Kimberly B. Fortner
Dr. Kimberly Fortner is a native of East Tennessee. She graduated from the University of Tennessee and completed medical school at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. Dr. Fortner then completed her residency in Gynecology & Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Fortner is a professor and currently serves as the Vice President of the Center for Women & Infants at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.
Dr. Christina Muzny obtained her medical degree at the Texas A&M University Health Sciences Center College of Medicine followed by an internal medicine residency and an infectious diseases fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. She joined the ID faculty at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2010. She obtained an MSPH in Public Health Epidemiology at the UAB School of Public Health in 2017. Her clinical and research interests focus on HIV and STIs in women, specifically vaginal infections. Dr. Muzny is currently a tenured Associate Professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases with secondary appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Obstetrics & Gynecology. She is the Medical Director of the UAB Vaginitis Clinic and the Chair of the UAB Institutional Review Board 01.
Dr. Jennifer Thompson is a subspecialist in maternal-fetal medicine. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Toledo College of Medicine in Toledo, OH. Dr. Thompson then completed her obstetrics and gynecology residency at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI. Following residency, she completed a fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at Duke University. Dr. Thompson joined the maternal-fetal medicine division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2014 where she is currently an Associate Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Director.
Dr. Thompson’s clinical and research interest focus on infectious diseases in pregnancy and maternal heart disease. She has been actively involved in the Infectious Diseases Society for Obstetrics and Gynecology (IDSOG) since 2013. Over the years, Dr. Thompson has had the privilege of contributing to IDSOG in several roles. She served on both the Annual Program and Membership Committees and was a member of the IDSOG Council from 2019 to 2022. Dr. Thompson also co-chaired the Membership Committee from 2021 to 2023 and is excited to now severe as Treasure of this wonderful organization.
Dr. Melissa Herbst-Kralovetz is a first-generation college graduate and tenured Professor in the Departments of Basic Medical Sciences and Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix, where she directs the Translational Women’s Health Research Program and the Women’s Health Microbiome Initiative. She earned her PhD in the Experimental Pathology Program at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. Her research focuses on the cervicovaginal microenvironment, vaginal microbiome, host–microbe interactions, and multi-omics approaches to better understand HPV persistence, cervical cancer, endometrial cancer, and other gynecologic diseases. Her laboratory is advancing non-invasive diagnostics and precision medicine strategies to improve disease detection and patient outcomes for women.
An internationally recognized leader in women’s health research, Dr. Herbst-Kralovetz has secured continuous competitive funding, published extensively, and leads multidisciplinary collaborations spanning basic, translational, and clinical science. She is passionate about translating scientific discoveries into clinical impact through partnerships with clinicians, engineers, and industry while mentoring the next generation of scientists. Through media engagement, podcasts, documentaries, and community outreach, she advocates for women’s health research and works to accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into meaningful improvements in patient care.
Dr. Balkus is an Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle. As an infectious disease epidemiologist, her research spans across the fields of sexual and reproductive health. She is passionate about improving genital health for all people with a vagina and has contributed to the 2021 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention STI guidelines for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. She has expertise in conducting both clinical trials and observational studies, in the US and globally, and currently leads several NIH R01-supported research projects. Dr. Balkus is also an Affiliate Investigator at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center where she is an investigator with the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) and serves on protocol teams for two ongoing MTN trials that are assessing the safety of the dapivirine vaginal ring in pregnant and postpartum breastfeeding individuals. Across her work, Dr. Balkus is committed to collaborative engagement and continual learning to develop and implement anti-oppressive structural changes in public health research, teaching and practice.
Dr. Catherine Eppes is a maternal-fetal medicine physician at Baylor College of Medicine, and the Chief of Obstetrics for Ben Taub Hospital. She received dual degrees in molecular biology and psychology from the University of Texas, Austin. She received her MD from The University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and completed her residency at Johns Hopkins. Her fellowship, and master’s of public health, were received from Northwestern University. Her primary areas of focus are quality and safety and infectious diseases in pregnancy. Recently, she has been focused on the Zika virus during pregnancy, including numerous collaborations with the CDC, ACOG, and the Texas Medical Association. She has traveled with Brownsville to partner with the Department of Public Health in their efforts to stop local spread. She also was the course director for the Society of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Zika and another infectious disease course in 2017. She has given grand rounds and plenary presentations in multiple venues, to educate providers and patients about the Zika virus. She is currently the ACOG District XI (Texas) patient quality and safety chair, Chair of the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies executive committee, and member of the Texas Fetal and Infant Review of HIV and Syphilis. She holds several grants with the CDC for influenza and HIV in pregnancy.
