Professor Kypros Nicolaides has received the Stuart Campbell Award for his contributions to fetal medicine and expanding access to ultrasound education worldwide.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides, founder of the Fetal Medicine Foundation (FMF), has received the Stuart Campbell Award from the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology (ISUOG) in recognition of his contributions to fetal medicine and ultrasound education.

Nicolaides is widely recognised for his work in fetal surgery and his efforts to expand access to specialist fetal medicine knowledge and ultrasound training for healthcare professionals around the world.

His work has included establishing training centres across Africa, Asia and South America, while personally mentoring hundreds of fellows who have gone on to lead fetal medicine departments globally.

Nicolaides also developed a comprehensive approach to teaching the 11-13 weeks scan, including nuchal translucency assessment. The approach incorporated a strict audit and licensing process designed to support competency across borders, alongside educational materials translated into more than 30 languages.

The initiatives have helped make specialist ultrasound techniques and training more accessible to practitioners working in lower-resource settings.

Nicolaides said: “The award is a major honour for me because it is in the name of my teacher and mentor and it constitutes a challenge to continue our research for the benefit of women and their unborn children.”

As founder of the Fetal Medicine Foundation, Nicolaides also collaborated with ISUOG to establish Ultrasound Essentials, an annual event providing free online lectures covering the basics of ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology for clinicians in low-resource settings.

The event is attended by thousands of people each year and includes sessions focused specifically on working in resource-limited settings.

The programme reflects a wider effort to address differences in access to specialist medical education and clinical expertise between higher- and lower-resource healthcare systems.

Prof. Raffaele Napolitano, chair of the ISUOG Clinical Standards Committee, said: “Prof. Nicolaides is the embodiment of the Stuart Campbell Award’s spirit. While his surgical ‘firsts’ are historic, his legacy is rooted in his relentless drive to teach. He transformed fetal medicine from a niche speciality into a global standard of care by making world-class education a universal right rather than a privilege.”

He added: “His innovative use of open-access technology, combined with a rigorous commitment to clinical standards, has saved countless lives by empowering the hands of ultrasound practitioners globally. Recognising that maternal-fetal outcomes depend on the skill of the operator, he shifted the paradigm from exclusive, high-cost seminars to a global, free-to-access curriculum. There is no candidate more deserving of recognition for advancing the field through the power of education.”

The recognition highlights the role of medical education and professional training in improving access to specialist healthcare, particularly in settings where access to experienced practitioners and advanced clinical training can be limited.

Through the Fetal Medicine Foundation and its collaboration with ISUOG, the focus on accessible education has extended beyond individual training programmes to include online learning and resources that can be accessed by clinicians internationally.

The approach aims to support healthcare professionals in developing the skills needed to deliver high-quality ultrasound services and improve standards of care for pregnant women and their unborn children.