We have amazing support!
NOFASD Australia is proud to have the support of dedicated and passionate International Ambassadors. These individuals share their experiences with other countries around the world so that we can all work together, sharing research knowledge and developing better services for people living with FASD, and their parents or carers who may be experiencing difficulties due to the effects of this disability. The growth over recent years has been incredible – from just 10 years ago when there were few diagnostic criteria available – to now when we are beginning to see research findings that are likely to make diagnosis much easier in the future, which will also enable earlier provision of appropriate support services.
NOFASD Australia is committed to ensuring that all people affected by FASD are provided with the best possible support and services. We work hard to raise awareness of FASD and its effects, as well as promote best practice in diagnosis, management and prevention. Our hope is that by working together, we can make a real difference in the lives of those affected by FASD.
Meet our International Ambassadors.
Kenneth Lyons Jones
M.D.
Dr. Kenneth Lyons Jones is a world-renowned pediatrician, dysmorphologist, teratologist and researcher in the field of birth defects. He is a Distinguished Professor and Chief of the Division of Dysmorphology and Teratology in the Department of Paediatrics, School of Medicine at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Jones is actively involved in research, clinical services, training and education, and policy focused on the clinical delineation, diagnosis and prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes and birth defects resulting from environmental exposures. He is also founder and medical director of MotherToBaby California, a teratogen information service that provides women and clinicians individualized assessments regarding the safety of exposures in pregnancy and lactation.
Since first describing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in 1973 with David W. Smith, M.D., Dr. Jones has made extensive contributions to the prevention, improved diagnosis, and treatment of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) through his research efforts and clinical care. He has trained physicians from all over the world in the diagnosis of FASDs and has organized FASD evaluation programs worldwide. Currently, he is head of the Dysmorphology Research Resource, which is part of the larger National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism consortium studying this disorder.
Dr. Jones has authored over 250 publications in scientific journals and is the author of Smith’s Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation, now in its 7th edition. Dr. Jones is a former president of the Western Society for Paediatric Research, the Teratology Society, and the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists and is currently a member of the Association of American Physicians. Research Professor, School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina
Dr Christina Chambers
Director of Clinical Research
Dr Chambers is a professor of paediatrics at the University of California, San Diego and Director of Clinical Research for the Department of Paediatrics at UCSD and Rady Children’s Hospital. She is a perinatal epidemiologist whose research is focused on environmental exposures and pregnancy and child health outcomes, including birth defects. She co-directs the Centre for the Promotion of Maternal Health and Infant Development in the Department of Paediatrics at UCSD and is the Program Director of Mother To Baby California – a telephone-based service providing individualised risk assessments for pregnant women and their providers in the State of California. Her international clinical research projects are focused on addressing medication and vaccine safety in pregnancy as well as FASD, and involve studies focused on prevention and intervention in Ukraine, Russia and South Africa, with collaborations in Australia and Poland.
Professor Albert Chudley
MD, FRCPC, FCCMG, Professor Emeritus
Professor Albert (Ab) Chudley graduated in Medicine at the University of Manitoba in 1974 and has specialty certifications in Paediatrics, Clinical Genetics and Medical Genetics. He trained in paediatrics, neonatology and genetics at Children’s Hospital Winnipeg, University of Manitoba, the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto and Magee-Women’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Chudley is a Professor Emeritus in the Departments of Paediatrics and Child Health and the Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics at the University of Manitoba. He is a former Medical Director of the Program in Genetics and Metabolism in the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority the Health Sciences Centre and Children’s Hospital of Winnipeg. His clinical and research interests are in the areas of recognition, delineation and prevention of birth defects, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities including autism spectrum disorders, syndrome and gene discovery. Currently his interests are in genetic and epigenetic factors in FASD. He has published extensively in the area of medical genetics with over 260 peer reviewed articles, 180 conference abstracts, scores of reports, 27 book chapters and the book Basic Concepts in Teratology.
He has taught and supervised students at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels on the topics of genetics, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, neonatology, paediatrics and ethics. He led in the development of the core curriculum for all postgraduate residents at the University of Manitoba. He has served as a member of the FAS advisory committee to Health Canada and subsequently the Public Health Agency Canada where he co-led the development of the 2005 FASD Diagnostic Guidelines and co-authored the 2016 Guidelines update. Professor Chudley has been a consultant to national and international bodies related to FASD diagnosis and management. He was co-lead in the FASD arm of the Centre of Excellence funded NeuroDevNet research program (now Kids Brain Health). He has served the community as a leader or member of several local and national boards.
Professor Chudley has earned numerous awards and distinctions, including the service recognition award from St. Amant, the Medical Staff Person of the Year Award from the Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg and the Manitoba Service Excellence Award. He was the recipient of the André Boivin Award for his work in Maternal/Fetal Toxicology. In 2008 he was the recipient of the Founders Award from the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists, an award in recognition of “outstanding achievement and exceptional commitment to Medical Genetics” by his peers. He lives with his wife in semi-retirement in Winnipeg. He has 5 children and 13 grandchildren, so his life remains busy and fulfilling.
Professor Philip May
Research Professor
Research Professor, School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina
Professor Philip A. May is an American Demographer/Epidemiologist who has studied fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and overseen the implementation and evaluation of FASD prevention and intervention programs in the United States, South Africa, and Italy since 1980.
He currently serves as a Professor in the Gillings School of Global Public Health of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (USA) working from the UNC Nutrition Research Institute. He also holds other academic titles. He is a Professor Emeritus from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA); Extraordinary Professor, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Cape Town, Western Cape Province (South Africa); and Adjunct Professor of Paediatrics, Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (USA).
Professor May began his professional career in public health as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Public Health Service working for the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and the U.S. Indian Health Service in several States across America. His decades-long commitment to FASD research and prevention stems from both personal and professional experience with children with FASD and their mothers. In 1980 he directed and carried out the first population-based epidemiology study of fetal alcohol syndrome in the United States, working with and among Native American Tribes in the rural Southwestern United States. After the results of that first study were published in 1983, he and his multidisciplinary team of dedicated and talented professionals have carried out many other studies of the prevalence and characteristics of children with FASD and maternal risk factors. Nine such studies have been completed in the Western Cape Province of South Africa, two in the Lazio Region of Italy, and twelve studies in three different regions of the United States. Prof. May directed the National Indian Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Program from 1983 – 87, and has been the principal investigator of several recent community-wide FASD prevention efforts in the USA and South Africa.
“The public health importance of preventing prenatal alcohol use throughout the world cannot be underestimated. My hope, and that of all of the dedicated professionals with whom I work, is that every single child in the world will be born unexposed to alcohol in the prenatal period.”
Professor Jeffrey Wozniak
PhD, LP
Division Director – Academic and Clinical Psychology Department of Psychiatry University of Minnesota
Dr. Wozniak is a clinical paediatric neuropsychologist at the University of Minnesota whose research is focused on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. He directs the University’s FASD Research Program which conducts neuroimaging, neurocognitive, and intervention studies in FASD. He is the past-president of the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Study Group (FASDSG). Dr. Wozniak’s research group is also part of the Collaborative Initiative on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (CIFASD). His recent efforts have included a randomized controlled trial of choline supplementation in children with FASD – the goal of which is to develop a treatment for the neurodevelopmental aspects of the disorder. Dr. Wozniak and his team work closely with their colleagues in the Minnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (MOFAS) to inform the local community about the dangers of prenatal alcohol exposure and to train physicians and other professionals in diagnosing and assisting affected individuals.
Dr Nancy Poole
PhD, MA
Dr Nancy Poole is the Prevention Lead for the CanFASD Research Network guiding a pan-Canadian network of researchers, service providers, policy analysts and community-based advocates working on FASD prevention. Nancy is also the Director of the Centre of Excellence for Women’s Health (CEWH), a virtual, non-profit research centre known internationally for its leadership in gender and health. In her role as Director of CEWH, Nancy leads knowledge translation, network development, and research related to improving policy and service provision for girls and women facing a range of health and social concerns, including substance use problems. In the past decade Nancy has had over 125 academic papers, technical reports and book chapters published, and has co-authored 5 books on the topics of trauma-informed practice, gender-transformative responses to substance use, health promotion and transdisciplinarity. Nancy participates on Canadian and international research teams studying Indigenous approaches to FASD prevention and healing from substance use concerns, and strives to be a solid ally in research, practice and policy initiatives undertaken with Indigenous partners. Overall, Nancy is known as a catalyst for bringing knowledge to practice to make social change designed to improve the lives of girls and women with substance use concerns.
