The Women’s excellence in research has been highlighted with over $6.8 million awarded to our experts in Federal Government grants for on-going studies into a range of health issues affecting newborns and women.
Professor Peter Rogers, Professor of Women’s Health Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne is among the winners with $1,180,912 for his research in to the identification and function of genes that increase the risk of the debilitating women’s condition known as endometriosis.
“Endometriosis is a relatively common disease affecting about seven per cent of women of reproductive age in Australia and resulting in pelvic pain, subfertility and painful periods,’’ Professor Rogers said.
“We have undertaken genetic studies that identified a number of candidate genes that show strong evidence for increasing a woman’s risk of having endometriosis and now we seek to investigate the functional roles that these endometriosis susceptibility genes play within the uterus, with the goal of identifying new treatments for the disease.’’
Physiotherapist and postdoctoral researcher Dr Alicia Spittle was awarded close to $1.1 million through two grants; a $420,000 Career Development Fellowship for the early detection and intervention of infants at high risk of motor impairments as well as an almost $670,000 project grant to study the motor trajectories of children born less than 30 weeks’ gestation.
“My proposed research program involves several distinct yet related projects addressing both the early detection and the early intervention for infants at high risk of movement problems including cerebral palsy,’’ Dr Spittle said.
“This research will provide the highest quality evidence base that is needed to identify those children most at risk early in development and improve our understanding of which interventions are most effective, so that scarce health care resources can be targeted appropriately.
“The Project grant will look at the Motor trajectories of children born <30 weeks' gestation from birth to 5 years. Motor problems, ranging from clumsiness to cerebral palsy, are one of the most common adverse outcomes in children born early and my study will investigate the motor development of children born <30 weeks’ gestation compared with peers born at term from birth to 5 years.
“We will determine whether early clinical evaluations or neuroimaging in the newborn period can predict later motor impairment at five years to be able to identify those who will benefit most from early intervention.’’
Another big winner from the Women’s is the Newborn Research Centre. Dr Brett Manley led a team that was awarded $1,203,844 over four years to conduct the HUNTER trial, which aims to improve breathing support for newborn infants in non-tertiary special care nurseries.
“Every year in Australia, thousands of newborn babies have breathing difficulties,’’ Dr Manley said.
“Our trial will study a new, simpler method of providing breathing support to newborn babies in special care nurseries, called ‘high-flow’. High-flow is easier to use and more comfortable for babies than the current treatment, CPAP. If high-flow is found to be effective and safe in the non-tertiary setting, it will change practice in Australia and around the world.’’
Associate Professor Alicia Dennis, Director of Anaesthesia Research and Staff Specialist Anaesthetist, was awarded a NHMRC Fellowship of almost $200,000 for her ongoing work examining heart function and structure in women with preeclampsia using cardiac ultrasound (transthoracic echocardiography) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging.
“Preeclampsia is a devastating high blood pressure problem of pregnancy,’’ Professor Dennis said. “The only cure is birth of the baby and I believe that the key to understanding why preeclampsia occurs and to better treatments is to examine the heart in women with preeclampsia using ultrasound and magnetic imaging.
“Using these safe methods it is anticipated that my research will improve understanding of preeclampsia, lead to better monitoring and the use of different medications to reduce complications in preeclampsia.’’
Consultant Neonatologist Dr Marta Thio was awarded more than $260,000 for her work on preventing lung injury in newborns by optimising interventions in the delivery room.
She said her research had the capacity of changing the way newborns are cared for around the world.
“Effective mask ventilation is the most important intervention at birth”, capable of reducing mortality and disability in term and preterm infants,’’ she said. “I will develop strategies to help clinicians improve their resuscitation skills as well as study new ways to better support babies’ transition after birth, to improve their short and long term outcomes.’’
Lead clinician with the Women’s Growth and Development Clinic and Associate Professor with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne, Jeanie Cheong will receive $725,496 for her research in to the health outcomes of the most premature babies born.
“Significant advances in medical care have increased the survival of the tiniest and most premature babies,’’ Associate Professor Cheong said.
“Those who have benefitted from modern medicine are now in their mid-20s and we know they had more problems in childhood and adolescence compared with those born full term. However, we know very little about their health problems in adulthood and our study will provide information about adult health problems in this vulnerable group and provide vital information about the best care for this growing group of adults.’’
Neonatologist Professor Peter Davis and his Monash collaborators were awarded a project grant of $735,912 to allow them to “Optimise non-invasive ventilation at birth for preterm infants”.
“We have evaluated various techniques to support babies breathing in a gentle, low-tech way and have established nasal continuous airway pressure (CPAP) as standard care for most preterm babies at birth,’’ Professor Davis said.
“Now we are going back to an animal model to refine this technique. CPAP has been adopted with little understanding of how it interacts with the babies own breathing efforts why it sometimes doesn’t work. This series of research projects will help us deliver better breathing support for preterm babies.’’
Improving the health of Aboriginal mums and their babies through continuity of midwife care has earned Professor Della Forster and her team a $1.5 million NHMRC grant.
Indigenous maternity care study co-investigator, Professor Forster said her work with partner organisations explored the impact of continuity of midwifery care on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies.
“The aim is to bridge the gap between existing community-based care for Aboriginal women, such as that provided by the Koori Maternity Service, and the care women receive in hospital,’’ Professor Forster said.