This webinar will focus on anatomic and surgical pearls to avoid complications with mesh based procedures. 

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand risk factors associated with sacral osteomyelitis.  
2. Evaluate the pros and cons of mesh reperitonealization during sacrocolpopexy.
3. Describe surgical techniques to decrease mesh exposure.

Akira Gillingham, MD is from Ottawa, Canada and studied Microbiology and Immunology at McGill University in Montreal. He attended Albany Medical College and graduated in 2013. He then completed his residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Abington Hospital in 2017. Following residency, he completed a three-year fellowship in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Dr. Gillingham specializes in laparoscopic and robotic surgery and has been an invited lecturer and clinical educator at national meetings and physician training programs. He is a reviewer for the journal of Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery.

Christina Lewicky-Gaupp, MD, Moderator, is board-certified in Obstetrics & Gynecology and Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery. She completed her Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery fellowship at University of Michigan after completing an Obstetrics & Gynecology Residency at University of Chicago. She is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Urology and the Director of Gynecologic Surgical Simulation. 

Dr. Lewicky-Gaupp is the Medical Director of the Northwestern Medicine Peripartum Evaluation and Assessment of the Pelvic Floor around Delivery (PEAPOD) Clinic, one of only a few clinics of this kind in the country.  Her research interests focus on maternal birth trauma, and she is currently leading a randomized controlled trial, studying the impact of education and fitness on birth outcomes.

She is a passionate and gifted surgical educator, receiving the Resident Excellent Teaching Award for three consecutive years and awarded Most Outstanding Teacher in Obstetrics & Gynecology in 2011. She has consistently obtained funding for both resident and fellow simulation education and leads multiple simulations in the wet, dry and virtual reality labs of NCASE (Northwestern Center for Advanced Surgical Education) and is director of the Fundamentals of Laparoscopy Simulation (FLS) for Gynecology.