Ambassador

KIESEL Ludwig

University of Münster
Münster, Germany

Chairman, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the University of Münster School of Medicine, Münster, Germany.

Professor Kiesel MD PhD studied at the Ruprecht Karl University of the Heidelberg School of Medicine, Germany, and the Royal Free Hospital Medical School at the University of London, UK. He earned a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Professor Kiesel is the president of German Society of Gynaecological Endocrinology and Fertility Disorders, the past president of the German Endometriosis Research Foundation (SEF) and the German Menopause Society, and is a board member of the German Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and member of the Joint Societies orf Reproductive Medicine (DVR). Professor Kiesel has received awards for his research from the German Society of Research on Endometriosis, the German Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the National Institutes of Health, the German Endocrine Society, and the Japanese Society of Pharmacology. The main aspect of his clinical work is endoscopic surgery of endometriosis especially of deep or recurrent disease. His research interests focuses on the role of stem cells and the mechanisms of cell proliferation and invasion in the pathogenesis of endometriosis and medical treatment of the disease.

He has performed a number of clinical trials in the fields of endometriosis, oncology, and endocrinology.

Professor Kiesel is a prolific contributor to a wide range of scholarly journals and has contributed to a number of book chapters. He has been a presenter at many international meetings and congresses. He is member of the editorial board of the Journal of Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Disorders, Gynecological Endocrinology, Geburtshilfe und Frauenheilkunde, and Breast Care. He also serves as a referee for many international journals and research organisations including Fertility and Sterility, Human Reproduction, and the Journal of Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Disorders. He is a member the Endometriosis Guideline Group of ESHRE.

Professor Kiesel joined the WES Board of Trustees in September 2011, where he served as the Society’s Treasurer. He has been a WES Ambassador since May 2017, when he stepped down from the board.

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Ambassador

AMELUNG Vibeke

Svendborg Hospital
Svendborg, Denmark

Surgical Nurse in Gynaecology at Svendborg Hospital, Denmark

Vibeke Amelung graduated as a nurse in 1979 in Svendborg and has been working with gynaecology since 1982. She spent one year at Bispebjerg Hospital (bowel surgery), four years at Odense (paediatric surgery), and 19 years in Herning (gynaecology) before returning to Svendborg in 2003.

Since the early 90s she has been involved in treating women with endometriosis, and have witnessed the progress of treatment – in particularly from a surgical perspective. Recognising the issues which these patients were facing she, and two other nurses, initiated an out-patient clinic in Svendborg for women with endometriosis-related pain issues. At first their clinic took place once a month, but it has now increased to once a week with two physicians permanently involved to ensure continuity of contact for the patients.  The clinic has a specific focus on dealing with pain and pain mechanisms.

Svendborg Hospital works closely with Skejby Hospital where all complicated endometriosis surgery takes place in line with Danish National Guidelines, and thus Amelung is instrumental in ensuring that women with disseminated endometriosis are duly referred.

Vibeke Amelung was appointed to the WES Board in September 2011 and was the first paramedic representative. She has been a WES Ambassador since May 2017, when she stepped down from the board.

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Ambassador

MOEN Mette Haase

St Olav's University Hospital
Trondheim, Norway

Professor emerita, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Faculty of Medicine, Trondheim, Norway. Senior advisor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim, Norway

Mette Haase Moen, MD, PhD, was born in Denmark and completed medical school in Copenhagen. After her marriage to a Norwegian colleague, she has spent most of her professional life in Norway. She underwent her training in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University Hospital of Oslo. Since 1986 she has worked at St Olav’s University Hospital and medical faculty of the University of Trondheim (NTNU) as a consultant, professor, and now professor emerita.

Professor Moen earned her PhD in medicine on endometriosis (occurrence, diagnosis, and risk factors) and most of her research in endometriosis has been on clinical issues. She has been engaged in developing and providing patient information through brochures and the internet, and she is in the advisory board of the US-based Endometriosis Association and the Norwegian Endometriosis Society. She has been on the organising committees for all of the Nordic Endometriosis congresses and was president of the 3rd Nordic Congress on Endometriosis in Trondheim in 2009.

