obstetrics since 1996, and have worked clinically in the field since 1989. Dr. Staff is head of a research group in Oslo, where one main research area is within molecular understanding of pregnancy complications associated with placental dysfunction, including preeclampsia, and its relation to future maternal cardiovascular health. Dr. Staff was previously the EPG (European Placenta Group) Spokesperson 2011-17 and the Vice-President of the ISSHP (International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy) 2012-16, and is currently an ISSHP Executive Committee member and part of the Global Pregnancy Collaboration team. Dr. Roberts’ research is interdisciplinary and involves fundamental, clinical, behavioral and epidemiological studies. He has been involved in several seminal studies of preeclampsia including the recognition of preeclampsia as involving endothelial dysfunction and being more than hypertension in pregnancy. He currently is involved in global health research as part of the Global Pregnancy Collaboration, a consortium of 40 centers world-wide that facilitates collaborative research. He is a co-investigator on studies in Brazil and South Africa. He chaired the ACOG Hypertension Task Force and was co-chair of the NHLBI NIH workshop on research on pregnancy hypertension.
