Abuhamad, Alfred Z.

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overview

  • Dr. Alfred Abuhamad currently serves as Mason C. Andrews Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Radiology, Dean, Eastern Virginia Medical School, and Executive Vice President, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. Dr. Abuhamad is a past President, Provost & Dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Abuhamad had served as past President of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), Society of Ultrasound in Medical Education (SUSME), Perinatal Quality Forum (PQF) and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM). He is also founder and past-Chair of the Council for Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care, in Washington DC. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, authored eight textbooks in fetal echocardiography, ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, first trimester ultrasound and office procedures, and received numerous national and international awards including the 2019 Commonwealth of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award and the 2022 Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Life-Time Achievement Award. He is the recipient of the National Institute of Health RO1 grant to study “Novel Tools for the Noninvasive Evaluation of the Human Placenta”. Dr. Abuhamad established the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology’s (ISUOG) outreach program and has led several ultrasound training missions to the developing world to include Haiti, Ghana and Somaliland.  He is well known internationally for his work in ultrasound, prenatal diagnosis, fetal echocardiography, global outreach and patient safety. Dr. Abuhamad has been a faculty member at EVMS, at ODU and a citizen of Southeastern Virginia for 32 years.

selected publications

research overview

  • Alfred Abuhamad has been elaborated in clinical research for his entire academic career and published numerous articles on ultrasound in obstetrics and on fetal cardiovascular assessment. While at EVMS, he conducted clinical research focusing on maternal obesity and ultrasound assessment of fetal anatomy. Alfred Abuhamad with EVMS research team was the first to develop software for automation of ultrasound of the fetal heart by relying on two important concepts of 3D ultrasound. First, the acquired volume of a particular anatomic structure by 3D ultrasonography, such as a volume of the fetal heart, contains all the anatomic 2D planes for a complete anatomic evaluation of this structure. Second, for every human organ, these 2D planes that are required for a complete anatomic evaluation of that particular organ are organized in a constant anatomic relationship to each other. The automation software is now available commercially on many GE ultrasound equipment.

    He carried out another study with immerse contribution to science: Fetal Cardiac Axis and Congenital Heart Defect in Early Gestation. Alfred Abuhamad's research team was a pioneer to report on the normal values of fetal cardiac axis (CA) in the first and early second trimester of pregnancy. The purpose of this case-control study was to investigate the association between abnormal cardiac axis and fetal congenital heart disease in order to demonstrate the potential clinical applicability of cardiac axis measurement for detection of congenital heart disease in early gestation. Study has showed that abnormal cardiac axis in early gestation is highly correlated with congenital heart defect and can be used as a screening tool. Adding cardiac axis assessment to the nuchal translucency measurement is helpful in defining a population at risk for fetal congenital heart defect.

projects

preferred title

  • Professor And Chairman Department Of Obstetrics And Gynecology

full name

  • Alfred Z. Abuhamad, MD

visualizations

Recent publications and grants in Researchers@EVMS

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