Early Career Ambassador

BEKOS Christine

Medical University of Vienna
Vienna, Austria

Consultant Gynaecologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria.

Christine Bekos is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in fatigue in endometriosis and the surgical management of endometriosis. Within her research team, she initiated two randomized controlled trials comparing robotic surgery to conventional laparoscopy in endometriosis, focusing on ovarian reserve and pain outcomes.

After completing her training in Vienna, she spent six months with Andrew Horne’s pelvic pain and endometriosis team in Edinburgh. She currently works as a consultant in the endometriosis team at the Medical University of Vienna, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of General Gynecology and Gynecologic Oncology.

In 2024, Christine was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador.

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Early Career Ambassador

McCaffrey Carmen

University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada

Dr. Carmen McCaffrey is minimally invasive gynecologic surgeon with a focus in surgical management of complex endometriosis at St. Michael’s Hospital (University of Toronto).

She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (University of Toronto). She completed medical school at the University of Calgary and residency at the University of Toronto. She completed a two-year AAGL-accredited fellowship in minimally invasive gynecologic surgery and advanced endometriosis at Sunnybrook Hospital (University of Toronto). She holds a Master of Science in System Leadership & Innovation through the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (University of Toronto).

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Early Career Ambassador

GUZELBAG Berivan

Sultangazi Haseki Training and Research Hospital
Istanbul, Turkiye

Berivan Guzelbag, MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Health Sciences, Sultangazi Haseki Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkiye.

Berivan completed her medical education at Inonu University in Malatya, Turkey, and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Health Sciences, Istanbul Kanuni Sultan Suleyman Training and Research Hospital. Since August 2023, she has served as an attending physician at the University of Health Sciences, Istanbul Haseki Training and Research Hospital.

During her career, she undertook an observational fellowship at Ghent University in Ghent, Belgium, within the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Berivan has a particular interest in the fields of endometriosis and adenomyosis, with her residency thesis focusing on adenomyosis. She is an active contributor to the Turkish Endometriosis and Adenomyosis Society, participating in significant research projects, including the “Endometriosis Biobank.” Additionally, she is a member of the “Imaging” Special Interest Group within the European Society for Gynecological Endoscopy (ESGE), ensuring that she remains informed about the latest advancements in imaging technologies.

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2024.

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Early Career Ambassador

FORD Andrea

University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Andrea Ford, PhD, is a cultural and medical anthropologist at the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society at the University of Edinburgh School of Medicine.

Her research explores how ideas about gender, bodies, knowledge, nature, and technology shape the culture surrounding endometriosis. Her books include Hormonal Theory: A Rebellious Glossary with Bloomsbury Academic, Near Birth: Contested Values and the Work of Doulas with University of California Press (in press), and Inflamed: A Cultural History of Endometriosis (in preparation). In 2024 she began a 5-year Wellcome Trust project investigating the ‘FemTech’ industry. She received her PhD from the University of Chicago, is a member of the UK Young Academy, and publishes in and reviews for top-tier social science journals.

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2024.

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Early Career Ambassador

KISOVAR Ana

University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom

Ana is a clinician-researcher with a medical degree from the Faculty of Medicine in Ljubljana (Slovenia) and a PhD in the immunology of endometriosis from the University of Oxford (UK).

Before continuing with her clinical training in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Uster Hospital in Zurich (Switzerland) in October 2024, she further developed her research skills with a postdoctoral role in bioinformatics and immunology.

Ana’s motivation to help numerous patients suffering from pain and infertility drives her to focus her career on understanding endometriosis and associated conditions. In her thesis, she investigated the immunological background of endometriosis and the role of CD8+ T cells. Drawing on her clinical and research expertise, Ana is currently undertaking single-cell RNA sequencing to better define and understand endometrial adaptive immunity during the window of embryo implantation. This research aims to develop new treatments for recurrent pregnancy loss and endometriosis-associated subfertility. Alongside several recognitions for her research contributions, she is also actively involved in public engagement projects.

During her PhD, she collaborated with psychology students from the University of Zurich to raise awareness about endometriosis peer support. She has been invited to speak at various events like the Imperial College London Femtech Congress and has participated in numerous podcasts and interviews, including the Vagina Museum Podcast, Meta PHoDcast, the newspaper Delo, and Radio Val 202. Finally, her role on the board of the Slovenian Endometriosis Peer-Support and Awareness Group, Endozavest, allows her to actively engage with the regional endometriosis patient community.

