Founding editor honored at Pregnancy Foundation event

With more than 2,200 attendees, the annual meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) in San Diego in February was the largest gathering ever for the organization. In plenary, oral, and poster sessions, investigators presented groundbreaking new ideas in and research aimed at reducing high-risk pregnancy and complications.

One of the highlights for many attendees was The Pregnancy Foundation and SMFM dinner honoring Dr. John T. Queenan. Held to benefit the Queenan Fellowships for Global Health, the event drew a capacity crowd of 500 and featured tributes to Contemporary OB/GYN’s founder by the magazine’s current Editor-in-Chief Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, John T. Queenan Jr., MD, Catherine Y. Spong, MD, and Lawrence D. Platt, MD.

According to Foundation Chair Mary D’Alton, MD, and SMFM President Vincenzo Berghella, MD, at least $452,000 has been raised to date of the $500,000 targeted to fund a mentored research fellowship at the World Health Organization, a visiting teaching fellowship at African maternal-fetal medicine programs, investigator-initiated research projects worldwide, and fellowships for faculty from resource-limited settings.

Said Dr. Lockwood, “The evening was a fitting tribute to a man who has made seminal contributions to maternal and fetal wellbeing including key contributions to the development of Rh immunoglobulin, which has saved thousands of babies’ lives.

“John has also trained many generations of residents and fellows and educated generations of practitioners through his many peer-reviewed publications, numerous textbooks and, of course, his 28 years as the founding Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary OB/GYN.

 “But this evening highlighted another aspect of his remarkable career-his tireless advocacy and field work enhancing women’s health and reducing maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity around the world. Thus, it was no surprise that it was a sell-out crowd and a record-breaking fundraising event for both the man and the cause.”