Medical Advisory Board

The Medical Advisory Board (MAB) serves as an advisory resource to the Preeclampsia Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff, ensuring the Foundation advances its position as a credible, evidence-based, patient advocacy organization. The MAB ensures we are providing accurate patient education materials and strategic thought leadership in research and healthcare practices with members serving as ambassadors to affiliated professional communities. Members of the Medical Advisory Board represent best-in-class physicians and scientists – a veritable "Who’s Who in Preeclampsia."

Thomas R. Easterling, MD

Thomas Easterling, MD, received his MD from University of North Carolina Medical School. He is a national expert in the field of hypertension in pregnancy. A professor at the University of Washington Medical School joining the staff in 1985, Easterling has received numerous awards including: the Young Investigator's Award of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy, the Society Award for the Society of Perinatal Obstetricians for research on the hemodynamics of preeclampsia, and was honored by the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology for conducting one of the four most significant studies of 1999 regarding early antihypertensive treatment to prevent preeclampsia. He and his team at the University of Washington are members of the NIH-sponsored Obstetrical Pharmacological Research Unit network investigating the use of medications in pregnancy. Easterling continues an active clinical and research practice at the University of Washington and is a co-founder of the Preeclampsia Foundation.

Cindy Anderson, PhD, WHNP-BC, ANEF, CRNP, FNAP, FAHA, FAAN

Cindy Anderson, PhD, WHNP-BC, ANEF, CRNP, FNAP, FAHA, FAAN, is Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Educational Innovation at The Ohio State University College of Nursing. Anderson has dedicated her career to the care of women with preeclampsia as a nurse and scientist. Her research is focused on strategies for early detection of preeclampsia and factors in the maternal pregnant environment that can be targeted to reduce the risk of preeclampsia in mothers and future development of hypertension in their children. Recent investigation is targeted towards gene-environment interactions that are associated with heritable risk for preeclampsia and future cardiovascular disease. Anderson received her degrees in nursing from Salem State University and the University of North Dakota where she also was awarded a PhD in physiology. She holds fellowship in the National Academies of Practice, American Heart Association, and American Academy of Nursing and serves on the editorial boards of the Western Journal of Nursing Research and is an associate editor for the Journal of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease.

Phyllis August, MD

Phyllis August, MD, is a board-certified Internist and Nephrologist and is the Ralph A Baer MD Professor of Research in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. She is also a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell. August graduated from Harvard College, Yale Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. She is the Director of the Weill-Cornell Hypertension Center and also directs the training program in Nephrology at New York Presbyterian-Cornell Campus. She is the Theresa Lang Director of the Lang Center for Research and Education at New York Hospital Queens.  August’s research has focused on blood pressure regulation in pregnancy and hypertension and kidney disease in pregnancy. Her clinical practice at Weill Cornell is largely devoted to obstetric hypertension and kidney disorders. In 2011, August received the Preeclampsia Foundation’s “Outstanding Physician for Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy” recognition award for her superlative clinical care of women with these complications of pregnancy.

Ira Bernstein, MD

Ira M. Bernstein, MD, is John Van Sicklen Maeck Professor and Chair of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and medical director of Women’s services at Fletcher Allen Health Care. He has previously served UVM as director of both maternal fetal medicine and MFM fellowship training. Dr. Bernstein additionally served as Senior Associate Dean for Research at the University of Vermont COM for 5 years until early 2014. Dr. Bernstein’s primary research interest examines human integrative physiology and he has been funded from NIH for a series of projects examining pre-pregnancy determinants of preeclampsia. Dr. Bernstein has served on, or chaired, several study sections at NIH including 2 years as the chair of Pregnancy and Neonatology. Along with several current members of the Preeclampsia Foundation Medical Advisory Board Dr. Bernstein was a member of, and contributed to, the recent ACOG Task Force on Hypertension in Pregnancy report.

