SIGNEC and Neonatal QI & Innovation Conference 2025

SIGNEC 2025 and Neonatal QI & Innovation Conference

22 – 23 May 2025 London Online Participation Available! British Summer Time (BST), GMT +1

Day 1: SIGNEC 2025 Conference
SIGNEC includes neonatologists, paediatricians, surgeons, nurses, dieticians, transfusion medicine specialists, epidemiologists, basic science researchers, trainees and other healthcare professionals with an interest in NEC and health improvement.
The aim is to facilitate knowledge sharing, networking and collaboration to optimise research and improvements in practice.
Make a difference by sharing your thoughts and passion and contributing your expertise
Day 2: Neonatal QI & Innovation Conference
The Neonatal QI & Innovation Conference will provide delegates with an opportunity to understand better national and global priorities for improvement in neonatal care and outcomes. We will also showcase key areas of neonatal innovation through oral presentations and abstracts and involve the audience to explore key issues related to neonatal QI & Innovation, recent advances in monitoring, diagnostics and other relevant aspects of Neonatal Care.
We have invited the Neonatal teams from across the world to showcase their innovation & improvement work.
The conference will also provide an excellent opportunity to our industry partners to share the latest advances in monitoring, diagnostics & the latest technology for the improvement of neonatal outcomes.
 
+ Topics:
*Note: these are continuous video recordings during the conference, they include individual lectures mentioned in the Detail section below
May 22 Session 1 Part 1.mp4
May 22 Session 1 Part 2.mp4
May 22 Session 2.mp4
May 22 Session 3 & Best NEC Abstracts for oral presentation.mp4
May 23 Session 1.mp4
May 23 Session 2 & Oral presentations (Best abstracts on Neonatal QI & Innovation).mp4
Scientific Programme.pdf
 
 
* Detail:

22 May

09:15 – 09:30 Welcome and plan for the day Minesh Khashu Consultant in Neonatal Medicine, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust, U.K.

09:30 – 13:45 Session 1 Chairs: Minesh Khashu and Jan Hulscher

09:30 – 10:00 He may not survive the journey Claire Power, mother of Tom Óg
10:00 – 10:35 Next Generation Probiotic Therapy for NEC: From Bench to Bedside) Gail Besner H. William Clatworthy Jr., Professor of Surgery Chief, Department of Pediatric Surgery Principal Investigator Center for Perinatal Research Nationwide Children’s Hospital Research Institute

10:35 – 11:10 Biomarkers for NEC: Challenges and opportunities Misty Good, MD, MS Division Chief, Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine Department of PediatricsbUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

11:10 – 11:45 Break

11:45 – 12:20 Bioactives in Preterm Human Milk: Proteins and Peptides Shaping Neonatal Outcomes Across Lactation Phases Hala Chaaban, MD Associate Professor Department of Pediatrics and Nutritional Sciences The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center at OU Health

12:20 – 12:55 Genetic architecture of necrotizing enterocolitis susceptibility in preterm infants – a whole exome sequencing study Venkatesh Sampath Professor of Pediatrics/Neonatology Sosland Chair in Neonatal Research Director of Neonatal Diseases Research Program Children’s Mercy Hospital

12:55 – 13:45 Lunch & Industry Exhibition

13:45 – 18:00 Session 2 Chairs: Gail Besner & Venkatesh Sampath

13:45 – 14:20 Understanding Red Cell Transfusion-Related Effects on Intestinal Oxygenation, Inflammation and Injury Ravi Mangal Patel, MD, MSc Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Research, Division of Neonatology Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

14:20 – 14:55 Exclusive human milk diet in preterm infants – fact or fiction? Boris Kramer University of Poznan, Poland, Neuroplast BV

14:55 – 15:45 Poster Presentation

15:45 – 16:15 Tea/Coffee

16:00 – 17:55 Session 3 Chairs: David J. Hackam & Minesh Khashu
16:15 – 16:30 Impact of Diet and Anemia on Intestinal Inflammation in Preterm Infants Ravi Mangal Patel Professor of Pediatrics and Director of Clinical Research, Division of Neonatology Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta