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Early Career Ambassador

DESLANDES Alison

University of Adelaide
Adelaide, Australia

PhD candidate with the Adelaide Endometriosis Research Group, Robinson Research Insitute, University of Adelaide. Accredited Medical Sonographer, Specialist Imaging Partners, Adelaide, Australia

Alison is a well-established clinical sonographer, specialising in obstetrics and gynaecology with key interests in endometriosis diagnosis. In addition to clinical sonography, she is also a PhD candidate at the Robinson Research Institute as part of the IMAGENDO project. Her PhD research focuses on the use of artificial intelligence as a self-learning tool for sonographers learning to perform transvaginal ultrasound.

Alison has authored 8 peer reviewed journal articles on the topic of endometriosis diagnosis. Her combined clinical and research expertise has made her a world-leading expert in the utility of transvaginal ultrasound for the diagnosis of endometriosis. As one of the few sonographers with this level of expertise, she has been invited to numerous international conferences to speak on this topic including the World Congress of Endometriosis, ISUOG World Congress, the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction Congress, and the WFUMB World Congress of Ultrasound. She is passionate about empowering other sonographers to gain confidence in scanning for endometriosis to help reduce diagnostic delays associated with this disease.

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Early Career Board Member

Adriana Invitti

WESinar
São Paulo, Brazil

Senior Researcher in Cell Technology in Gyneacology, Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Unit, Gynaecology Department, Federal University of São Paulo – UNIFESP, São Paulo, BR.

Adriana Invitti graduated in Biology at the Federal University of Paraná (2003) and obtained her MsC in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the same University. She then moved to São to work with Cell Therapy at the industry. In 2011, she decided to re-join academia and obtained her PhD in Sciences (Gyneacology) at the Federal University of São Paulo (2016). She has been working with Endometriosis at the UNIFESP Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain unit led by Prof Eduardo Schor since then. She has developed a three-dimensional in vitro model to study peritoneal early initiation of endometriosis. This model was improved after two Visiting Research Fellowships at the renowned EndoCaRe Centre at the University of Oxford, where she collaborated with Prof Krina Zondervan and Prof Christian Becker.

She coordinates the Endometriosis Molecular and Cellular Laboratory at UNIFESP and collaborates with the clinical trials undergoing in the Unit. Her research focuses on understanding the ethiopatogenesis of endometriosis. Her current research interests include the elucidation of the mesenchymal to epithelial transition mechanisms on endometriosis applying her in vitro model and integrating this with information from a first genome-wide association study for Brazilian population in collaboration with Prof Omero Poli Neto from the Ribeirão Preto Medical School, State University of São Paulo (FMRP-USP). She has been advocating for the necessity of standardization of in vitro cell models for endometriosis research. She is member of the ENDOCELL Expert Panel (SEUD) and also acts as a reviewer and editor of endometriosis publications.

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2024.

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Ambassador

WHITAKER Lucy

University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Clinical Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, MRC Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Lucy Whitaker obtained her medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2007.  She is undertaking postgraduate training in obstetrics and gynaecology in Edinburgh where she is the South-East Scotland advanced laparoscopic trainee for the excision of benign disease, including endometriosis and fibroids.

Her research training was with Professor Hilary Critchley and Professor Andrew Horne at the University of Edinburgh. Her MD thesis focused on the effects of selective progesterone receptor modulators on the endometrium, following a masters in Surgical Sciences assessing neuropathic pain in chronic pelvic pain. Her current research interests are precision treatments for endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain and understanding of pain flares. She leads a portfolio of translation research including biomarkers and clinical trials for both non-hormonal medical treatments and surgical treatments for endometriosis. Her clinical work focuses on management of endometriosis and menopause.

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2018 and an Early Career Board member in 2019.

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Additional Board Member

Marina Kvaskoff

INSERM
Villejuif, France

Epidemiologist, INSERM, France

Marina Kvaskoff is an epidemiologist and tenured scientist at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) where she is leading a research group focused on the epidemiology of endometriosis. She has close to 20 years of experience in endometriosis research and is the author of over 110 publications. She is the PI of endometriosis research in several French population cohorts and is coordinating ComPaRe-Endometriosis – a patient cohort following-up >7000 endometriosis patients in France. She has been actively involved in the research arm of the national strategy against endometriosis in France and is chairing the scientific committee of the French Foundation for Research on Endometriosis.,

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2018 and an Early Career Board member in 2019 which she chaired between 2021 and 2023 and has launched the WES Mentoring Programme.

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Ambassador

UPSON Kristen

Michigan State University
East Lansing, USA

Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing (MI), USA

Kristen Upson received her PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Washington in 2013 and completed postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH, in 2019. As part of her research program on gynecologic and environmental health, she focuses on environmental risk factors for endometriosis and the epidemiology of adenomyosis. Her research program has been supported by the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institute of Nursing Research. She has served as an Associate Editor for the journal Human Reproduction and recently received the Early Career Research Excellence Award from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2018.

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