Peter von Dadelszen, MD

Peter von Dadelszen, MBChB, DPhil, is Professor Global Women's Health at St King's College London. Previously he was Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Maternal-Fetal Medicine) at the University of British Columbia and Consultant in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Children's and Women's Health Centre of BC. A New Zealander, he studied medicine at the University of Otago, Dunedin, completing a BMedSc (Anatomy, 1981), medical degree (MBChB, 1984), and DipObst (1987). He moved to the UK in 1990 to continue his specialty training in obstetrics and gynaecology and completed a DPhil project with Professor Chris Redman in Oxford (MRCOG, 1991 [FRANZCOG, 1998; FRCOG, 2003], DPhil, 2001). In 1996, von Dadelszen moved to Toronto to undertake sub-specialty training in Maternal-Fetal Medicine (1996-8) and an additional year of residency training (FRCSC, 1999). His appointment at KCL is that of a clinician-scientist focusing on pre-eclampsia, and related placental disorders, from basic science to clinical epidemiology and health services research. von Dadelszen is married to Laura Magee, an obstetric and general internist-scientist. They share the leadership of a global pregnancy hypertension research group that includes colleagues in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania. Currently, Peter is leading the PRECISE network, a study of biological and social pathways to complicated pregnancies amongst pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa.

Arun Jeyabalan, MD 

Arun Jeyabalan, MD, is an Associate Professor in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at Magee-Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh. She completed her undergraduate studies and medical school at the University of Michigan, followed by residency at the University of California, San Diego, and then Maternal-Fetal Medicine fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. She has a busy clinical practice and serves as the Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine outpatient services. She has built a strong reputation at the local, regional, and national levels based on her research and leadership in the field of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia and has a number of peer-reviewed publications in this field. She is currently the Vice President of the North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy and recently served on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ Hypertension in Pregnancy Task Force.

Ananth Karumanchi, MD 

S. Ananth Karumanchi, MD, is Director of Renovascular Research and Professor in the Department of Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Dr. Karumanchi has a second appointment as a Visiting Staff Scientist at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School, Boston. He received his M.D. from the University of Madras, Chennai, India, followed by a residency in Internal Medicine at th eHenry Ford Hospital in Detroit, and a fellowship in Nephrology at BIDMC in Boston. He is a recipient of the Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar Award from the American Society of Nephrology, the 2022 International Society of Nephrology (ISN) Jean Hamburger Award, the Hope Award from the Preeclampsia Foundation, the Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Hypertension, and serves as an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Judette Louis, MD, MPD

Judette Louis, MD, MPD, is the 2020-21 president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Dr. Louis is associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of South Florida Health Morsani College of Medicine, as well as associate professor in the College of Public Health. Dr. Louis earned her medical degree from MCP Hahnemann University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA. She completed a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Wayne State University/ NIH Perinatology Research Branch. She holds a Maser of Public Health, Epidemiology/Environmental Health from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Michael J. Paidas, MD

Michael J. Paidas, MD, is Professor and Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Miller School of Medicine, Chief of Service, University Health Tower, University of Miami, and Chief of Service, Jackson Health System. He formerly served as Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University School of Medicine; Interim Chief, Section of Maternal Fetal Medicine; Interim Director, Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship; Interim Chief, Obstetrical Service, YNHH; Co-Director of the Yale Women and Children’s Center for Blood Disorders, and Co-Director of the National Hemophilia Foundation-Baxter Clinical Fellowship at Yale. Dr. Paidas received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine in 1987 and completed his internship and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1991 at Pennsylvania Hospital. In 1993, Dr. Paidas completed a Fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. In 2013, Dr. Paidas was awarded a Master of Arts, Honorary Degree, from Yale University. Dr. Paidas's career in medicine has focused on women’s health with special emphasis on blood disorders, reproduction, pregnancy complications and the latter’s impact on health and disease. His activities span direct patient care, translational research and clinical trials. Dr. Paidas’s research has been supported by federal and non- federal funding agencies. His notable contributions include: description of the regulatory factors of the Protein C system; clinical use of recombinant antithrombin in disease states; elucidation of the subsequent cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular health consequences of hypertensive disorders and preterm delivery in the largest population based studies published to date. Dr. Paidas is the lead Prinicipal Investigator of a multicenter preeclampsia treatment clinical trial, entitled Prospective Randomized Double-Blind, Placebo Controlled Evaluation of the Pharmacokinetics, Safety and Efficacy of Recombinant Antithrombin Versus Placebo in Preterm Preeclampsia (PRESERVE-1). Dr. Paidas has expertise in prenatal ultrasound, invasive fetal diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. His academic profile includes over 500 published manuscripts, abstracts, books, chapters, presentations or courses.

