Markku Seppälä

Career

Seppälä worked at HYKS Women's Clinic as an assistant physician in 1966-1969, assistant chief physician in 1970-1975 and assistant professor in 1976-1978. He worked as a research professor at the Academy of Finland in 1978 and 1980, and was a visiting professor at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London in 1979-1980. In 1979, he was appointed Chairman of the first Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University Central Hospital, Helsinki, a position he held until 1999. This center for research and training operates in close collaboration with the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Central Hospital, and Finland's National Institute of Health and Welfare. It was at this congress at the Finlandia Hall that Robert Edwards and Jean Cohen, alongside a few colleagues, initiated discussions that led to the creation of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) later that year. During his presidency, he was instrumental in restructuring FIGO and enhancing its global initiatives, particularly the Save Motherhood Initiative, which aims to improve women's health in the developing world. He was also a founding member of the European Association of Gynecologists and Obstetricians (EAGO) and served as its General-Secretary and later president from 1994 to 1997. and Seppälä has been invited as an honorary doctorate of the University of Liège in Belgium in 1995. He is also a member of the Finnish, American (ACOG), Brazilian, Chilean, Italian, Romanian, Polish and Chicago Gynecological Associations, as well as a Fellowship ad eundem from the British Fertility Society, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (Fellow ad eundem, London 1989). Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (1997).