Boards
Scientific Advisory Board
DALI has 6 members in the scientific advisory committee to monitor project progress and provide external objective advice on its scientific progress.
Its members are:
- Patrick Catalano; MD, PhD, Professor of Obstetrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
He is a world leading expert in obesity in pregnancy linked to diabetes in pregnancy. He has a long standing interest in metabolic changes in mother and foetus in diabetic pregnancies with a focus on insulin sensitivity and adipokines. Recently, he has redefined the phenotype of offspring born to diabetic mothers. He was PI of HAPO
- Jacques Lepercq; MD, Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University Paris Descartes, France
Currently, he is President of the French Diabetes and Pregnancy Group (2000-08). In this capacity he edited national guidelines about screening and treatment of GDM. His research interests have concentrated on foetal development in diabetic pregnancies. Recently, he focused on the reconsideration of the definition of GDM which separate undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus and transient abnormal glucose tolerance during pregnancy.
- Paul Lips, MD., PhD, Professor of Endocrinology, VU University medical center, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Chair of Endocrine Section within the Department of Internal Medicine.
His research is focused on osteoporosis, metabolic bone disease and vitamin D within the Institute of Extramural Medicine (EMGO) and the Institute MOVE. Important subjects are prevalence, consequences and prevention of vitamin D deficiency and effects of mechanical forces on bone. He has authored and co-authored more than 250 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, of these, about 80 were on vitamin D. He was member of three WHO scientific groups on osteoporosis. He serves on the Editorial Board of Osteoporosis International and the Journal of Internal Medicine and is reviewer for many international journals on internal medicine, endocrinology and metabolic bone diseases.
- David McCance; MD, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, UK
He is a consultant endocrinologist and lead clinician for the Regional Joint Metabolic Antenatal Clinic in Northern Ireland. He is a member of the EASD Pregnancy Study Group, a Trustee of Diabetes UK and a member of the UK Diabetes Research Network Clinical Studies Advisory Group. His research interests include GDM, pre eclampsia, the intrauterine origins of disease, vascular function and diabetes prevention. He is PI of a Wellcome-funded UK multicentre trial examining the role of antioxidants to prevent pre eclampsia in type 1 diabetic pregnancy. He was PI of the Hyperglycaemia and Pregnancy Outcome (HAPO) Study and is currently involved in a major study following up the HAPO offspring at the Belfast Centre to examine the long term effects of hyperglycaemia during pregnancy.
- Ute Schäfer-Graf; MD, Professor of Obstetrics, St. Joseph Hospital, Berlin, Germany
She is an expert obstetrician with additional specialisation as diabetologist. Her focus is in clinical care for pregnant women with GDM and pre-existing diabetes. She has long standing experience in treatment and motivation of pregnant women with and without diabetes. Her research focuses on clinical studies in management of GDM and maternal factors influencing foetal growth in diabetic pregnancies. Currently, she is chairwoman (speaker) of the diabetes and pregnancy section of the German Diabetes Association. In this capacity she is responsible for establishing guidelines for the care of pregnant women with diabetes.
- Jaakko Tuomilehto; MD, PhD, Professor of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland
He is an epidemiologist with a wide experience in diabetes and also in clinical trials. His focus has been primary prevention of type 2 diabetes, the development of practical methods for the identification of people at risk of diabetes and genetics of diabetes. He has carried out large collaborative studies in diabetes and related disorders worldwide. He has served in many international scientific and advisory committees related to diabetes and the metabolic syndrome.
The Data Monitoring and Ethics Committee (Safety Board)
The role of the Data Monitoring and Ethics Committee (DMEC) is to look at the unblinded data from an ethical standpoint, the safety, rights and wellbeing of trial participants being paramount.
The terms of reference for the Data Monitoring and Ethics Committee are:
- To develop together with consortium a policy and a report form for incidental findings
- To determine if additional interim analyses of trial data should be undertaken
- To consider the data from interim analyses, unblinded if considered appropriate, plus any safety issues for the trial and relevant information from other sources
- To be responsive to requests for ethical advice that does not fall into the responsibility of the respective ethical committees of the trial partners
- To consider any requests for release of interim trial data and to recommend to the trial coordinator on the advisability of this
(From: MRC Guidelines for good clinical practice in clinical trials 1998; MRC, UK)
The DMEC will meet at least annually or more often as appropriate and timed so that reports can feed into the General Assembly meetings. Meetings will be called for and organized by the Coordinator in association with the chair of the DMEC. Dates for meetings will be agreed in advance. Upon request of the DMEC members their meetings can be replaced by telephone conferences and/or email consultation. All correspondence will be in writing or, if oral, will be backed up by written records and sent to PM for documentation.
Its members are:
Prof. Ulf Hanson, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Hanson is Professor of Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Department of Women's and Children's Health, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Uppsala University Hospital; Sweden. As Head of the Obstetrical Division he has been responsible for the obstetrical service and its development for several years.
Ulf Hanson has long-standing scientific interest in the screening, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of gestational diabetes. He has also carried out randomised controlled trials. Currently, he is performing in collaboration with the University Hospital Orebro, Sweden, a multicentric intervention study for treatment of women with impaired glucose tolerance. He has supervised several PhD-theses and served as official opponent at PhD defenses in the Nordic countries. Moreover, Ulf Hanson is often serving as a specialist reviewer in medical legal cases within the obstetric field.
Prof. Sjurdur F. Olsen, MD, PhD.
Dr. Olsen has been Professor of Epidemiology at University of Aarhus, is presently leading the Maternal Nutrition Group at the Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, and is also Adjunct Professor of Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. Dr. Olsen is part of the team that established the Danish National Birth Cohort. He is member of its Managerial and Scientific Board.
Dr. Olsen was a member of the Danish Nutrition Council and chaired the Council’s expert panel which reviewed the scientific evidence underpinning dietary advice in relation to pregnancy. Throughout his carrier Dr. Olsen has focused on the impact of maternal diet on child health and has carried out several national and international (across Europe) multicentric clinical trials. His results have been published in more than 100 papers and chapters.
Verina Wild, MD
Dr. Wild is senior teaching and research associate at the Institute of Biomedical Ethics, University of Zurich, Switzerland. After her medical studies she worked at hospitals in Argentina, Tansania and Scotland, in a hospital in Berlin (Germany) in internal medicine and also at the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland). In August – October 2011 she was visiting research fellow at Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York. Dr. Wild is country representative for Switzerland in the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics (FAB).
In her current position her research areas comprise a) Health care and cost containment instruments, b) Medicine and migration and c) Ethical aspects of drug research on pregnant women. Results from the latter research have resulted in a monography with the title: ‘Drug research on pregnant woman – Dilemma, controversies and ethical discussions’.
Data Management Board
The function of the Board will be to establish standard operating procedures for data entry and access, to screen and approve requests for data access from network investigators and their staff and ensure that such individuals have received appropriate training in data entry, access and confidentiality issues, receive the results of internal audits of data security, procedures and investigator usage and to report these through to the project management team, and to recommend any additional security or confidentiality measures that might be necessary as the project progresses.
The board comprises 5 members:
G. Desoye (Coordinator, partner 1)
D. Simmons (Deputy Coordinator, partner 3)
D. Hill (partner 6)
S. Suppan (Director IT Services, partner 1)
A. Thornton (Cambridge, UK)
Sabine Suppan is director of the IT services of the Medical University of Graz. In this capacity she not only oversees the personnel and all technical issues including hard- and software, but is also ultimately responsible for data and server security and data protection. She has received a special license as data protection and security manager.
Andi Thornton
A. Thornton is Pathology IM&T and Business Development Manager at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
