Professor Nikolaides is an internationally renowned Professor of Fetal Medicine, Director of the Harris Birthright Research Centre for Foetal Medicine at King’s College Hospital, London, and Founder and Director of the Fetal Medicine Foundation. In the field of antenatal screening, he has developed diagnostic methods for the early detection of chromosomal abnormalities from the pregnant woman’s peripheral blood. He is internationally recognised as a leading figure in fetal medicine and antenatal surgery. His numerous contributions include the establishment of methods for detecting structural and chromosomal abnormalities, as well as effective intrauterine therapeutic interventions, such as fetal blood transfusions and endoscopic laser separation of communicating placental vessels in monochorionic twins. He is internationally recognised as the pioneer of nuchal translucency measurement, the diagnostic technique that facilitates the early detection of genetic mutations associated with Down’s syndrome, whilst he is a pioneer in the research and applications of cell-free DNA testing for the detection of chromosomal abnormalities in a woman’s peripheral blood.
He has led numerous international clinical studies which have confirmed the great value of ultrasound measurement of the nuchal translucency at 20 weeks’ gestation for monitoring the outcome of labour. His numerous honours include the Award of Excellence in Science, Letters, and the Arts from the Republic of Cyprus, the Gold Cross of the Order of the Phoenix from the Hellenic Republic, the Ian Donald Gold Medal, the Eardley Holland Gold Medal, the European Maternity Prize, the Erich Sailing Award, as well as honorary doctorates from the Universities of Cyprus, Athens, Thessaloniki, Cairo, Warsaw, Bucharest, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires and many others. He has been elected a member of the US National Academy of Medicine.
