Watch the Webinar
About the Webinar
The Compassionate Conversations series is aimed at highlighting effective techniques and answering questions on having sensitive conversations around difficult topics. For our sixth virtual conversation in this series, we will be focusing on patient-centered discussions regarding congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) and how health care professionals in obstetrics and gynecology can support their patients.
CMV can be contracted by people of all ages, potentially affecting hearing, cognition, and vision in newborns. Most people infected by CMV have no symptoms. However, CMV can be passed from a pregnant person to their fetus. About one in 200 infants are born with a congenital CMV infection; of those, about one in five will have birth defects or other long-term health problems. In this webinar, we hope to provide obstetric and gynecologic health care professionals and their patients with the tools to be confident in discussing congenital CMV in a sensitive and respectful manner.
References
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About Cytomegalovirus | CDC
We are grateful to Moderna for its support of the ACOG’s Compassionate Conversation series. ACOG is solely responsible for all content including speaker and facilitator selection.
All opinions discussed by the moderator and panelists are their own and not reflective of ACOG opinion.
Laura E. Riley, MD, FACOG
Obstetrician and Gynecologist in Chief, NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center
Given Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Weill Cornell Medicine
Laura E. Riley, MD, FACOG, is obstetrician and gynecologist in chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and Given Foundation professor and chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine. Dr. Riley leads the Alexandra Cohen Hospital for Women and Newborns and the obstetrics and gynecology enterprise at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, including obstetric and gynecologic services at NewYork- Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, and NewYork-Presbyterian Queens. A maternal–fetal medicine specialist and internationally recognized expert on obstetric infectious diseases, Dr. Riley works with the CDC and ACOG to develop related practice guidelines for topics such as maternal immunization. She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles and reviews on obstetric infectious disease. She is a past president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and received their Lifetime Achievement Award. Dr. Riley is also on the editorial boards of Contemporary OB/GYN and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Riley received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology before completing a fellowship in maternal–fetal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a fellowship in infectious disease at Boston University Medical Center.
Gail Demmler Harrison, MD
Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine
Attending Physician, Infectious Diseases Service and CMV Clinic, Texas Children’s Hospital
Gail Demmler-Harrison, MD, has over 40 years of experience caring for children with congenital infections, especially congenital CMV infection. Her research focuses on medically important viral infections of the fetus, newborn, infant, and child, especially CMV. She has conducted a prospective multidisciplinary study of the long-term effects of congenital CMV infection on growth, development, vision, and hearing and the possible benefits of fetal and neonatal antiviral therapy for this condition. She is currently helping to develop new diagnostic tests for congenital CMV diagnosis and newborn screening and participates in multicenter clinical trials. Dr. Demmler-Harrison also sees patients with congenital CMV and other congenital infections in her CMV clinic. She is a staunch advocate for CMV awareness and CMV education as a method to prevent congenital CMV infection and other congenital infections. She has received numerous awards and is a frequent speaker at scientific meetings, the author of numerous scientific publications, and a coeditor of a major textbook in pediatric infectious diseases.
Amanda Devereaux, RN, BSN
Program Director, CMV National Foundation
Amanda Devereaux currently acts as the program director for the National CMV Foundation. She became passionate about eliminating congenital CMV when her daughter was born affected by the virus in 2015. She served on the Congenital and Inherited Disorders Advisory Committee for the state of Iowa and is the former copresident of Iowa Hands & Voices. Ms. Devereaux’s background is in nursing: she completed her bachelor’s of science in nursing in 2007 and served as a public health nurse for many years. Her 15 years of public health expertise covers many topics; most recently, she has focused on maternal child health.
Lisa Saunders
CMV Parent and Advocate, Author, Public Access TV Host
Lisa Saunders was the mother of Elizabeth, who born with a severely damaged brain from congenital CMV in 1989. Although Saunders was a licensed, in-home childcare provider and a church nursery volunteer, she was unaware of CMV and her increased risk. Elizabeth died during a seizure in 2006. Saunders regularly educates the public about CMV through her congenital CMV blog and helped pass legislation in both Connecticut and New York. She alerted OSHA to the occupational risk of CMV for childcare providers, which led to them announcing that CMV was an occupational hazard in 2019. Saunders was recently featured in USA Today for her CMV work and was the recipient of the National CMV Foundation Spirit of Advocacy Award in 2023. Saunders specializes in writing American history books, and in 2024 included a CMV timeline in her latest memoir, “Had I known about CMV: From Shock to Law.” Saunders is currently walking 360 miles across the state of New York between Albany and Buffalo with her husband, Jim, leaving behind “Stop CMV” rocks to help raise awareness.