2003
The first presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 24, 2003, in Mainz, Germany, at the opening session of the 9th International Federation of Placenta Associations / 10th European Placenta Group Meeting. In recognition of her high scientific achievement the award was presented to Dr. Vicki L. Clifton, PhD
( https://www.linkedin.com/in/vicki-clifton-69b500145 ), scientist at the Mothers and Babies Research Centre, John Hunter Hospital (Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia) by Prof. Dr. Leslie Myatt, IFPA president (Cincinnati, Ohio, USA), Prof. Dr. Donald W. Morrish, IFPA Gábor Than Award Committee chairman (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Clifton reported her pioneering findings on the effects on the unity of the maternal and fetal organism and the placenta, and on their interaction’s regulation of fetal growth in an opening session presentation entitled Maternal asthma model for the effects of inflammation on human fetal growth. Her review was published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2004
IFPA Gábor Than Awardees
2006
The second presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 6, 2006, in Kobe, Japan, at the 12th International Federation of Placenta Associations / 14th Meeting of the Japan Placenta Association / 24th Meeting of the Japan Trophoblast Disease Study Group. In recognition of his scientific achievements in the field of placentology, the award was presented to Dr. Ian Crocker, PhD
( https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/ian.crocker.html ), scientist of the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Division of Human Development, University of Manchester (Manchester, UK) by Prof. Dr. Gregory Rice, IFPA president (Melbourne, Australia) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Crocker presented his pivotal findings and current opinions on the changes of trophoblast cell turnover in pre-eclampsia under the title of „Pre-eclampsia and villous trophoblast turnover: perspectives and possibilities”. This excellent work was published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2007
2008
The third presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 12, 2008, in Seggau Castle, Austria, at the 14th Meeting of the International Federation of Placenta Associations. In recognition of her scientific achievements in the field of trophoblast research, the award was presented to Dr. Tereza Cindrova-Davies, PhD ( https://www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/people/tereza-cindrova-davies-dr ), scientist of the Centre for Trophoblast Research, University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, UK) by Prof. Dr. Gregory Rice, IFPA president (Melbourne, Australia) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Cindrova-Davies gave an excellent talk entitled „Pre-eclampsia – from placental oxidative stress to maternal endothelial dysfunction” on her outstanding findings on the effect of placental oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species on downstream stress-signalling pathways, which lead to the placental release of inflammatory mediators and the stimulation of a systemic maternal inflammatory reaction in preeclampsia. The summary of these results were published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2009.
2010
The fourth presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on October 21, 2010, in Santiago, Chile, at the 16th Meeting of the International Federation of Placenta Associations. In recognition of her achievements in the field of placental research, the award was presented to Dr. Lynda Harris, PhD ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynda-harris-37130147 ), scientist of the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group, University of Manchester (St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom) by Prof. Dr. Colin Sibley, IFPA president (Manchester, UK) and Prof. Dr. Martin Knöfler, president of the IFPA Award Committee (Vienna, Austria).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Harris gave an outstanding presentation entitled “Transformation of the spiral arteries in human pregnancy: key events in the remodelling timeline” on her fundamental findings on the complex interplay of cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions required for effective vascular transformation, with a particular focus on the role of uterine NK cells and matrix metalloproteinase-12. Her review on the topic was published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2011.
2012
The fifth presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 18, 2012, in Hiroshima, Japan, at the 18th Meeting of the International Federation of Placenta Associations. In recognition of her achievements in the field of placental research, the award was presented to
Dr. Karen Forbes, PhD ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-forbes-6228b530 ), scientist of the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group, University of Manchester (St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom) by Prof. Dr. Martin Knöfler, president of the IFPA Award Committee (Vienna, Austria) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, in her presentation entitled “Regulating the regulators: microRNA control of placental growth factor signalling” Dr. Forbes summarized her intriguing findings on the emerging role of microRNAs in regulating placental development. Details were provided on how growth factor signaling in the placenta is modulated by a variety of factors, including maternal growth factors, their receptors, as well as kinases and phosphatases in various trophoblastic signaling pathways, and how microRNAs regulate the levels of these proteins in the placenta. Her excellent review on the topic was published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2013.
