Professor will strive to improve care of women and babies in new post

Professor will strive to improve care of women and babies in new post

25 November 2009

A St George's Professor has been named the first Brit in over 50 years to head up the global body dedicated to saving and improving the quality of life of women and newborns - the International Federation of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists (FIGO).

Professor Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran has been chosen as President-Elect of FIGO and will take up the Presidency in October 2012 as the successor to Professor Gamal Serour.

Sir Sabaratnam, Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St George’s, University of London is “extremely honoured” by his appointment and plans to “continue building on the advances in maternal care that the federation has pioneered since it was founded in 1954.”

FIGO brings together 124 professional societies of obstetricians and gynecologists from around the globe to help achieve its goal of improving the quality care of women's and newborn babies’ health through education, training and capacity-building – this involves increasing the workforce of doctors and midwives, training in task sharing so that midwives and general practitioners could do some of the work of obstetricians and training non-physician practitioners to do certain tasks such as caesarean sections.

Amongst its many activities, the Federation organises safe motherhood projects around the world, designed to reduce maternal mortality in developing countries; helps fund the organisation of national workshops on maternal mortality and on safe motherhood; brings together international experts to help shape the future of maternal care.

Sir Sabaratnam, who is also President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and a clinician at St George’s NHS Healthcare Trust, is internationally renowned for his work advancing women’s health and maternity care. Earlier this year he received a Knights Bachelor for services to medicine in recognition of his impact and achievements.

Sir Sabaratnam's career in obstetrics and gynaecology clinical practice stretches almost four decades - over 25 years of which have included academic research and teaching. His key achievements include the development of a"clinical dashboard" to provide clinicians with the relevant and timely information they need to inform decisions that improve the quality of patient care.

He has been Head of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at St George’s, University of London and a clinician at St George’s NHS Healthcare Trust since 2001. Previous to this he held posts at a number of high profile institutions including the National University of Singapore, the University of Nottingham, the Asia & Oceanic Federation, and the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

St George's Principal Peter Kopelman congratulated Sir Sabaratnem (who is known as Arul to friends and colleagues) on his appointment: “Arul is an inspirational individual, whose unwavering commitment to his profession is a credit to himself and the university. I am extremely proud to have him working with us at St George’s.”