The relationship between science and religion: A contentious and complex issue facing gynaecology and obstetrics

Is 'Gynae & Obs' really the kind of specialism where experts should be informed by amateurs?

Keith S. Taber

The 9th International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics sounds like a pretty serious sort of conference where medical practitioners and researchers might wish to focus on the latest developments in research and practice.

Recollecting medical training

So, on the face of it,  I am probably not an obvious candidate to be an invited speaker. My best qualification for this role is sharing a flat for a year with two medical students undertaking their clinical post-graduate work, giving me some insight into that community.

I would say they were training to become 'doctors', but at Nottingham, at least, those successfully completing their BSc then proceeded to undertake a carousel of specialist placements (each about 6 weeks, as I recall) to work towards two further bachelor's degrees, of surgery, and medicine.

This was a fascinating process for an outsider (I was in my final year of a chemistry degree) to observe, as each specialism seemed to involve about a month or so of intense experience working as part of a medical (or surgical) team – in effect working in legitimate peripheral practice as the most junior members of a professional community headed by a consultant; followed by some days of exam. preparation (and, typically, very little sleep); and then finally a few days of (depending on the individual) either intense sleep, or, more commonly, hedonistic-induced stupor.

The process seemed to be a cycle of extreme extended stress, punctuated with occasional release, and designed mainly to ensure those making it through could cope with anything later practice might present to them. I seem to recall that the 'gynae and obs' placement offered particular challenges as the student was expected to participate in a minimum number of deliveries during their time with the team – which relied on the expectant mothers and due babies fitting with the training schedule, something that could not be taken for granted.

My talk will be one of the highlights of the congress

Despite my recollections of time 'in the field' (and a flat shared with medics seemed to fit that description at times) as an informal anthropologist, I am still not convened that qualifies me to talk to a conference of gynaecologists and obstetricians. So, the invitation from the programme coordinator of the 9th International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics seemed a little misplaced.

Whilst it is nice to be told that:

"You are an internationally acclaimed scholar assuredly and have made a great contribution to this field. Your participation as Speaker will be among the highlights of the conference."

that does not make it an accurate evaluation.

It was suggested that I might

"present a talk on 'The Relationship Between Science and Religion: A Contentious and Complex Issue Facing Science Education' "

which would be feasible, as I have written a book chapter with the very title "The Relationship Between Science and Religion: A Contentious and Complex Issue Facing Science Education"!

What worries me is that, should I present on that topic – and the invitation suggests the Congress is not virtual, but in Lisbon in July; whereas I am in the third English 'lockdown' of the current pandemic and have not left Cambourne in about 6 months, so that does not look a likely opportunity – although the talk might be a highlight for me, listening to someone present about science and religion in science education would, at best, be light entertainment for most of the "Doctors, Nurses, Professors, Scientists, Researchers, Students, and other healthcare professionals" keen to learn about the latest developments in Gynae & Obs.

I can only conclude that despite its impressive title, the  9th International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics is another of those predatory conferences that have become legion in recent years, where extracting conference fees to profit the organisers is the main purpose, not the sharing of scholarship, research and good practice.

(Read about 'Conferences and poor academic practice')

 

Update at 28th April

A further invitation came today – although strangely the 9th INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF GYNAECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS (ICGO-2022) seems to have been re-branded as… The 8th International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics-2022.

The programme appears to be filling up. Presumably enough of these invitations are getting to people who are actually in the field who are enticed and consider this a genuine specialist conference. At least, the names and titles seem authentic:

Vitamin D supplementation during Pregnancy: What Do We Know?: Dr. David F. Lewis, Professor and Dean of School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Shreveport, USA

Nomogram based on Radiomics Analysis of Primary Breast Cancer Ultrasound Images: Prediction of Axillary Lymph Node Tumor Burden in Patients: Dr. Qingli Zhu, Professor, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, China

Hypertensive Complications of Pregnancy in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): Dr. Natalia Kozlovskaya, Professor, RUDN University, Russia

Assay for Fetal Hemoglobin RBCs: Impact of IVD Regulations and Expanded Applications into Sickle Cell Disease Management: Dr. Bruce H. Davis, Professor, University of Porto, Portugal

Fetal Cardiac Alteration in Intrauterine Growth Restriction: Dr. Fabio Ruiz Moraes, Professor, Federal University of Tocantins, Brazil

Labor Induction of Oral Misoprostol Solution for Term Pregnancy: Dr. Xiu Wang, Director of Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Affiliated Guangren Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, China

