Dr. George Saade was born in 1960 in Paris, France. He received his M.D. from the American University of Beirut, then completed an Ob/Gyn residency at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland followed by a fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Before joining UTMB, Dr. Saade was a faculty member in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology as well as Pharmacology at Baylor College of Medicine. He is currently a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Division, as well as the Chief of Obstetrics. He is also a member of the Cell Biology Program In the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Dr. Saade has been very active and productive in research. He has more than 200 articles published in peer-reviewed journals. He has edited or authored several books and book chapters. He is an elected member of a number of prestigious societies including the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, Alpha Omega Alpha, the Society for Gynecologic Investigation, and the American Gynecologic and Obstetric Society. He has received numerous research awards including several excellence in research awards and an award for Outstanding Individual Contributor from the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, as well as President’s awards from the Society for Gynecologic Investigation. He is a reviewer for more than 20 prestigious journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the FASEB journal, PLoS, the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation, and Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy Journals, as well as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Perinatology journal. Dr. Saade has served on a number of national and International advisory committees, scientific review panels and study sections, including NIH, CDC, March of Dimes, Wellbeing/Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Health Research Council of New Zealand. He is currently the chairperson for the Endocrinology, Metabolism, Nutrition, and Reproductive Sciences Small Business Activities [SBIR/STTR] Special Emphasis Panel and for the NICHD Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal biology Subcommittee.
Dr. Saade is a unique individual because of his combined clinical and basic science research expertise. He is certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine. His areas of interest include smooth muscle physiology as applied to Vascular and myometrial function during pregnancy, as well as fetal medicine. His basic science research focuses on preterm labor and Preeclampsia, the two most important causes of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity, as well as fetal programming of adult Diseases. He was also the first to describe a novel treatment for twin-twin transfusion syndrome, a uniformly fatal condition if untreated. Dr. Saade is currently the principal investigator on 2 NIH-funded clinical research networks, the Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network and the Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network. He is also the co-investigator on several other NIH-funded grants, including one relating to fetal programming of adult vascular function. Dr. Saade is the director of the Perinatal Research Division, a large group of research staff, scientists, and students who are involved in several basic and clinical research studies. He is also the director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program, and a mentor for several postdoctoral fellows and Ph.D. students. He is currently the mentor and committee Chairperson for 4 Ph.D. students at UTMB. He is the faculty director for the Maternal and Fetal Biology course in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He is an examiner for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the Secretary Treasurer of the Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine.
Dr. Saade’s research interests encompass a gamut of maternal and fetal conditions. His laboratory research efforts have focused on understanding Myometrial contractility and cervical function in relation to labor, particularly preterm labor. This work involves in vitro as well as in vivo molecular and physiological experiments in animal and humans. Dr. Saade has also investigated the cardiovascular adaptations to pregnancy, and consequently the pathologic deviations, particularly preeclampsia. As an offshoot of the vascular expertise, he is currently involved in studying the fetal origin of adult diseases, also known as the Barker hypothesis. In addition to his laboratory research, Dr. Saade is very active in clinical research and trials. These include research into prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, in utero therapy for twin-twin transfusion syndrome and red cell alloimmunization, prediction and prevention or preterm birth, as well as the study of the scope and causes of still birth. The latter study is part of an NICHD-sponsored network of 5 centers in the U.S.