Al-Rawahi completed her residency in Medical Microbiology with the UBC Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in 2007. She joined the department now as Clinical Associate Professor, BC Children’s and Women’s Health Centre as Medical Microbiologist and Infection Control Officer, and the BC Cancer as Medical Lead, Infection Prevention and Control. She is the C&W site director for the Medical Microbiology Residency Training Program.

Dr. Wang received her fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2013 and joined Children’s & Women’s Health Centre of BC as a Medical Biochemist. On clinical service, Dr. Wang provides consultations to clinicians on test selections, interpretation of test results and setting up new laboratory tests if clinically indicated. Her research interests focus on development and improvement of biochemical laboratory measures for improved diagnoses of both maternal and neonatal health issues.

Dr. Sylvie Langlois is a clinical geneticist and researcher in the field of prenatal genetics. She is also the Medical Director of the BC Prenatal Genetic screening program. As a researcher, Dr Langlois’ work is focused on using new technologies to improve prenatal screening for Down syndrome and other chromosomal anomalies. The discovery that DNA of fetal origin is present in maternal blood during pregnancy has led to a new genomics-based maternal blood test (called non-invasive prenatal screening or NIPS) that is an extremely reliable screening test for Down syndrome. As co-principal investigator of PEGASUS 2: PErsonalized Genomics for prenatal Abnormalities Screening USing maternal blood: Towards First Tier Screening and Beyond, she aims to contribute the needed high-quality evidence to inform the healthcare organisations’ decisions about replacing the traditional screening tests for fetal chromosomes by first-tier Non Invasive Prenatal Screening based on cfDNA for the common aneuploidies, and also possibly screening for other fetal chromosome anomalies. PEGASUS 2 aims to compare the current screening approach of second-tier NIPS with first-tier NIPS in a large cohort of pregnant women and study the cost-effectiveness of expanding screening to other conditions and the ethical, social and legal implications of doing so. The goal of the project is to enable publicly funded access to this promising genomics technology to all pregnant women in Canada, while taking into account couples’ values in their decision to participate or not to prenatal screening and ensuring that all health care professionals are adequately trained in shared decision making for prenatal screening, and also that women have access to web-based tools to help in their decision.

Essya M. Nabbali (she, her, hers) holds a Master’s of Arts in Critical Disability Studies from the School of Health Policy and Management at York University. She is a health/care researcher, currently providing evaluation support to a range of health-related projects throughout British Columbia, with a focus on primary care, harm reduction, and gender-based violence. Her previous work includes investigations of the globalization of psychiatry and the politically charged nature of (global) mental/health development in post/colonial contexts. Fieldwork opportunities have taken her from Toronto to, here, in Vancouver and off to Accra (Ghana) where she attended to the implementation of Act 846 (Mental Health Act, 2012) with a research affiliation at the University of Ghana. A strategic thinker by nature, Essya is an active member of numerous women-identified organizations, including the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective and the Vancouver Status of Women.

ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2243-526X

Dr. Deborah Money is the Executive Vice Dean at the UBC Faculty of Medicine. Dr. Money is a Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, associate member in the Department of Medicine and the School of Population and Public Health, and active clinician and researcher in Reproductive Infectious Diseases. She trained with a BSc in Microbiology, then completed her MD followed by her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at UBC and a Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the University of Washington. She is a leader in prevention of HPV associated cancer in women living with HIV, prevention of perinatal transmission of HIV and the study of the vaginal microbiome in health and disease. She has published more than 180 peer reviewed publications and has received more than $24M in peer reviewed funding. She is the past- Vice President, Research at BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, Provincial Health Services Authority, past-President of the Infectious Diseases Society of Obstetrics & Gynecology (US). She is actively involved in teaching and established the first fellowships in Infectious Diseases for Obstetrician/Gynecologists in Canada. She was awarded the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 as well as the Women’s Health Research Institute Career Award for Excellence in Research in 2017.

Lee has worked in women’s health for 25 years and has practiced and taught in isolated, rural, and urban communities in British Columbia, Nunavut, and Ontario. She combines clinical practice with research, leadership, and policy activities that focus on interprofessional collaboration, innovative program and practice development, and rural health services. In addition to two undergraduate degrees, in Psychology and Health Sciences, Lee holds a Master of Health Management degree and is completing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at UBC. She is a Certified Health Executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders and a Clinical Assistant Professor in UBC’s Faculty of Medicine. Lee’s research, policy, and teaching interests include: Interprofessional Collaboration, Education, and Culture; Rural Health Services and Rural Maternity Services; Integrated Primary Care; Team-based Care; Health Service Delivery Networks; Health Leadership; Community Capacity Building; Qualitative Methods.

Salvatore Giovanni Vitale was born in Catania (Italy) on 30th august 1984. His main research interests are: intracavitary uterine pathology, reproductive biology, hysteroscopy, chronic pelvic pain and gynecological endocrinology. He is author of many papers published in national and international peer-reviewed journals, and his presence is often requested as invited speaker in international congresses.