Dr Svetlana Popova
MD, PhDs, MPH
Dr. Svetlana Popova, MD, PhDs, MPH is a Senior Scientist at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) which is the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) / World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre. She is also an Associate Professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health Epidemiology Division and at the Factor Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She has an appointment as a Graduate Faculty Associate Member with the Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto.
Dr. Popova’s research focuses on substance abuse and disease burden, and evidence-based policy development. She has a particular interest in the epidemiology, economic cost, prevention and intervention strategies related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Currently, Dr. Popova is leading one of the largest studies, guided by the WHO and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), on determining the global prevalence of FASD among children in low- and middle-income countries of Eastern and Central Europe, Africa, and Canada (with more countries to join within the next five years). Dr. Popova was a principal investigator of the Canadian component of this study which is part of the National Strategic Projects Fund in Canada. She was also a principal investigator of the study on estimating the burden and economic cost associated with FASD in Canada, supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Dr. Popova has been published in high-impact journals such as the Lancet, The Lancet Global Health, JAMA Paediatrics, International Journal of Epidemiology, American Journal of Epidemiology, and Addiction. Her research is widely read and cited.
Dr. Popova collaborates on the Global Burden of Disease studies (GBD) on alcohol consumption as a risk factor for burden of disease. She was also one of the conductors of the second Canadian Cost Study on Substance Abuse and Avoidable Cost of Alcohol Abuse in Canada.
Dr Raja Mukherjee
Psychiatrist
Dr Raja Mukherjee is an Adult Learning Disability Consultant Psychiatrist for Surrey and Border’s Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, with interest in the management of developmental disorders across the lifespan. In September 2009 he started the first NHS based specialist Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders behavioural clinic and since then has seen over 150 cases for specialist second opinion as a National referral service. Dr Mukherjee completed his PhD on the subject of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in 2014.
He has also acted as an invited advisor to the BMA board of science, The Department of Health and the World Health Organisation on the subject of FASD. In 2015 Dr Mukherjee also gave evidence to the first All Party Parliamentary Group on FASD at the House of commons.
He is currently Clinical Lead for Adult Neurodevelopmental Services provided by Surrey and Borders including Adult ASD and ADHD services across Surrey, Hampshire and Portsmouth. He is a member and academic secretary of the RCPsych SIG on neurodevelopmental disorders.
Dr Christine Loock
Associate Professor, Paediatrics
Dr. Christine Loock MD, FRCPC, DABP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia (UBC). A graduate of Harvard Medical School, she is a Developmental Paediatrician at BC Children’s Hospital and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children. For over two decades, her clinical and research work has improved the recognition, treatment and prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). She is the Medical Director of the provincial Cleft Palate/Craniofacial Program at BC Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Loock has been recognized by her peers as an expert in the fields of FASD prevention and inter-professional education. Dr. Loock served on the Health Canada National Advisory Committee on FASD, and is a co-author of the first Canadian Guidelines for FASD Diagnosis (CMAJ 2005) and its recent nationally revised edition (CMAJ 2016). Dr. Loock is also the specialist practice and education lead for the Social Paediatrics “RICHER” (responsive, interdisciplinary/intersectoral, child/community, health, education, & research) Program which has increased primary and specialized health service accessibility for vulnerable children and families. She coordinates the SPOCK team (Specialist Physician Outreach Consultations for Kids) in which paediatricians and other specialists ensure their services are brought to the people in easy access community venues (e.g., daycares, schools, community services, and non-profit family agencies) assisting those most in need.
Dr. Loock’s current clinical and research work focuses on socially vulnerable children and youth, with special focus on those with neurodevelopmental disorders, sleep disorders, birth defects, FASD and other craniofacial conditions (e.g. cleft palate). Dr. Loock’s publications represent collaborative, multi-year studies.
