Did you know Mater Mothers’ Hospital has a dedicated Mother’s Babies and Women’s Health (MBWH) research team? Lead by Frances Maguire Program Coordinator, the team is comprised of ten staff and includes research nurses, research midwives, research neonatal nurses and research assistants, who are looking for women to join their studies.
The research team not only play a vital role in studying, managing and improving women’s overall gynaecological health, but are also involved with a woman’s pregnancy, labour, delivery, and her baby along with any possible associated complications.
Importantly the team are also investigating advances in the care and outcomes for sick newborns. This includes studying the relationship between foetal development, early life experience and lifelong health.
Frances said greater knowledge of pregnancy complications and more effective diagnostics and care will reduce risks during pregnancy and childbirth and help ensure lifelong health for newborns.
“Our team is currently involved in a number of important neonatal and antenatal sponsored and investigator led studies into mother’s, babies’ and women’s health,” Frances said.
“These studies include exploring the microbiome of pregnant women with type 2 diabetes, iron deficiency anaemia, hypertension and preeclampsia in pregnancy, RSV maternal vaccine studies and neonatal studies which are continuing to improve outcomes for pre-term newborns.
“The MBWH team are also involved in a number of important term and prematurely born newborn studies. These include observational, intervention studies and randomised controlled trials aiming to improve the outcomes of our most fragile population admitted into the Neonatal Critical Care Unit.”
MBWH Research Midwife Renae Atkinson explains all the studies are supported by multidisciplinary clinical teams across the Mater Mother’s Hospital.
“We are still looking for mothers to sign up to some of our studies. They generally take very little time and can usually be completed before or after your regular antenatal appointment,” Renae said.
“We believe that these important studies are fundamental in improving health outcomes for mothers, babies and their families for generations to come.”
Additional Information
Flyers on current clinical studies can be found on Level 7 in the Antenatal Clinic in Mater Mothers’ Hospital.
You can also find information on the Mater Research website or contact the Mother’s, Babies, Women’s Health Team via the Clinical Trials Unit clinical.trials@mater.uq.edu.au