Nuchal Cord Is Not Associated with Prolonged Labor or Higher Cesarean Section Rate: Dr. Kimitoshi Imai, Director, Imai OB/GYN Clinic, Japan

Umbilical Vein Varix vs Persistent Extrahepatic Vitelline Vein Aneurysm" Dr. Il Woon Ji, Professor, Chungbuk national University, South Korea

Stimulation Options for Poor Responders Based on New Insights in Follicular Development: Dr. Peter Kovacs, Medical Director, Kaali Institute IVF Center, Hungary

"Seat to Eat" – Infant Feeding Position and Prevention of Ear & Respiratory Disease: Dr. Efrat Danino, Director of the Academic Campus of Nursing, Shamir Medical Center, Israel

Platelet Aggregation and Acetylsalicylic Acid Treatment during Pregnancy in Women with Recurrent Miscarriages: Dr. Lennart Blomqvist, University of Gothenburg, Sodra Alvsborg Hospital, Sweden

Isolated Large Vulvar Varicose Veins in a Non-pregnant Woman: Dr. Abdullah M. Alwahbi, Associate Professor, King Saud University for Health Sciences, Saudi Arabia

This only makes me even more convinced that those who are attending really do not want to hear about "The Relationship Between Science and Religion: A Contentious and Complex Issue Facing Science Education"!

Update at 28th July

The International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics seem keen for me to give a speech at their meeting, as I've had a further follow-up invitation:

It is clearly not as obvious to the conference organisers, as it seems to me, that 'The Relationship Between Science and Religion: A Contentious and Complex Issue Facing Science Education' does not really fit in the remit of a meeting on Gynecology & Obstetrics. So, I've asked for clarification:

Dear Cathy

Thank you for your kind and creative invitation on behalf of the Congress committee for me to give a speech at The 8th International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics-2022.

You have suggested that I might talk about "The Relationship Between Science and Religion: A Contentious and Complex Issue Facing Science Education" which would indeed, in principle, be a feasible title for me to talk to.

However, you also tell me that "The purpose of the three-day conference is to highlight the innovative treatments of Gynecology & Obstetrics diseases" and that "the program will focus on topics such as General Gynecology, Gynecologic Oncology, Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Obstetric Medicines, and Reproductive Medicine, etc". Those themes seem eminently sensible for a conference on gynaecology and obstetrics.

Perhaps I am being unhelpfully linear in my thinking, but I am struggling to see why a talk on the relationship between science and religion in the context of science teaching might contribute to delegates' discourse about the innovative treatments of gynaecological and obstetric conditions. Perhaps you would kind enough to explain the link? I would like to think that delegates might be fascinated by the mooted topic, which is of course of great importance in science education around the world. But I also suspect that colleagues interested in learning about innovative treatments of diseases, and giving up time from their busy schedules as clinicians, researchers and practitioners concerned with gynaecology and obstetrics, might feel that the conference programme would be better populated with talks about, well, "innovative treatments of gynaecology & obstetrics diseases".

So, I would very much appreciate learning more about your thinking about why the committee believes that my giving an invited speech would be especially pertinent at a conference on gynaecology and obstetrics. You will appreciate I need to protect my limited time and energy, and whilst I am open to giving occasional talks presenting on topics where I have some expertise to audiences with a genuine interest in my work, I would need some persuading that the delegates at your conference would have any professional interest in this topic. The International Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetric committee (which seems to include many eminent people in the field*) would seem to have identified a connection here between my work and gynaecology and obstetrics that I have been missing. I look forward to learning about their insightful rationale in issuing this imaginative invitation.

Best wishes

Keith

I will see if I get any kind of explanation by way of response.

* I do not personally know people in this field, but the conference website [https://www.bitcongress.com/icgo2022-europe/ProgramCommittee.asp] gives a long list of people who seem to be genuine professioanals in areas related to reproductive health (as listed below). A websearch of several of these names suggests they do serious and important work, and it seems unlikely such people would knowingly give their names to give credence to a predatory conference.