16:30 – 16:45 Hyaluronan in NEC: Exploring Epithelial Responses and Therapeutic Potential Hala Chaaban

16:45 – 17:00 Cellular and Molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of NEC David Hackam

17:00 – 17:40 New concepts, approaches and techniques in the surgical management of NEC) David J. Hackam, MD, PhD, FACS Pediatric Surgeon-in-Chief and Co-Director, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Garrett Professor and Chief of Pediatric Surgery, Professor of Surgery, Pediatrics and Cell Biology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children’s Center, USA

17:40 – 17:55 NEC and stem cells – critical review of the preclinical models Boris Kramer University of Poznan, Poland, Neuroplast BV
18:00 – 18:15 COLLABORATE STUDY Neena Modi, UK

18:20 – 19:05 Best NEC Abstracts for oral presentation Session chairs: Ravi Patel & Boris Kramer

18:20 – 18:35 Infant donors recruited and screened for fecal filtrate transfers to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis in the PrePhage pilot trial Gustav Riemer Jakobsen
18:35 – 18:50 Hyperoxia Decreases Stem Cells and Enhances Epithelial Differentiation in the Premature Intestine Amy O’Connell

18:50 – 19:05 Epidemiology of necrotizing enterocolitis in Switzerland Ulf Kessler

19:15 Reception at the venue (Park Plaza Victoria London)

23 May

09:00 – 09:10 Welcome and plan for the day

09:10 – 09:45 QI & Innovation Minesh Khashu Consultant in Neonatal Medicine, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust Session 1 Chairs: Minesh Khashu & Mandy Daly

09:45 – 10:30 Touching Lives, Impacting Lifetimes: Trauma Informed Care in the NICU Mary Coughlin MS-NNP, RNC-E Trauma Informed Professional, Caritas Coach President & Founder Caring Essentials Collaborative, LLC

10:30 – 11:00 Adult Premie Advocacy Network Lauren Ingledow, Founder

11:00 – 11:30 Break

11:30 – 12:00 Human Factors: Jointly Improving System Performance and Human Wellbeing in Healthcare Paul Bowie Safety Scientist/Medical Educator/Chartered Ergonomist & Human Factors Specialist Glasgow, United Kingdom

12:00 – 12:30 Addressing health disparities in the neonatal unit Jochen Profit, MD, MPH Wendy J. Tomlin Professor of Pediatrics Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine Stanford University

12:30 – 13:00 Panel discussion on QI & Innovation in Neonatal care Minesh Khashu; Fiona Metcalfe, Chair of the National Neonatal Surgical Interest Group (NNSIG), UK; Mandy Daly; Jochen Profit

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch & Industry Exhibition Session 2 Session Chairs: Minesh Khashu

14:00 – 14:30 Medication Errors in NICU Karel Allegaert Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, and Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Belgium; Department of Hospital Pharmacy, Erasmus MC, The Netherlands.

14:30 – 15:00 Panel discussion on Neonatal Drug Development Karel Allegaert, Minesh Khashu Dina Apele Freimane, neonatologist, member of the Paediatric Committee (PDCO) at EMA and Chair of the PDCO neonatal expert group

15:00 – 15:45 Poster presentations QI & Innovation

15:45 – 16:15 Tea/Coffee

16:15 – 17:15 Oral presentations (Best abstracts on Neonatal QI & Innovation) Session Chairs: Karel Allegaert & Jochen Profit

16:15 – 16:30 Flow-Rate Variability in Neonatal IV Therapy: From Unseen Risks to Sensor-Guided Solutions Matheus Van Rens

16:30 – 16:45 A Systematic Review on the use of Artificial Intelligence in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: far beyond the potential impact Pilar Saenz

16:45 – 17:00 Use of maternal sounds in Nicu- a review of the scientific literature Christelle Sanchez

17:00 – 17:15 Transforming Trauma with Love, Safety, and Science Yamile Jackson

17:15 – 17:30 Wrap up and concluding remarks Minesh Khashu