Day 2 | Session 4 | Concurrent |

Above board: Honest kōrero about caesarean birth

Caesarean birth on maternal request

Providing evidence-based guidance for registered health professionals when counselling low-risk patients who request elective caesarean birth, where there is no medical or obstetric contraindication to vaginal birth.


Dr Nisha Khot
President, RANZCOG
Clinical Director, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Peninsula Health, Melbourne
MBBS MD FRCOG FRANZCOG AFRACMA

Dr Nisha Khot is the current clinical director of obstetrics and gynaecology at Peninsula Health in Melbourne. She trained in India and the UK before moving to Australia. 

In addition to being President of RANZCOG, she also Chairs the Board of Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH), a not-for-profit organisation providing health education to women from multicultural communities. 

She is an examiner for both Fellowship and Advanced Procedural examinations. She Co-Chairs the Australian Living Guidelines in pregnancy and postpartum group. 

She is passionate about gender equity and diversity especially in healthcare leadership.

Vaginal Birth After Caesarean guideline

Vaginal Birth After Caesarean (VBAC) is an important birth option. What is known about safe VBAC? How can we maximise the chance of success and minimize complications? 


Dr Meghan Hill
Senior Lecturer
University of Auckland

Meg is an Obstetrician and Maternal-Fetal Medicine Specialist with experience working in three countries. She is a clinical and translational researcher. Most of her research focuses on preventing pregnancy complications and maximising the likelihood of safe births. 

Scars that matter: caesarean birth, uterine injury, and the risk ahead

While the association between in-labour caesarean birth and future spontaneous preterm birth is now well established, the mechanisms driving this risk are only beginning to be understood.

This talk explores the role of uterine incision extensions, cervical integrity, and caesarean scar pathology, alongside emerging ultrasound approaches that may help characterise risk after caesarean birth. The implications for counselling, surveillance, and equitable access to care across Aotearoa New Zealand will be discussed.


Dr Jordon Wimsett
Obstetrician 
Te Whatu Ora - Te Toka Tumai, Auckland

Dr Jordon Wimsett is an obstetrician at Auckland City Hospital and a clinical lecturer at the University of Auckland. She has recently returned from the UK, where she undertook a fellowship at the Royal Devon University Hospital. 

Dr Wimsett is currently completing a PhD focused on improving the safety of caesarean birth and co-leads the BEAD Study clinical trial. Her clinical and research interests include preterm birth, high-risk pregnancy, and maternal medicine.

Bridging both sides of the drapes: a collaborative approach to pain during caesarean birth

This presentation highlights the prevalence, risk factors, and impact of pain during caesarean birth, emphasising that inadequate intraoperative analgesia results in patient harm. It focuses on early recognition, clear communication with the pregnant person and team, and strategies for prevention and management. Collaboration between obstetricians and anaesthetists is essential to minimise distress and ensure safe, compassionate care.


Dr Lisa Newby
Anaesthetist 
Te Whatu Ora - Taranaki

Lisa is an anaesthetist with a special interest in obstetrics, captivated since working as an O&G SHO with pregnant people and their whanau during this pivotal moment in their lives. Lisa is motivated to provide collaborative, patient-centred, safe birthing experiences to the pregnant people of Taranaki. 

Outside of work, Lisa is a parent to three boys (and two boy dogs), which brings both perspective and craziness to daily life. Living in Taranaki provides Lisa with a balance of a close-knit medical community, rewarding clinical practice and a lifestyle suitable to raising a family in regional New Zealand.

Contested techniques in caesarean birth: what the evidence tells us

Caesarean delivery remains one of the most common surgeries worldwide, yet technique varies widely. This presentation synthesizes AJOG’s  Evidence Based Cesarean Delivery series to highlight debated practices and their implications for surgical outcomes and patient care.


Dr Dionne Mills-Sillik
Obstetrician Gynaecologist Consultant and Obstetrics Clinical Lead
Middlemore Hospital

Dr. Dionne Mills-Sillik is both a fellow of ACOG and RANZCOG.Originally from the Caribbean Island of Trinidad, she attended the University of Arizona, in the United States, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Spanish with a linguistics concentration, as well as a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Physiology and a Chemistry Minor. She graduated with Honors from Ross University Medical School with her M.D. degree and completed Obstetrics and Gynaecology residency training at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, USA in 2013.

In 2021, she, her husband and their three children, moved to New Zealand. Dionne has been an Obstetrics and Gynaecology consultant at Middlemore hospital since 2021 and Obstetrics Clinical Lead since June 2025. She has also provided private gynaecology services in Auckland since 2023.