Early Career Ambassador

KATHRADA Fatima

University of the Witwatersrand
South Africa

Fatima Kathrada is a pharmacist and lecturer at Wits University, with a profound commitment to women’s health advocacy and research.

Her dedication is fuelled by personal experiences with infertility and endometriosis, driving her to empower women in managing their health and raising awareness of critical women’s health issues. Specializing in women’s and reproductive health, Fatima is actively involved in conducting and supervising research on endometriosis. She founded an educational initiative to enhance understanding and support for women affected by this condition. Additionally, she is a member of several national and international societies, where she collaborates on advocacy and research initiatives in women’s health and reproductive health.

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Early Career Ambassador

KALAITZOPOULOS Rafail Dimitrios

Cantonal Hospital of Schaffhausen
Switzerland

Minimally invasive gynecological surgeon, Cantonal Hospital of Schaffhausen

Dimitrios Rafail Kalaitzopoulos is a minimally invasive gynecological surgeon at the Cantonal Hospital of Schaffhausen in Switzerland. He is a PhD candidate at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, researching the association between endometriosis and ovarian cancer.

Dr. Kalaitzopoulos is currently involved in various local and international projects on endometriosis and adenomyosis. Recently, he participated in a Delphi consensus conducted by the European Endometriosis League (EEL), which provided recommendations for the implementation and conduct of multidisciplinary team meetings for endometriosis and adenomyosis care.

To date, he has published over 35 peer-reviewed articles and has presented his work at several national and international congresses on endometriosis. Additionally, he is a member of the Editorial Board of BMC Women’s Health.

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

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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 Ambassador

INVITTI Adriana

Federal University of São Paulo
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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Early Career Ambassador

SHAFRIR Amy

Merrimack College
North Andover, USA

Assistant Professor, Department of Nutrition and Public Health, School of Nursing and Health Sciences, Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts, USA

Amy Shafrir, ScD is an epidemiologist with a research focus on biological markers and participant characteristics in relation to endometriosis diagnosis and persistent pelvic pain. Her current research focuses on blood and peritoneal fluid-based markers of endometriosis-related pelvic pain and the chronification of pelvic pain among patients with endometriosis, particularly among adolescents. Additionally, she is currently investigating trajectories of pelvic pain symptoms and quality of life to understand predictors of poorer health outcomes and potential areas for intervention among participants with endometriosis. Recently, Dr Shafrir has utilized qualitative methods to investigate health disparities in endometriosis particularly in relation racial and ethnic differences in reaching a diagnosis of endometriosis.

She was selected as a World Endometriosis Society Early Career Ambassador in 2023.

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