Mater Mothers’ is a major tertiary referral hospital and a leader in maternal and newborn care. It is the largest and busiest maternity facility in Australia, with more than 8000 babies born at the hospital each year. Of these, more than 1000 are born prematurely and require highly specialised care in the neonatal intensive care unit and special care nursery.
The experienced research team at Mater Mothers’, in collaboration with researchers at Mater Children’s Hospital, the University of Queensland and national and international research groups, are undertaking high-quality perinatal research to gain new insights to improve outcomes for mothers and infants. This multidisciplinary research team is made up of scientists, social workers, physicians, neonatal nurses, neonatologists, physiotherapists, midwives, obstetricians, maternal fetal medicine specialists and developmental paediatricians. For further details about Mater Mothers’ Research please contact Vicki Flenady (Chair Mater Mothers’ Research Committee) or Carolyn Kitchener (Research Officer Mater Mothers’)
Supported by the Australasian Coordinating Centre for the Pregnancy and Childbirth and the Neonatal Review Groups, Mater Mothers’ researchers are actively involved in undertaking Cochrane reviews. These reviews can be found in The Cochrane Library which provides high-quality, independent evidence to inform health care decision-making. Cochrane reviews bring you the combined results of the world’s best medical research studies and are recognised as the gold standard in evidence-based health care.
Through the activities of the Centre for Clinical Studies the MMH research programs are actively involved in a number of national and international collaborations:
To ensure the research is conducted to a high standard, the research projects are organised within five research programs. Each of these programs is overseen by a program head and organised within research teams. Within the following pages, you will find a brief overview of the some of the research being undertaken across the MMH Research Programs: