GENERAL INFORMATION:

Speakers:

Byron Calhoun, MD (West Virginia, USA)
Dr. Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS is Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West Virginia School of Medicine-Charleston, Charleston, West Virginia, USA.  Dr. Calhoun is diplomate board certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in general Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the sub-specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. 
He has authored over 60 peer review articles in the obstetric and gynecologic literature, presented over 100 scientific papers, and participated in over 40 research projects.
Dr. Calhoun and his wife, Kathryn, live in Charleston, WV and have 5 children—Paul, Daniel, Joshua, Faith, and Mercy. 

Jerónima Teixeira, PhD (London, UK)
Jerónima Teixeira is a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical School of Nova University, Lisbon. Dr. Jerónima has practiced in the best Fetal Medicine Centres of the world: Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea and Westminster Hospitals. She is a Member of the Imperial College Association of PhD Graduates. She has published several scientific papers in the most prestigious international medical journals such as: British Medical Journal, Lancet, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, among others.

Joel Brind, PhD (New York, USA)
Dr. Joel Brind is a biochemist who has specialized in reproductive steroid hormones and their links to human diseases since 1972. A graduate of Yale College in 1971, he earned his PhD in basic medical science from New York University in 1981. Since 1986, Dr. Brind has been a Professor of Human Biology and Endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of NY. Since coming across the the link between abortion and breast cancer in 1992, Dr. Brind has devoted most of his research effort to studying and promoting awareness of what has come to be known as the ‘ABC link’. In 1996, along with colleagues from the Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Dr. Brind published a “comprehensive review and meta-analysis” on the ABC link in the British Medical Association’s epidemiology journal. In 1999, along with three physician colleagues, Dr. Brind founded the nonprofit Breast Cancer Prevention Institute in Poughkeepsie, New York. In 2003, he was appointed to a three-year term on the federal advisory committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the early detection and control of breast and cervical cancer. His most recent paper, which critically reviews ABC-link research published over the last decade, appears in the winter 2005 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

Margarida Castel-Branco, PhD (Coimbra, Portugal)
Dr. Margarida Castel-Branco is graduated in Pharmaceutical Sciences and PhD in Pharmacy, specialized in Pharmacology, by the Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal. Member of the Portuguese Society of Pharmacology, Dr. Margarida is Professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Universidade de Coimbra, and has several scientific papers published in international medical journals. Lately, Dr. Castel-Branco has been working on the topic of contraception and has published various articles, on a national level, concerning the oral emergency contraception.

Priscilla Coleman, PhD (Virginia, USA)
Dr. Priscilla Coleman is Professor in Life-Span Developmental Psychology by West Virginia University. Member of the American Psychological Society, the American Psychological Association and the Society for Research in Child Development, Dr. Coleman teaches as an Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the School of Family and Consumer Sciences, in Bowling Green State University, Ohio. One of her main research interests is the post-abortion emotional sequelae. Among Dr. Coleman’s research projects and grants we find “The Choice to Abort Among Mothers Living Under Ecologically Deprived Conditions: Predictors and Consequences” and “The Choice to Abort vs. Deliver During Adolescence: Personal and Social Predictors and Consequences”. She has authored a number of books and review articles on induced abortion and mental health.

Vincent M. Rue, PhD (Florida, USA)
Dr. Rue is the Co-Director of the Institute for Pregnancy Loss in Jacksonville, Florida, an independent non-profit research & treatment center. He serves as Co-Director with his wife, Dr. Susan Stanford-Rue. Dr. Rue received his PhD in Child Development & Family Relations from the University of North Carolina in 1975. For 30 years Dr. Rue has been a practicing psychotherapist and has served on the faculty of California State University at Los Angeles and United States International University in San Diego. In 1981 Dr. Rue provided the first clinical evidence of postabortion trauma, identifying this psychological condition as "Postabortion Syndrome" in testimony before the U.S. Congress. During the Reagan Administration, he was a special consultant to the U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop on abortion morbidity. Currently, Dr. Rue serves as a litigation consultant assisting numerous offices of the state Attorney General in abortion & family related statutory challenges. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and a Member of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. He has lectured throughout the United States, and has also presented in North and South America, Europe and Asia. Dr. Rue has authored one book and numerous professional journal articles on the topic of postabortion trauma and has been the principal investigator of the International Pregnancy Loss Research Project.