Meet the organisers
Melanie Nana
Melanie Nana is final year general medicine and obstetric medicine registrar. She completed the prestigious obstetric medicine fellowship at St Thomas’ Hospital in 2021, where she was taught obstetric medicine by Professor Catherine Nelson-Piercy.
During that time, she completed the Royal College of Physicians credential in Obstetric Medicine.
Melanie is now undertaking an NIHR Research Training Fellowship studying the mechanisms underpinning the neurocognitive and metabolic consequences of children born to women with severe Hyperemesis Gravidarum at King’s College London, supervised by Professor Catherine Williamson. Her other research interests include the management of liver cirrhosis and pregnancy. She is co-author of the European Association for the Study of the Liver ‘Guideline for Liver Disease and Pregnancy’ and the upcoming International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetricians guideline for ‘Liver Disease and Pregnancy’.
She has a passion for medical education and completed the RCP Doctors as Educators accreditation in 2014 and enjoys lecturing on the topic of medical problems in pregnancy across Europe and internationally.
Catherine Williamson
Catherine Williamson is Professor of Women’s Health at Imperial College London. She is also Consultant in Obstetric Medicine at Queen Charlotte’s, St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospitals.
She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences. In her clinical practice she manages women with medical disorders in pregnancy. Her research focuses on the maternal and fetal aetiology, outcomes and management of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, gestational diabetes mellitus and severe hyperemesis gravidarum.
Professor Williamson’s cholestasis of pregnancy work has resulted in implementation of genetic screening for biliary transporter mutations by the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, and she is now evaluating the impact of identified mutations on maternal future health. She was senior author on the research studies that delineated serum bile acid thresholds associated with risk of stillbirth and spontaneous preterm birth in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.
Professor Williamson was Chair of the writing group for the EASL Clinical Practice Guideline for Liver Disorders in Pregnancy and is Director of the Tommy’s National Centre for Preterm Birth Research where she coordinates a research portfolio that aims to understand the aetiology of preterm birth, develop research-informed interventions and provide improved support for women affected by preterm birth.