Suzanne Oparil, MD

Suzanne Oparil, MD, is Professor of Medicine and of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Alabama School of Medicine in Birmingham, where she is also Director of the Vascular Biology and Hypertension Program.  Oparil received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, New York, where she was first in her class. She completed her residency at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital and a fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  She is the current President of the American Society of Hypertension, a past- President of the American Heart Association (and still an active volunteer at both the national and affiliate levels), and the first woman past-President of the American Federation for Medical Research. She also has leadership roles in the Association of American Physicians, American Society for Clinical Investigation, Southern Society for Clinical Investigation, American Physiological Society, Clinical Physiology Advisory Committee, and Inter-American Society of Hypertension. Oparil has a career interest in the fundamental mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and in using the information to develop novel treatments. Just one example is her research that led to the development of the ACE inhibitors, the most commonly used class of drugs for the treatment of high blood pressure and heart failure.  Oparil is author and co-author of more than 1,000 abstracts, book chapters, and journal articles in Circulation, New England Journal of Medicine, and American Journal of Hypertension, among others.

Sarosh Rana, MD

Sarosh Rana is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and section chief of Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of Chicago Medicine. She is also the Co-Chair of the Preeclampsia Registry Advisory Council (PRAC). Her research over the last several years has focused on demonstrating clinical utility for angiogenic biomarkers in prediction of adverse outcomes among women with suspected preeclampsia. She is also testing the idea that these biomarkers will prove superior in predicting adverse outcomes, leading to reductions in maternal and fetal deaths related to preeclampsia in developing countries such as Haiti. Dr. Rana performs collaborative research evaluating the relationships between increased levels of angiogenic factors and immediate, as well as future, cardiac performance. Dr. Rana's work has been funded by several notable organizations, including the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association. She has served as Co-Chair of the Global Health Committee for the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.

James M. Roberts, MD

James M. Roberts, MD, is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Epidemiology and Clinical and Translational Research at the University of Pittsburgh. His research includes fundamental, clinical and health services approaches to the understanding and management of adverse pregnancy outcomes. He led a NIH RCT (10,000 women) of antioxidant vitamins to prevent preeclampsia. He was the recipient of lifetime achievement awards by the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy and the SGI and the 2008 Preeclampsia Foundation Hope Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has served or serves on the editorial boards of journals including, Placenta, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, Metabolism and Hypertension. He has been on scientific review boards of the NIH, the CIHR, the FDA and the March of Dimes. He was the chair of the NICHD Maternal Fetal Medicine Network from 1990 –1999 and is past president of the Perinatal Research Society, the North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy, the Society of Gynecological Investigation and the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.  Roberts was formally admitted to fellowship ad eundem of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in September of 2000. He has been elected to membership in Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.  He has also received mentoring awards from the NICHD and the Society of Gynecological Investigation.

Roberto Romero, MD

Roberto Romero, MD, is Chief of the Pregnancy Research Branch in the Division of Intramural Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and holds adjunct professor roles at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.  Romero trained at Yale University in Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the sub- specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, subsequently joining the faculty and becoming the Director of Perinatal Research. In 1992, he became Professor and Vice Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Wayne State University and Chief of the Perinatology Research Branch (now called the "Pregnancy Research Branch") at NICHD/NIH.  Romero is widely regarded as one of the most prominent intellectual leaders in modern obstetrics. Over the last 25 years, his work has focused on the early diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy, the prenatal diagnosis of congenital anomalies and the study of the mechanisms of disease responsible for pregnancy complications and fetal injury with a special emphasis in preterm labor. An author of over 750 peer reviewed publications and several books, including a medical best seller (Prenatal Diagnosis of Congenital Anomalies), Romero is the recipient of countless awards and recognitions by his peers.  Romero's work in premature labor has focused on the role of infection and inflammation in spontaneous preterm labor and delivery. His research team described the involvement of cytokines and chemokines in the initiation of human labor and the fetal inflammatory response syndrome, as well as the preterm parturition syndrome. The Pregnancy Research Branch uses high-dimensional biology to understand the mechanisms of disease in preterm parturition and fetal injury of the preterm neonate. He is also the Editor-in-Chief for Obstetrics of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Larry Shields, MD

Larry Shields, MD, currently serves as Medical Director of Perinatal Safety at Dignity Health and Director of the Perinatal Center, Marian Regional Medical Center, in Santa Maria, California. Shields received his medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas, and completed a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of California in San Diego, California. He is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and subspecialty-certified in Maternal-Fetal Medicine. Shields has received numerous honors and awards, served on regional, state, and national committees, and authored dozens of publications including the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative Preeclampsia Toolkit. Throughout his career, Shields has been a strong advocate for patient safety and holds multiple leadership roles with quality and safety committees, including the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Patient Safety and Quality Committee.

