Diagnostic Medical Sonography News February 2020 | Page 4

Departments
OB/GYN
The Fetal Medicine
Foundation
The Fetal Medicine Foundation is a UK-based charity that aims to foster
knowledge about pregnancies and newborn babies. The Fetal Medicine Centre,
which provides professional care to pregnant women, created this Foundation
and donates its profits to them. They are a dedicated organization that invests
in research, which enables them to share findings with healthcare professionals
and parents alike. Their goal is to improve the overall health of pregnant women
and their babies. To accomplish this, their website provides information and
free, online courses, which are available to anyone looking to expand their
knowledge of fetal medicine.
The educational aspect of their site makes the Fetal Medicine Foundation
very different from other organizations. They currently offer six different
courses (available in several languages), which are several hours long and can
be taken in multiple sessions. Some of the available courses include “Fetal
Abnormalities,” “The 11 to 13 Weeks Scan” and “Cervical Assessment.” As many
of the courses are ultrasound-based, it seems that they would only be useful
to medical professionals; however, this is not the case. They also help parents
to understand what they are looking at during appointments. In some cases,
developing a basic understanding of the information provided in these courses
could be lifesaving to a mother and her baby.
With the help of grants totaling more than £23 million, the Foundation has also
supported a plethora of research and training over the last 20 years. Research
has focused on preventable and treatable conditions, such as the early diagnosis
of fetal abnormalities, chromosomal defect screening and the development of
safer techniques for prenatal diagnosis. They have also looked at ways to predict
and prevent preeclampsia, preterm birth and stillbirth. On top of that, the Fetal
Medicine Foundation donated £22 million to the King’s College Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust, which invested the funds in fetal medicine services.
It is clear that the Fetal Medicine Foundation goes above and beyond to achieve
their goal of helping people across the world gather more information about
pregnancies and newborn babies.
Lauren and Stephanie
Program Intern
References
The Fetal Medicine Foundation website. https://fetalmedicine.org
Diagnostic
Medical
Sonography