David Gong

On May 2nd, 7:00 AM PST, Wuhan United hosted their sixth seminar in the “Living Through A Pandemic” series. This seminar was organized with the joint effort of Wuhan Tongji Hospital Tongji medical school, UC Davis Health, and Wuhan United. The topic presented was: Pregnancy and Neonatal Care during COVID-19. The seminar was hosted on zoom and streamed on YouTube simultaneously. More than 400 doctors from 31 different countries pre-registered for the seminar. 

The seminar started with Mr. Tom Gong welcoming the audience and introducing the two co-hosts, Dr. Herman Hedriana and Dr. Leep Koon Teo. Next, the hosts introduced the topic of the seminar and the presenters: Dr. Haiyi Liu, Dr. Ling Feng, Dr. Zhihui Rong, and Dr. Ling Chen. 

Dr. Haiyi Liu presented first. She has been working in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department of Wuhan Tongji Hospital for 20 years, and she participated in the treatment of pregnant women with COVID-19 since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan. Dr Liu presented three case studies and the diagnosis and treatment and prognosis of pregnant women with COVID-19 based on her experience. She also presented the antibodies present in the early days of life.

Next, Dr. Zhihui Rong presented. Dr. Zhihui Rong has worked in the neonatal ICU and participated in the management of neonates born to mothers with COVID-19 since early January 2020. Dr. Rong discussed vertical transmission between mothers and infants of COVID-19.

After the presentations, Professor Hedriana hosted the “Dialogue” section. He discussed wide range of topics with Dr. Ling Feng and Dr. Ling Chen. Dr. Ling Feng has worked as the head of Obstetrics dept of Tongji Hospital. She participated in the creation of Tongji Hospital “Guidance of diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in Pregnant women and neonates” at the beginning of COVID-19 in Wuhan. She is the chief editor of ‘Obstetric Protection Manual for COVID-19’ (People’s Medical Publishing House), and authors of two papers about the prognosis and prenatal diagnosis of pregnant patients with COVID-19 on the Lancet Infectious Disease. Dr. Ling Chen has worked as the head of neonatal ICU of Tongji Hospital, and she participated in the creation of Tongji Hospital “Guidance of diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in Pregnant women and neonates” at the beginning of COVID-19 in Wuhan. 

Finally, there was a Q&A session, where doctors from around the world first shared their experiences before asking questions. Dr. Francisco Meza from Ireland, Dr. Mulat Adefris from Ethiopia, Dr. Ajay Rakeshvarma from India, Dr. Gligor Ugak from Macedonia, all introduced the situations in their cities and their countries, shared their experiences, and asked the doctors from Wuhan and Professor Hedriana questions. 

The seminar then ended. Doctors who participated expressed their gratitude and praised the unreserved sharing and answers from the Chinese experts. 

The seminar’s presentation can be requested from Wuhan United’s website. The video is available at Wuhan United’s YouTube channel.

Wuhan United is a non-profit organization established in California to fight the epidemic. Starting in March, the focus of Wuhan United’s work is building a platform to organize doctors in Wuhan and global doctors to communicate on the fight against COVID-19.