Gustaaf Dekker MD, PhD, FDCOG, FRANZCOG

Prof Gus Dekker is currently the Academic Head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Northern Adelaide Local Health Network (NALHN). From 1998-2014 Dekker has been the Professor and Clinical Director of the Women and Children's Division at Lyell McEwin Hospital, Northern Campus University of Adelaide. In December 2014, Dekker stepped down as clinical director in order to further focus on clinical research.

Prior to his arrival in Adelaide in 1998, Gus received his medical training at the University of Leiden (MD Cum Laude 1978), followed by 3 years of training in internal medicine, and O&G specialist training via the Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he also finished his Academic PhD Thesis Erasmus entitled ‘Prediction and Prevention of Pregnancy-Induced Hypertensive Disorders. A Clinical and Pathophysiologic Study'; this thesis also included the world's first prospective RCT on low-dose Aspirin in the prevention of preeclampsia.

Gus and his colleagues at the Free University in Amsterdam were instrumental in starting Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) as a recognised subspecialty in The Netherlands. After 10 years as Associate Professor in MFM at the Free University in Amsterdam, Gus migrated to Adelaide as the new chair in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Adelaide. His areas of specific interest include the genetics and immunology of preeclampsia, prediction and prevention of preeclampsia, prediction and management of preterm labour and the role of genetic and acquired thrombophilic disorders in the causation of adverse pregnancy outcomes. He was the first to identify the role of genetic and acquired thrombophilia as important risk factors for early-onset preeclampsia (Dekker GA, de Vries JI, Doelitzsch PM, Huijgens PC, von Blomberg BM, Jakobs C, van Geijn HP. Underlying disorders associated with severe early-onset preeclampsia. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1995;173:1042). His research on the use of nifedipine in the management of preterm labour, led to this drug being the currently most used drug for this common condition.