Dr Adalina Sacco

Dr Sacco first qualified from the Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) in London in 2009, and began training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in North East Thames in 2011. She took time out of training to complete research in fetal surgery, and successfully completed subspecialty training in maternal and fetal medicine at University College London Hospital (UCLH). She works as a Consultant in Obstetrics and Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Birmingham Women’s Hospital where she is a member of the fetal intervention team, performing complex procedures such as shunts, in-utero transfusions and fetoscopic laser coagulation for twin pregnancies. She is also the co-lead for the maternal hypertension service and works weekly on the delivery suite. Dr Sacco also spent five years working as a sexual offences examiner at The Haven Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Whitechapel London, where she carried out forensic examinations for victims of rape and sexual assault and provided expert medical reports for criminal courts.

Dr Sacco’s clinical interests and expertise is in antenatal scanning and fetal medicine, maternal medicine, obstetrics and intrapartum care.

Dr Sacco’s research interests include fetal surgery and intervention, fetal pain and analgesia, fetal neurosonography and cardiac imaging. She was co-applicant on a successful grant for over £600,000 to develop fetal surgery in 2020, and was lead applicant on a successful grant for £62,000 to investigate cardiac scanning equipment. She was the co-PI for the TRUFFLE-2 study at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. She is an Honorary Associate Clinical Professor at University of Birmingham.

Dr Sacco is a Training Programme Director (TPD) in the West Midlands, with responsibility for regional teaching programmes and ultrasound training. At her hospital Dr Sacco is the educational lead for ultrasound training for RCOG trainees, and is responsible for training and assessing midwife sonographers. She is also a Senior Academic Tutor for University of Birmingham and has extensive experience teaching undergraduates and trainees both formally and at the bedside. She has supervised MSc and BSc student projects and was co-lead of the UCL MSc Fetal Medicine and Perinatology course. Dr Sacco regularly attends conferences and courses in fetal and maternal medicine for continuous professional development, and has multiple oral and poster presentations at international conferences.

Dr Sacco has published over 20 research articles in peer-reviewed journals and has written three book chapters. She was a co-author of the 2022 RCOG Fetal Awareness Evidence Review and is the lead author of the upcoming 2026 BMFMS Position Statement on Fetal Pain and Fetal Awareness. She is a co-author in the upcoming RCOG Green Top Guideline on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Anomaly.

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In her hospital Dr Sacco is the clinical lead for the Day Assessment Unit, a scan unit which manages fetal growth concerns. She has previously held roles on the boards of The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist (TOG) and the British Maternal-Fetal Medicine Society (BMFMS). She was the Chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) National Trainees’ Committee. She successfully completed a hospital Executive Shadowing Programme and has been the lead organiser of several national and international conferences.