Jason Umans, MD, PhD

Jason Umans, MD, PhD, is scientific director of the basic and translational science laboratories at MedStar Health Research Institute (MHRI). He is the program director for Research Education, Training and Career Development at the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science and associate director of its General Clinical Research Center. In addition, he is an associate professor of medicine and obstetrics/gynecology at Georgetown University. Dr. Umans, an American Society of Hypertension (ASH) specialist in clinical hypertension, is board-certified in internal medicine, nephrology, and clinical pharmacology. He is internationally recognized as an expert in medical disorders during pregnancy, particularly hypertension and kidney disease. Dr. Umans received his PhD in Pharmacology and Biomathematics from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. His medical degree is from Weill Cornell Medical College. He completed a residency in medicine and a fellowship in nephrology at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Doug Woelkers, MD

Doug Woelkers, MD, is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Perinatal Medicine at University of California, San Diego, and sees high-risk women at several hospitals and clinics in the area. He is the 2012-2014 President of the North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy (NASSHP). Woelkers graduated from Stanford University, serving his internship and residency at UCSD and his fellowship at Magee-Women’s Hospital of UPMC. He is a board-certified specialist in Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

EMERITUS

Marshall Lindheimer, MD

Marshall Lindheimer, MD, was a nephrologist and professor emeritus in the departments of medicine and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago. His clinical and research interests focus on kidney disease and hypertension in pregnancy. He is an external adviser to the World Health Organization for studies relating to preeclampsia. Lindheimer, a founding member, and previous secretary-treasurer and president of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy, has produced 400+ publications including basic science observations, clinical studies, text chapters and author- or-editorship of seven texts. Lindheimer, a recipient of the Chesley Award for Research in Hypertension in Pregnancy, Lifetime Awards from the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois and the Preeclampsia Foundation, respectively, as well as the Belding Scribner Award from the American Society of Nephrology, and the Joseph Bolivar De Lee Humanitarian award from the Board of Directors of Chicago Lying in Hospital. He was further honored in 2009, by a personal congratulatory letter from President Obama citing Lindheimer’s work supporting the “health and well-being of mothers and infants,” and in 2011, by an honorary doctorate from the University of Bern, Switzerland.

Baha M. Sibai, MD

Baha Sibai, MD, is an internationally recognized researcher and clinician in maternal-fetal medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Medical School, serving as a professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. and currently serves as the President of the International Society for the Study of Hypertension and Pregnancy.  His academic leadership and contributions to research, in the dissection of the hypertensive diseases of pregnancy and other basic problems associated with obstetrics and gynecology, has awarded him national and international recognition in the field of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, particularly in the area of hypertension and preeclampsia.  His contributions have organized the treatment plans of many physicians all over the world. Sibai’s international notoriety in preeclampsia and eclampsia, preterm labor and preterm rupture of membranes, medical complications, and emergencies in obstetrics evolved as a result of his authorship and co-authorship of over 500 peer-reviewed publications in national and internationally circulated publications. In addition, he has edited several textbooks and contributed to over 200 textbook chapters. His research interests are in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, life-threatening maternal and obstetrics emergencies. He is an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is on the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Perinatology and the Journal of Maternal-Fetal and Neonatal Medicine and Infectious Disease in Obstetrics. He also serves as a consultant for more than 30 peer reviewed medical journals.

John T. Repke, MD

John Repke, MD,was a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Obstetrician- Gynecologist-In-Chief at the Penn State College of Medicine- Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.  He is a national recognized expert in Maternal-Fetal medicine and is listed in “Best Doctors in America.”  His expertise is the study of prevention and management of hypertension in pregnancy and preeclampsia.  Repke holds full memberships in the Society of Maternal and Fetal Medicine, The Society of Gynecologic Investigation, The American Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and is Past-President of the North American Society for the Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy.  He is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and serves as an examiner in both general Obstetrics and Gynecology and in Maternal-Fetal Medicine for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  Repke is the author of over 200 publications and has edited a textbook of Obstetrics.  His principle clinical interests are in the areas of preeclampsia and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.  His internship, residency, fellowship and other professional positions have taken him to Johns Hopkins Hospital (1978-1992), Harvard Medical School-Brigham and Women's Hospital (1992-1998), the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where he chaired the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 1998-2002, and to Penn State, where he chaired the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from 2002-2017. He is now retired.