Dr. Pawel Laniewski earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Warsaw in Poland followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. He joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix in 2015. He is currently a research scientist in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences and an associate member of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. His research focuses on in vitro modeling of complex host-microbe interactions to study pathophysiological mechanisms in gynecologic cancer and women’s health. Additionally, he has extensive expertise in translational clinical research regarding cervical and endometrial cancer, with specific interest in how microbiota-host interactions impact female reproductive health and disease.
Kate Miele, MD, MA, FACOG is an obstetrician/gynecologist with expertise in syphilis, tuberculosis, hepatitis C, substance use, and perinatal surveillance. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor with Emory University’s Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics and provides clinical care at Grady Memorial Hospital and Piedmont Atlanta Hospital.
She completed her Obstetrics and Gynecology Residency at the University of North Carolina after earning a Doctor of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from New York University, a Masters of Arts from The New School in International Affairs, and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary with High Honors in East Asian Studies. She has seven years of professional nonprofit experience, including working in international reproductive health with EngenderHealth, global diplomacy with One To World, environmental advocacy with Green Corps, and grassroots community organizing in Kenya and India with GROOTS International.
Dr. Anna Powell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She is a Reproductive Infectious Disease specialist and researcher, currently funded by NIH to study the vaginal microbiome and its impact on obstetric outcomes in individuals living with HIV. She also serves as a consultant on complex vaginitis on national guideline panels including ACOG and CDC.
Dr. Venkatesh is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist, maternal-fetal medicine specialist, and PhD epidemiologist. He is an associate professor with tenure in obstetrics and gynecology and epidemiology. He is the director of the Diabetes in Pregnancy Program based at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, one of the oldest and largest integrated diabetes and prenatal care programs in the United States. He sees pregnant patients with diabetes every week.
In the Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Dr. Venkatesh leads the Perinatal Epidemiology Program focused on addressing the impact of social determinants on cardiometabolic health in pregnancy. He is the principle investigator of three federally-funded studies: 1) NIH’s ECHO Ohio prospective longitudinal cohort examining the impact of maternal cardiometabolic health on long-term child neurodevelopment (UG3); 2) AHRQ’s ACHIEVE RCT studying the impact of continuous glucose monitoring, mobile applications, and addressing social needs on glycemic control for Medicaid-insured pregnant individuals with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes (R01); 3) PCORI’s DECIDE, a comparative effectiveness, patient-centered RCT, defining whether metformin is non-inferior to insulin for prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes and safe through two years postpartum among individuals with gestational diabetes and their exposed infants at 20 U.S. centers.
Dr. Venkatesh has published more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts focused on diabetes in pregnancy, adverse pregnancy outcomes and perinatal infectious diseases. He has methodological expertise in clinical trials, prospective cohorts, and clinical prediction models. As a physician-scientist, Dr. Venkatesh’s overarching goal is to improve pregnancy outcomes for all individuals living with diabetes using innovative approaches that integrate clinical trials, perinatal epidemiology and precision medicine.
Dr. Marisa Young is originally from Seattle and completed both a PhD in Epidemiology and an MD at the University of Illinois at Chicago, followed by a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Emory University. She joined the Emory faculty as an Assistant Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics in 2019. Dr. Young practices full-spectrum Ob/Gyn at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. Her research interests include vaginal infections in pregnant and non-pregnant individuals, particularly Trichomonas vaginalis and its interactions with the vaginal microbiome. She was recently awarded a K23 Career Development Award titled “Trichomonas vaginalis through the Lifespan.” Dr. Young has loved attending IDSOG annually since 2020 and is thrilled to serve on the Council.
