Stephen Lapinsky is and Professor of Medicine at the University of Toronto and the previous Director of the Intensive Care Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto. He graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and trained in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. His clinical practice includes general Critical Care Medicine and ambulatory Respirology. He has a clinical and research interest in critical illness and respiratory disease in the pregnant patient. He is past President of the North American Society of Obstetric Medicine (NASOM) and is co-Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Obstetric Medicine. His other clinical and research interests include mechanical ventilation and continuous renal replacement therapy. He has published extensively and lectured internationally on Critical Care Obstetrics.