Professor Moen has also been engaged in menopausal topics such as endocrinology of the menopausal transition and menopausal hormonal therapy. She has been the leader of a Scandinavian group studying the attitudes of hormonal therapy among gynaecologists. She has been in the board of Scandinavian Menopause Society, a board member and treasurer of European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS), and has been on the organising or scientific committee of European and International Menopause conferences. She is certified as a menopause practitioner by NAMS (the North American Menopause Society)

Professor Moen has been the president of the Norwegian Gynaecological association, secretary general of the Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and secretary general of FIGO’s fellowship program. She is also a former president of the Medical Society of Trondheim. She has almost 250 publications (scientific papers, review articles, abstracts and book chapters) and has been the editor of four books.

After her retirement in 2014 she is still engaged in different activities around endometriosis and gynaecological endocrinology. She gives lectures in Norway and the rest of Scandinavia and is a voluntary editor of the website HORMONES AND ENDOMETRIOSIS with 270 subscribers (gynaecologists).

Professor Moen was appointed a WES Ambassador in May 2012.

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Ambassador

ALBORZI Saeed

Shiraz University of Medical Sciences
Shiraz, Iran

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Head of the Gynaecologic Endoscopy Division, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Vice President, Iranian Society of Minimally Invasive Gynaecology

Dr Saeed Alborzi was born in 1956 in Tehran, Iran. He graduated from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS) in 1987 as a specialist in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology. He started working at the same university as an assistant professor until 2000 when he was promoted to associate professor. In 2005 he became full professor of obstetrics and gynaecology and has held the same position ever since at Shiraz Universiy of Medical Sciences (SUMS). Dr Alborzi received his fellowship in the field of infertility and gynaecologic endoscopy from Imperial College in London, United Kingdom.

Dr Alborzi’s major field of interest is endometriosis and gynaecologic laparoscopic surgery. He is the winner of the 11th Razi Research Festival (2005) and the 3rd and 9th Royan International Congress awards (2002 and 2008). Dr Alborzi has introduced many innovative laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgeries for the first time in Iran.

Moreover, he was the first to use a graft of the peritoneum for treating cervical aplasia and laparoscopic metroplasty for didelphic uterus in the world.

Dr Alborzi has published many articles in high ranking scientific journals and has presented his works at several international conferences.

He is a board member of the Asian Society of Endometriosis and Adenomyosis, and was the president of the 6th Asian Congress on Endometriosis (ACE), which was held in Shiraz, Iran, on 22-24 November 2017.

Dr Alborzi was appointed a WES Ambassador in December 2017.

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Ambassador

VERCELLINI Paolo

Università degli Studi
Milano, Italy

Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, Università degli Studi, Milano, Italy. Chief of the Division of Gynaecologic Surgery, “Luigi Mangiagalli” Institute, Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda, Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milano, Italy

Professor Vercellini is a gynaecologist specialising in the management of endometriosis and adenomyosis. His research interests include investigation of some pathogenic aspects of the diseases, and assessment of medical and surgical treatments. He joined the “Luigi Mangiagalli” Institute and the University of Milano in 1977 as a medical student, and received his MD in 1981 from the Università degli Studi of Milano, having the honour to work with Professor Giovanni Battista Candiani. Professor Vercellini completed his residency in Ob/Gyn at Milano University in 1985 and initiated the activity of the Mangiagalli Endometriosis Centre, now a national referral service for women with severe disease forms.

In 2002 Vercellini obtained the position of associate professor at the University of Milano. He was later appointed full professor at the same university. He was elected a member of the executive committee of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) for the years 1995-1999. From 2009 to 2015 he served as associate editor for Human Reproduction and, since then, for Human Reproduction Update.

He is author or co-author of more than 300 scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals, and has an h-index of 61 (Web of Science) – 67 (Scopus).

Vercellini served on the WES Board from 1998 to 2017, and was its president for the term 2011-2014. Since 2017 he is an ambassador of this organisation that represents in the world all the issues related with the disease he has been working on for his entire professional life.

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Ambassador

STRATTON Pamela

National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, USA

Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, USA

Pamela Stratton MD FACOG is a gynaecologist and surgeon. She completed medical school at New York Medical College, began her residency in obstetrics and gynaecology at Harvard University’s Beth Israel Hospital in Massachusetts and finished her residency at Yale University in Connecticut.