• Dr. A. A. W. Peters, Professor, Leiden University Medical Centre, the Netherlands
• Dr. Amy S. Yee, Professor, Tufts University School of Medicine, USA
• Dr. Brennan D. Peterson, Assistant Professor, Chapman University, USA
• Dr. Chan Celia Hoi-yan, Assistant Professor, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
• Dr. Denise Pugash, Clinical Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Dr. Denise Tahara, Assistant Professor, New York Medical College, USA
• Dr. Eric L. Jenison, Chairman, Akron General Medical Center, USA
• Dr. Esther Uña Cidón, Professor, Clinical University Hospital of Valladolid, Spain
• Dr. Fabio Ruiz Moraes, Professor, Federal University of Tocantins, Brazil
• Dr. Faye Cagayan, Associate Professor, University of the Philippines Manila College of Medicine, USA
• Dr. Gabor T Kovacs, Professor, Box Hill Hospital, Australia
• Dr. Gary R Morrow, Professor, University of Rochester Cancer Center, USA
• Dr. Geoffrey W. Cundiff, Professor, Head, University of British Columbia, Canada
• Dr. Gita Radhakrishnan, Professor, University College of Medical Sciences, India
• Dr. Göran Westman, Professor, Umeå University, Sweden
• Dr. Graeme Morgan, Associate Professor, Sydney IVF, Australia
• Dr. Hassan Noman Sallam, Professor, Alexandria University, Egypt
• Dr. Horacio Croxatto, Professor, Chilean Institute of Reproductive Medicine, Chile
• Dr. Jennifer Salerno, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan School of Nursing, USA
• Dr. Joann Bodurtha, Visiting Professor, Pediatric Geneticist, Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, USA
• Dr. John Yovich, Director, PIVET Medical Centre, Australia
• Dr. Joong Sub Choi, Professor, Director, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Korea
• Dr. Jürgen Engel, President, Aeterna Zentaris Inc. USA
• Dr. Kathie Records, Associate Professor, Arizona State University, USA
• Dr. Kenneth Foster, Associate Professor, Texas Woman's University, USA
• Dr. Kristi Watson Kelley, Associate Clinical Professor, Clinical Pharmacist, Auburn University, USA
• Dr. Le Mai Tu, Professor, University of Sherbrooke, Canada
• Dr. Lily Wu, Professor, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, USA
• Dr. Lisa McKenna, Associate Professor, Monash University, Australia
• Dr. Mahesh Shetty, Clinical Professor, Chief Physician, Women's Center for Breast Care & MRI, Baylor College of Medicine, USA
• Dr. Mary L. Chavez, Professor, Texas AM Health Science Center, USA
• Dr. Margaret Kemeny, Professor, Queens Hospital Center, USA
• Dr. Matthew W. Gillman, Professor, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, USA
• Dr. Mehmet Uzumcu, Associate Professor, The State University of New Jersey, USA
• Dr. Meleesa Schultz, Senior Resident Medical Officer, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Australia
• Dr. Mike A Smith, Professor, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
• Dr. Maurice Bucagu, Medical Officer, World Health Organization, Switzerland
• Dr. Molina B. Dayal, Associate Professor, George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates, USA
• Dr. Padma T Uppala, Associate Professor, Loma Linda University, USA
• Dr. Peter Temple-Smith, Associate Professor, Monash University, Australia
• Dr. Red M Alinsod,Program Director and Chairman, South Coast Urogynecology, USA
• Dr. Rodney E Phillips, Professor, Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, UK
• Dr. Ruola Ning, Radiology Professor, Electrical and Comp University of Rochester, USA
• Dr. Sabine de Muinck Keizer, Associate Professor, ErasmusMC/Sophia Children's Hospital, The Netherlands
• Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, Associate Professor, Mayo Clinic, USA
• Dr. Shabih U. Hasan, Professor, University of Calgary, Canada
• Dr. Suling Liu, Research Investigator, University of Michigan, USA
• Dr. Terence H Hull, Professor, Australian National University, Australia
• Dr. Terry Lichtor, Associate Professor, Department of Neurosurgery, Rush University Medical Center, USA
• Dr. Therese Hesketh, Professor, University College London, UK
• Dr. Tim Mould, Consultant Gynaecologist, Royal Free Hospital, UK
• Dr. Xi Huang, Professor, Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine and NYU Cancer Institute, USA
• Dr. Xinguang Chen, Professor, Wayne State University, USA
• Dr. Ying Huang, Associate Professor, State University of New York, Upstate Medical University, USA
• Dr. Yihong Wang, Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, USA
• Dr. Yunhan Hong, Professor, National University of Singapore, Singapore
• Dr. Yung-Feng Yen, Director, Taipei City Hospital, Taiwan
• Dr. Zhonghong Eric Guan, Head, Emerging Market Business Unit at Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, USA