The HER Foundation leadership hosted a booth at SMFM 2023 and educated doctors about the importance of thiamin and brain health for HG patients. Our both was right by the front doors, so we had a lot of visibility.

HER Leadership Volunteered at Our Booth

We kept educating through the blackouts.
l-r Kimber Wakefield MacGibbon, RN, Executive Director and Cofounder; Kelly Ryerson, MBA, Chair of the Board of Directors; Marlena Fejzo, PhD, Research Director; Aimee Brecht-Doscher, MD, Medical Advisor.
Speaking with providers.
Speaking with providers.
Educating newly minted MFMs.

Dr. Fejzo presented our genetic research

Marlena Fejzo, PhD, HER Research Advisor and Aimee Brecht-Doscher, MD, HER Medical Advisor showing off our research poster.

Dr. Fejzo presented, “Genome-wide association study meta-analysis of hyperemesis gravidarum confirms GDF15 and identifies additional risk loci.” The study is coauthored by Natàlia Pujol-Gualdo, PhD; Triin Laisk, PhD; Kimber MacGibbon, RN; Xinran Wang, PhD; and Nicholas Mancuso, PhD.

Objective: Hyperemesis Gravidarum (HG) occurs in ~2% of pregnancies and is associated with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. It is highly heritable, thus elucidating genetic risk factors may lead to more effective treatments. Herein, we report results from the largest ever genome-wide association study (GWAS) of HG, comprised of 7,417 cases and 359,870 controls.

Study Design: We performed a meta-analysis of 5 independent studies: a multi-ancestry whole-exome sequencing study from the US and 4 GWASs of European ancestry from 23andMe customers, FinnGen, Estonian, and UK Biobanks.

Genetic loci in hCG and its receptor were not associated with HG in any of the analyses, providing no support for the historical hypothesis that the pregnancy hormone is the cause. Overall, this study contributes to our understanding of the biology of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy and may lead to future research evaluating new treatment avenues. Of note, drugs targeting the GDF15 pathway have shown great promise in mitigating weight loss, loss of appetite, and vomiting in animal models and are currently in clinical trials in cancer cachexia, a disease with similar symptoms to HG. The strong link to this pathway in HG suggests these drugs, if safe, may hold great promise for treating HG in the future. 

HER Foundation SMFM 2023 Booth

Executive Director and Cofounder Kimber MacGibbon gives a tour of our booth.

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