We would like to congratulate Yanchen Wang (a PhD Candidate) and Anja Gojic (an MSc Candidate) for presenting their work at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine 2025 Pregnancy Meeting! Yanchen gave an oral presentation entitled “Neonatal outcomes after Caesarean versus vaginal birth: population-based cohort study of extremely preterm breech singletons,” and Anja’s poster was entitled “Previable Premature Rupture of the Membranes and Neonatal Mortality/Morbidity in a National Retrospective Cohort.”

Congratulations on sharing your hard work at an international conference!

Kiran Ninan, a former BHSc thesis and Masters student, just completed the first term of his PhD at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in Pharmaco-epidemiology, and is doing well. Kiran’s superb work ethic and dedication contributed to the foundation for SNACS with 2 systematic reviews in excellent journals JAMA Peds and BMJ on long-term outcomes (the latter of which Anja and Yanchen also were key in accomplishing), as well as an additional key systematic review demonstrating an absence of RCTs on lower dose steroids!

Congratulations, Kiran, on all your accomplishments! We wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

Congratulations to Anja Gojic, a Master’s student on the team, and Yanchen Wang, a PhD student on the team, on the acceptance of two abstracts at the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) 2025 Pregnancy Meeting! Anja and Yanchen’s abstract titled “Outcomes with Previable Preterm Premature Rupture of the Membranes Among Infants Reaching Viability” was accepted as a poster, and Yanchen’s abstract titled “Outcomes with cesarean vs vaginal birth in breech singletons <28 weeks: a population-based study” was accepted as an oral presentation out of over 2000 abstracts, 1 of only 104 orals. We look forward to seeing the hard work of these two amazing students at an international conference!

For more information about the SMFM 2025 Pregnancy Meeting, please follow this link: https://smfm2025.eventscribe.net.

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah McDonald on being the 2024 recipient for the Excellence in Research Award! The Excellence in Research Award recognizes outstanding scientific leadership, research mentoring, creative effort and major research accomplishments of a Canadian researcher (or research group). Her groundbreaking research focuses on the prevention of preterm birth and its subsequent effects on infants, women, and families, positioning her as a leader in maternal-fetal medicine. Dr. McDonald’s contributions have shaped national guidelines from the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) and the Canadian Pediatric Society (CPS). She is currently spearheading the Single Dose of Antenatal Corticosteroids (SNACS) Randomized Control Trial for Pregnancies at Risk of Preterm Delivery. Congratulations again, Dr. McDonald!

To read the full newsletter from McMaster Obstetrics and Gynecology congratulating Dr. McDonald, please click here.

To read more about the award from SOGC, please click here.

Congratulations to Margot Ferguson for the publication of her thesis entitled “Understanding and preferences regarding risk communication during pregnancy: A survey to facilitate provider communication with patients” on March 15, 2023, in AJOG MFM.

Margot has also been doing impressive work outside of her work on the team. After graduating with an Honours BSc degree in the highly selective Integrated Sciences (iSci) Program at McMaster University, she focused on working with students to help them in their classes as a CUSO International Volunteer for Diamond Jenness Secondary School in Hay River, Northwest Territories Canada. CUSO International is a not for profit development organization affiliated with Global Affairs Canada. CUSO employs qualified volunteers for partner organizations in different countries (local government, charities, etc.) to progress the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

In September, Margot will continue her work with CUSO International for an organization called Agape in Shinyanga, Tanzania (near the Kenyan border and Kilimanjaro). Agape aims to decrease the number of women being taken into early child marriage along with HIV prevention. Her role with Agape will be an English teacher for the individuals staying in their safe house whom have come out of those situations.

Congratulations, Margot, on your accomplishments, and we wish you all the best in your future endeavors!

Congratulations Kiran Ninan for completing his Master’s degree in the Health Research Methodology program at McMaster! Kiran has been a member of the team for several years (starting on the team as a BHSc student), throughout which he has done incredible work with the team. His thesis was entitled “The Impact of Infant Sex on Perinatal Outcomes Following Exposure to Multiple Courses Versus a Single Course of Antenatal Corticosteroids: A Secondary Analysis of the MACS Randomized Controlled Trial.” Congratulations, Kiran, on this accomplishment!

Congratulations to Yanchen Wang for successfully transferring into the PhD program at McMaster. We look forward to our continued work together to improve the health of women and infants!