Dr Hoda Maaly Harb MBChB, PhD

Department of Metabolism and Systems Science
Honorary Associate Clinical Professor
Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology

Contact details

Address
Academic department, 3rd floor
Birmingham Women’s Hospital
Metchley Park Road
Edgbaston
B15 2TG

Dr Hoda Harb is an Honorary Associate Clinical Professor and Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Women’s Hospital. She has a special interest in early pregnancy and fertility research. Hoda co-ordinated the setting up of the UK Early Pregnancy Surveillance service (UKEPSS), a national research programme for the study of serious uncommon conditions of early pregnancy. She was recently awarded a £1.8m grant from NIHR HTA as a co-applicant for the PRISM trial, a multicentre randomised placebo-controlled trial to study the effectiveness of progesterone to prevent miscarriage in women with early pregnancy bleeding (The PRISM Trial: PRogesterone In Spontaneous Miscarriage Trial).

Qualifications

  • PhD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Birmingham July 2016
  • MRCOG (Part I), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, March 2011
  • MBChB (Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery), University of Birmingham, July 2008

Biography

Hoda received her undergraduate medical education from the University of Birmingham in 2008. She is a Specialist Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Birmingham Women’s Hospital.

Hoda was awarded a Springboard Fellowship in 2016 from the University of Birmingham,  which funded a large proportion of her PhD in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.   The PhD focused on establishing a novel national research programme for the study of serious rare condition in early pregnancy and acute gynaecology. She successfully developed a national network of early pregnancy units across the UK and co-ordinated a national study of caesarean scar pregnancy.

In 2014 Hoda was awarded an NIHR HTA grant as a co-applicant for the The PRISM Trial, a randomised placebo-controlled trial investigating the effectiveness of progesterone to prevent miscarriage in women with early pregnancy bleeding: (PRISM Trial: PRogesterone In Spontaneous Miscarriage Trial).

  • special interest in miscarriage research and is part of the TOMMY’s research group
  • specialist interest in reproductive medicine
  • findings of the Trophy trial, a multicentre trial of outpatient hysteroscopy before IVF, after recurrent IVF failures were recently published in the Lancet

Hoda was appointed as an Academic Clinical Lecturer at the University of Birmingham in 2016.

Teaching

Hoda delivers small group teaching sessions at the University of Birmingham Medical School. She enjoys teaching medical students, junior midwives and physician assistants in clinics, delivery suite and during on calls.

Research

  • The PRISM Trial ( NIHR HTA Programme grant) : Effectiveness of progesterone to prevent miscarriage in women with early pregnancy bleeding: A randomised placebo-controlled trial (PRISM Trial: PRogesterone In Spontaneous Miscarriage Trial).
  • The UKEPSS Project: The United Kingdom Early Pregnancy Surveillance Service for the study of serious uncommon disorders in early pregnancy.  
  • TABLET Trial: A multicentre placebo-controlled randomised trial of levothyroxine to improve reproductive outcomes in euthyroid women with thyroid auto-antibodies)
  • TROPHY Trial: A multicentre trial of outpatient hysteroscopy before IVF,  after recurrent IVF failures

Other activities

Hoda is the Secretary for the Gates of Light (GOL) charity (registered charity no. 1164376), which was established in 2014. The charity’s objective is to relieve the needs of orphan children through providing grants and support to organisations looking after orphaned children.

Publications

Hysteroscopy in recurrent in-vitro fertilisation failure (TROPHY): a multicentre,randomised controlled trial.  El-Toukhy T, Campo R, Khalaf Y, Tabanelli C4, Gianaroli L, Gordts SS, Gordts S, Mestdagh G, Mardesic T, Voboril J, Marchino GL, Benedetto C, Al-Shawaf T, Sabatini L, Seed PT, Gergolet M, Grimbizis G,  Harb H, Coomarasamy A. TheLancet 2016.

 Salpingostomy in the treatment of hydrosalpinx: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  Chu J, Harb HM, Gallos ID, Dhillon R, Al-Rshoud FM, Robinson L, Coomarasamy A.    Human Reproduction 2015.

UKEPSS: The UK Early Pregnancy Surveillance Service for uncommon disorders of early pregnancy and acute gynaecology.  Harb HM, Knight M, Jurkovic D, Bottomley C, Bourne M et al. TOG 2014.

Global women’s health: current clinical trials in low and middle-income countries.  MerrielA; HarbH; WilliamsH; LilfordR; CoomarasamyA. BJOG 2014

The effect of endometriosis on the outcome of IVF treatment: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  Harb HM; Gallos I; Chu J, Coomarasamy A. BJOG 2013;120:1308–1320.

 Urinary hMG versus recombinant FSH for controlled ovarian hyperstimulation in IVF or ICSI treatment: a meta-analysis and critical evaluation of the evidence. RCOG World Congress.  Harb H; Gallos I; Sharif W; van Wely M; Coomarasamy A. BJOG. Vol. 120, Issue Supplement s1.June 2013.

Progestogen for the treatment of threatened miscarriage: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  Harb H, Harb M, Coomarasamy A. RCOG World Congress. BJOG. Vol. 120, Issue Supplement s1.June 2013.

Accuracy of single progesterone test to predict early pregnancy outcome in women with pain or bleeding: meta-analysis of cohort studies.  Verhaegen J; Gallos ID; van Mello NM; Abdel-Aziz M; Takwoingi Y;  Harb H, Deeks JJ, Mol BWJ; Coomarasamy A. BMJ 2012

View all publications in research portal