Dr Stratton holds a professorship at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. She is a member of the World Endometriosis Society (WES), Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI), the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), and is Past Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s (ASRM) Endometriosis Special Interest Group (EndoSIG). She has published and lectured extensively nationally and internationally on endometriosis.

During her nearly 30-year career at NIH, she has pursued ground-breaking research on issues critical to women’s health within both the Intramural and Extramural Research Programs. For the last 20 years, a major area of her research focus has been studying treatments for chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis and improving understanding of the relationship between pain and endometriosis.

She has been awarded one of the highest honours in the United States Public Health Service (USPHS), an Outstanding Service Medal, for her research in endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. Dr Stratton was awarded the first-ever Endometriosis Association Clinical Research Fellow to establish NIH as a site to train clinical investigators in endometriosis. She has shown that women with pain associated with endometriosis have central sensitisation and myofascial dysfunction, findings similar to those described in a rat model. These novel insights regarding the engagement of the central nervous system in the initiation and maintenance of chronic pelvic pain associated with endometriosis were summarised in 2011 in an invited review for Human Reproduction Update.

Dr Stratton has been a WES Ambassador since 2011.

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Ambassador

ROLLA Edgardo

University of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Board Member – Sociedad Argentina de Cirugía Laparoscópica. Board Member – Sociedad Argentina de Endometriosis. Medical Director – San Isidro Medicina, San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Staff Member – Fertilab, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Staff Member – Faculty 1000

Founding Member – Sociedad Argentina de Cirugía Laparoscópica, World Endometriosis Society, Sociedad Argentina de Endometriosis. Honorific Specialist in Reproductive Medicine, Sociedad Argentina de Medicina Reproductiva. Certified High Complexity Laparoscopic Surgeon – Sociedad Argentina de Cirugía Laparoscópica. Sponsor & Advisor – Mujeres Argentina con Endometriosis

Past President – Sociedad Argentina de Endometriosis. Past Editor in Chief – “Reproducción” (medical journal – Fundación Nicholson). Past Editor in Chief – “Fertilidad” (medical journal – Instituto de Fertilidad)

Dr Edgardo D. Rolla completed his medical studies and graduated from Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Later he was an intern, resident in gynecology and Chief of Residents at the Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín, Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Dr Edgardo D. Rolla pioneered laparoscopy in Argentina since 1974 and practised laparoscopic surgeries after 1990. He developed an early interest in endometriosis and infertility, performing assisted reproductive procedures since 1992. Currently he integrates an interdisciplinary surgical team dedicated to the treatment of deep infiltrating endometriosis with Prof Dr Jorge Grondona (Gastrointestinal Surgeon).

Founding member of the Argentinian laparoscopic surgery and endometriosis societies, he was also a founding member of WES at Quebec in 1998, Since 2014 he actively participates in the activities of different patients´ associations and is a current sponsor and medical advisor of the Mujeres Argentinas con Endometriosis, the leading patient society in Argentina. As an active member of Sociedad de Obstetricia y Ginecología de Buenos Aires and the local laparoscopic surgeons´ and endometriosis societies he routinely gives lectures and participates in debates related to endometriosis at various meetings across Argentina .

He has participated as Principal Investigator in trials for new drugs for endometriosis: AbbVie (Elagolix), Repros (Proellex), and currently Myovant (Relugolix).

He is considered an expert and opinion leader in endometriosis, and is a recognised specialist by the local pharmaceutical industry.

Dr Rolla has been a WES Ambassador since 2011.

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Ambassador

FARQUHAR Cindy

University of Auckland
Auckland, New Zealand

Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Coordinating editor of the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group

Dr Farquhar’s research interests include clinical trials within subfertility and menstrual disorders, systematic reviews, and clinical practice guidelines. Her clinical interests are women with menstrual disorders, endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, and infertility.

