Julia Hussein trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Ireland and the UK. She worked in Afghanistan as a clinician and then in 'public health obstetrics', implementing maternal mortality reduction programmes for UNICEF and the UK government in several countries in Asia and sub Saharan Africa. Currently at the University of Aberdeen, she is a senior researcher with interests in programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation, quality of maternity care and capacity strengthening. Research activities on vitamin and trace element status of population groups, genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms, post processing of experimental and epidemiological data, 16 years of academic experience in Germany, Austria and New Zealand. Ann Starrs is co-founder and president of Family Care International, a non-governmental organization dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safer in the developing world. During the more than two decades since FCI’s founding in 1987, Ann has launched and headed field programs in Africa, managed FCI’s crucial role as coordinator of the Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group, and authored numerous seminal publications and articles. She assumed the presidency of FCI in 2008. Ann is widely recognized as a leading advocate and technical expert on maternal health, and currently is co-chair of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health and member of steering committees and advisory boards for a broad range of international maternal and reproductive health initiatives. Before joining FCI, Ann worked with the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Carnegie Corporation of New York. She is trained in development economics and demography, with a Masters degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a certificate in Demography from Princeton’s Office of Population Research.