Prof Dr Gerard H A Visser:

Gerard Visser is Professor of Obstetrics and Head of the Obstetric Department at UMC, Utrecht. He is the Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the Dutch Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and a member of the Diabetes and Pregnancy Group (CBO/Netherlands Society of Internal Medicine). He is also a member of the Central Medical High Court in The Hague and a number of other advisory boards.

His international activities include: Member of the board, and former chairman, of the Society for the Study of Fetal and Neonatal Physiology and a member of the editorial board of Early Human Development and of Maternal-Fetal & Neonatal Medicine.

Prof Visser's main clinical interests are; fetal heart rate, blood velocity wave forms and movement patterns in relation to fetal oxygenation; the development of the fetal nervous system in normal and abnormal conditions and the effects of medication; the relationship between antepartum events, condition at birth and neonatal neurological morbidity; and, fetal and maternal morbidity in type-1 diabetes. He has published over 200 peer review articles and supervised 36 PhD theses.

Professor Jim Thornton:

Jim Thornton was appointed head of the division of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and honorary consultant at the City Hospital Nottingham in April 2002. He qualified in Leeds in 1977 and had been Reader/honorary consultant in Leeds from 1989-2002. His research interests are in clinical trials.

His clinical interests are in materno-fetal medicine, general obstetrics, general gynaecology and screening. From 2003-2005 he was Editor-in-Chief of BJOG, an International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In 2004 he was appointed to MRC Health Service and Public Health Research Board and also became one of the founders of Doctors for Reform.

Dr Margaret Ramsay:

Margaret Ramsay is a senior lecturer in Feto-Maternal Medicine in the Academic Division of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (Feto-Maternal Medicine) at the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham. Margaret's hospital work involves caring for mothers and their babies during and after pregnancy, and during labour.

Her research interests centre on monitoring fetal health, using ultrasound-scanning techniques, measuring fetal heart rate patterns, and cardiac performance. Cardiac function is sensitive to chemical changes in the baby's blood, including low oxygen and high acid levels. Research in this area will help us to determine whether a baby is at risk, when its health is declining and whether it needs early delivery. For these reasons Margaret has a keen interest in new ways of monitoring the health of the unborn baby.