In 2000, Dr. Farquhar was a Harkness Fellow for the Commonwealth Fund and spent one year at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Washington DC. Her clinical interests are polycystic ovarian syndrome, pelvic pain, endometriosis and the management of abnormal uterine bleeding. She has lead guideline development groups on heavy menstrual bleeding, uterine fibroids and the management of women with breech presentation and vaginal birth after caesarean section, as well as assisting with training in guideline development workshops in New Zealand.

Dr Farquhar is currently the chairman of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (established 2005). She is a member of the Education Committee of the New Zealand Medical Council. She is a past Chairman of the board of the NZ Guidelines Group, and is a past member of the Quality Improvement Committee which reports to the Minister of Health.

Dr Farquhar completed her medical degree at the University of Auckland and then undertook specialist training in obstetrics and gynaecology in Auckland and London where she worked at Guy’s Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital. She returned to New Zealand in 1989 and has worked at National Women’s Hospital and the University of Auckland since that time. In 1998 she attained certification as a subspecialist in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and has been involved in training and assessment of trainees in fertility services since that time. In 2002 she completed a Masters in Public Health. In 2006 she was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Dr Farquhar has been a WES Ambassador since 2011.

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Ambassador

CALHAZ-JORGE Carlos

Lisbon University Hospital
Lisbon, Portugal

Head of Department and Chief of, Human Reproduction Unit, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine, Lisbon University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal. Full Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Medical School, University of Lisbon, Portugal

Professor Calhaz-Jorge received his medical doctor degree, from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Lisbon in 1975, and his specialisation in obstetrics and gynaecology in 1987.  In 2005 he completed his PhD on Endometriosis: pathogenic factors in the peritoneal fluid – clinical implications. He received his master in medical education from the Catholic University of Lisbon in 2006.

Professional experience

• 1987-1997 Member of the staff of the Human Reproduction Unit, Lisbon University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal
• Since 1997 Chief of the Human Reproduction Unit, Lisbon University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal
• 1987-2005 Assistant Professor, Medical School, University of Lisbon, Portugal
• 2000-2009 Member of the Board of the College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Portuguese Medical Association
• Since 2006 Associate Editor, Acta Obstétrica e Ginecológia Portuguesa
• 2006-2014 Member, Ethics Committee, Lisbon University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal
• Since 2006 Head, Gynaecology Division, Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive Medicine, Lisbon University Hospital, Lisbon, Portugal
• Since 2007 Member of Portuguese Regulatory Authority for ART

Activities related to scientific societies

• 1988 Registered as member of ESHRE
• 1996-2002 Member of Advisory Committee of ESHRE
• Since 2001 Portuguese member of the EIM Consortium of ESHRE
• 2002 Registered as member of WES
• 2009-2015 Member of the Guideline Development Group for Endometriosis – ESHRE
• 2009-2012 President of the Portuguese Society of Reproductive Medicine
• 2011-2015 Member of the Executive Committee of ESHRE
• 2015-2017 Chair of the EIM Consortium of ESHRE

Professor Calhaz-Jorge has been a WES Ambassador since 2011.

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Ambassador

TSALTAS Jim

Monash University
Melbourne, Australia

Head of Gynaecological Endoscopy and Endometriosis Surgery, Southern Health and Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Australia

Dr Jim Tsaltas is the current President of the Australasian Gynaecological Endoscopy and Surgery Society (AGES) and a past board member of the International Society for Gynaecologic Endoscopy (ISGE). He has just been appointed to the AAGL reproductive surgery/endometriosis SIG.

Dr Tsaltas has a long standing commitment in advancing laparoscopic surgery. His main surgical and teaching interests are surgical techniques for advanced endometriosis surgery. His current main research interest is the impact of severe deep infiltrative endometriosis on infertility and IVF outcomes. He has published and presented widely in these areas both in Australia and internationally. His department has a longstanding commitment to training in all areas of advanced laparoscopic and endometriosis surgery. Fellows are recruited from within Australia and internationally. Through his involvement as one of the founding members of the Endometriosis Care Centre of Australia (ECCA) he has actively promoted awareness and treatment of endometriosis for his patients and for the women of Australia. He feels that it is extremely important to be both a physician and an advocate for our patients to improve treatment and awareness of this disorder.

Dr Tsaltas has been a WES Ambassador since 2011.

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