In 2025, the Foundation is going a step further, rewarding research proposals involving the microbiota and its implication in Women’s Health and Disease. Every year, the call for projects will cover a specific theme chosen by a committee of independent international scientists.
Through this grant, the Foundation aims to support MDs, PhDs or Pharm-Ds working in relevant fields such as gynecology, obstetrics, microbiology, infectious diseases, internal medicine, oncology, etc. and based anywhere in the world.
Your research could make a difference. Join us in advancing science and transforming women’s health!
President of the committee, Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Porto, Portugal
President of the committee, Obstetrician-Gynecologist, Porto, Portugal
Pedro Vieira Baptista, is a gynecologist at Hospital Lusíadas Porto, Portugal, specializing in lower genital tract diseases. His clinical focus includes vulvovaginitis, vulvar disorders, sexually transmitted infections, and HPV infection/colposcopy.
With over 100 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, he has made significant contributions to the field. He was one of the editors of the ISSVD Recommendations for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Vulvovaginitis, published in 2023.
From 2017 to 2024, he served as Secretary General of the International Society for the Study of Vulvovaginal Disease (ISSVD) and is currently the President-elect for the 2028–2028 term. Since 2022, he has also chaired ISSVD’s Vaginitis and Microbiome committee.
He is pursuing a PhD at Porto and Ghent universities, with a research project titled Delineation of a Functional Definition of Bacterial Vaginosis and Vulvovaginal Candidiasis.
Chair Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Chair Professor Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Henriette Svarre Nielsen
Professor, Chief Physician
Henriette has academically and clinically focused on women´s health for more than 25 years. Clinically she is focused on reproduction, fertility, and pregnancy loss. Academically, after defending her thesis in 2013, she established a research group focusing on reproductive and women’s diseases with a motivation to understanding the underlying pathophysiology and use this knowledge for diagnostics, prognostics, and treatments. The group has grown rapidly to now 30+ people and is truly interdisciplinary, bridging basic, epidemiological, and clinical research with a strong data scientist team. Since 2018 she has had a focus on the microbiome in women´s health and have established large deeply phenotyped cohorts in collaborations with CTMR at KI and pioneered vaginal microbiome transplantation RCTs.
She holds the following positions of trust.
2023- Board member Copenhagen Medical Society www.dmsk.dk
2022-2024 Coordinator ESHRE SIG Implantation and early pregnancy www.eshre.eu Now past coordinator
2021- Executive Board ReproUnion www.reprounion.eu
2019- Steering committee, Nordic Center for Women´s and Reproductive Health
2019- Steering committee, Female Reproductive Studies based on Copenhagen Hospital biobank
2018- Steering group postgraduate PhD Program “life cycle in medicine” www.healthsciences.ku.dk/phd/about-the-graduate-school/graduateprogrammes/life-cycle-medicine/
2014- Co-Founder OvaCure. www.ovacure.org
2005- Founder and Chair Maternity Foundation Aim: Saving lives in childbirth www.maternity.dk
Director of Centre for Translational Microbiome Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden
Director of Centre for Translational Microbiome Research, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institute, Solna, Sweden
Ina Shuppe Koistinen investigates associations between the vaginal, oral and gut microbiota and the risk for diseases, such as HPV infection, fertility or pregnancy complications
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Jacques Ravel is an acting Director at the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS).
His 18-year research program focuses on the vaginal microbiome's role in women's health, employing genomics and systems biology to develop strategies for managing gynecological and obstetric conditions.
Dr. Ravel has over 300 publications.
Editor in Chief, Microbiome journal (impact factor of 19.9) and Associate Editor for the journal mBio.
Professor, Imperial College London and Consultant Surgeon in Gynecology and Gynecological Oncology, the West London Gynecological Cancer Centre, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
Professor, Imperial College London and Consultant Surgeon in Gynecology and Gynecological Oncology, the West London Gynecological Cancer Centre, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK
Maria Kyrgiou's research focuses on the role of the genital tract and gut microbiome and host interactions in the development and treatment response of gynecological cancers.
University Professor, Hospital Practitioner, Head of in Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Angers University Hospital, France
University Professor, Hospital Practitioner, Head of in Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Angers University Hospital, France
Pierre-Emmanuel Bouet (MD, PhD) is a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
From 2013 to 2015, he completed his training in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility fellowship at Montreal University Hospital and Ovo clinic.
Since 2015, he is head of Reproductive Medicine Unit at Angers University Hospital (France). He is also a member of the INSERM U1083 research team. He has authored and co-authored numerous publications.