2014
The sixth presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 11, 2014, in Paris, France, at the 2014 Meeting of the International Federation of Placenta Associations. In recognition of his achievements in the field of placental research, the award was presented to
Dr. Alexander Heazell, MBChB(Hons), PhD, MRCOG
( https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-heazell-91849a9 ), scientist of the Maternal and Fetal Health Research Group, University of Manchester (St Mary's Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom) by Prof. Dr. Yoshiki Kudo (Hiroshima, Japan) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Heazell gave an excellent presentation under the title of „Identification of placental failure – the key to saving babies’ lives?”. He summarized the current knowledge on placental failure, the situation where the placenta cannot meet the fetus' needs. Dr. Heazell also talked about novel approaches for the development of reliable tests for placental structure and function, coupled to assessment of fetal wellbeing, which offer new opportunities to identify pregnancies at risk of placental failure and to direct novel preventive and therapeutic strategies. This talk was published as a review article in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2015.
2016
The seventh presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 14, 2016, in Portland, USA, at the International Federation of Placenta Associations 2016 Meeting. In recognition of his scientific achievements, the award was presented to Dr. Sascha Drewlo, PhD
( https://www.linkedin.com/in/sdrewlo ), scientist of Wayne State University (Detroit, USA) by Prof. Dr. Claire Roberts, IFPA president (Adelaide, Australia), Prof. Dr. Thomas Jansson (Denver, USA) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Drewlo gave a great talk entitled “Quo Vadis, trophoblast? Exploring the new ways of an old cell lineage”. He discussed how extravillous trophoblast cells find their way into the reproductive tract, how they can be safely captured by noninvasive collection with a new technology that he and his collaborators have developed, and how these cells can be investigated to better understand their development, and to glean information from them about pregnancy status. The summary of these results was published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2017.
2018
The eighth presentation of the IFPA Gábor Than Award was made on September 24, 2018, in Tokyo, Japan, at the International Federation of Placenta Associations 2018 Meeting. In recognition of her scientific achievements in placentology, the award was presented to Dr. Tu'uhevaha Kaitu'u-Lino, PhD
( https://www.linkedin.com/in/tuuhevaha-kaituulino-609b911b7 ), scientist of the University of Melbourne (Melbourne, Australia) by Prof. Dr. Nick Illsley (New Jersey, USA) and Dr. Nándor Gábor Than (Pécs, Hungary).
​
After receiving the award, Dr. Kaitu’u-Lino gave an outstanding presentation under the title of „New diagnostics for placenta insufficiency”. She presented major results from her significant and internationally recognized contributions to the understanding of placentology, pregnancy complications and translational obstetrics, focusing on the discovery and clinical assessment of novel diagnostics for placenta insufficiency in preeclampsia. The summary of the lecture was published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2019.
2021
In recognition of his scientific achievements in placentology, Dr. Carlos Salomon, PhD ( https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-salomon-a4278986 ), senior research fellow at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) was selected by the IFPA Award Committee to receive the ninth IFPA Gábor Than Award. Dr. Salomon gave an outstanding awardee presentation on August 30, 2021 at the IFPA 2021 virtual meeting under the title of „Circulating small placental extracellular vesicles across gestation and their potential use as biomarkers and carry of therapeutic agents in pregnancy complications”. He summarized the key results of his line of investigations on the biology of extracellular vesicles as well as their diagnostic and therapeutic value in normal and diseased pregnancies. Due to the COVID pandemic and the virtual event, the presentation of his award will take place at the forthcoming regular IFPA meeting. The summary of the lecture is published in Placenta supplement Trophoblast Research in 2022.