Board of Directors

Current Board Members

• 

  President

  Dr Miranda Davies-Tuck

  Dr Miranda Davies-Tuck is an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Stillbirth Fellow. She obtained her PhD from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University in 2010 where she worked on a number of large prospective cohort studies developing epidemiological and bio-statistical expertise. Miranda joined The Ritchie Centre in 2012 and in 2014 was awarded an NHMRC Early Career Research to undertake research to address disparities in poor pregnancy outcomes among migrant women in Victoria. This work resulted in changes to clinical care that have lowered the rates of stillbirth in women of South Asian background at Monash Health.

  Miranda currently leads a research program that combines population-based and clinical epidemiological studies with basic science research to improve maternity care and outcomes for women and their babies. She has a particular focus on addressing disparities in stillbirth rates seen in migrant and refugee women in Victoria, understanding drivers of preterm stillbirth, randomised controlled trials to improve maternal and perinatal outcomes, assessing the effectiveness of current antenatal and intrapartum interventions and improving access and safety of homebirth.

  Dr Davies-Tuck also has an established collaboration with Safer Care Victoria, the lead quality improvement agency for the state, where she has a secondment to undertake research that aligns with department of health priorities and her research interests as well as develop state guidance and policies.

  Miranda is an executive member of the NHMRC CRE Stillbirth and the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Australasian Collaborative Trials (PSANZ-IMPACT) network as well as sitting on the scientific advisory board for the Stillbirth Foundation Australia.
• 

  Past President

  Professor Caroline Homer

  Caroline Homer (RM MScMed Clin Epi PhD FAAHMS) is a midwife, health services researcher, educator and international development advisor. She is the Co-Program Director of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health at the Burnet Institute, Visiting Distinguished Professor of Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney and an NHMRC Principal Research Fellow. She is the immediate Past President of the Australian College of Midwives. She has more than 30 years of experience as a midwife in practice, research, education and international development. She has more than 250 publications (more than 100 in the past 5 years) and holds current NHMRC Ideas and Partnership grants in the area of maternal health and stillbirth. She has recently been appointed by the WHO’s Director General as the Inaugural Chair, WHO's Strategic and Technical Advisory Group of Experts (STAGE) for Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health, and Nutrition (2020-2022). She is a member of the Victorian Consultative Council on Obstetric and Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity (CCOPMM) and leads the newly established Victorian COVID-19 Perinatal Research Network.
• 

  Treasurer

  Professor Jonathan Hirst

  Professor Jonathan Hirst's primary research interest is centred on the development of fetus during late gestation and the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes.  This work involves examining the effects of stressors that compromise late pregnancy and adversely affect the growing fetus. In addition, his studies examine the adverse effects of premature birth which deprives the fetus of the nurturing in utero environment. The consequent loss of development promoting hormones reduces growth of the baby’s brain leading to long-term damage and behavioural deficits that stretches into childhood and beyond.
• 

  Secretary

  Dr Beth Allison

  Dr Beth Allison is a vascular physiologist with a strong interest in the developmental programming of health and disease. Beth is a recipient of the NHMRC Investigator Grant and works with the Neurodevelopment and Neuroprotection and the Perinatal Transition research group in The Ritchie Centre.

  Beth obtained her PhD from Monash University in 2008 working with Professor Stuart Hooper and Dr Kelly Crossley where she studied the role of mechanical ventilation in the development of lung injury in very preterm fetal sheep.

  Beth’s research focuses on how the cardiovascular system grows and develops in fetuses who do not receive enough oxygen and nutrients in utero. Through the use of large preclinical models her group hopes to identify how low oxygen and nutrient supply throughout gestation impacts on the cardiovascular system in the immediate perinatal period as well as into young adulthood. With this knowledge, Beth aims to target specific changes therapeutically to reduce the life long burden following a sub-optimal pregnancy.
• 

  President Elect

  Adrienne Gordon

  Dr Adrienne Gordon is a Senior Staff Specialist Neonatologist in the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Centre for Newborn Care and an NHMRC Early Career Fellow at the University of Sydney. Her Fellowship aims to develop and pilot test a culturally appropriate information resource for pregnant women targeting health behaviours that can optimise pregnancy outcome. She led the Sydney Stillbirth Study and has established a district health service for families who have experienced the loss of their baby. She is Deputy Chair of the National Scientific Advisory Group of SIDS and KIDS, a member of the IMPACT network, a PSANZ board director, NSW regional coordinator for IMPROVE and a member of PSANZ-SANDA and the ANZSA research consortium.
• 

  Director

  Ngaire Anderson

  Dr Ngaire Anderson is a Senior Lecturer, clinical academic, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her research interests include obesity in pregnancy, pre-eclampsia, fetal growth, fetal growth restriction, and stillbirth as well as the how ethnicity influences pregnancy outcomes. Ngaire completed her PhD in 2013 investigating the impact of ethnicity and obesity on adverse pregnancy outcomes. She works clinically as an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at North Shore and Waitakere hospitals, Waitemata District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand.
• 

  Director

  Jane Alsweiler

  Dr Jane Alsweiler is a senior lecturer at The University of Auckland. She completed her PhD at the Liggins Institute undertaking clinical and experimental research into the management and long-term consequences of high blood glucose concentrations in preterm babies. The study aimed to provide an evidence-based approach to a problem that commonly affects babies born very preterm.
• 

  Director

  Billie Bradford

  Billie Bradford is a midwife and a lecturer at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Practice at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
• 

  Director

  Tanya Nippita

  A/Prof Nippita is a Staff Specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia. In addition to her substantial clinical responsibilities, Tanya’s passion lies in education and clinical research. She is a RANZCOG ITP Supervisor, a RANZCOG OSCE Co-Ordinator and sits on the 10th RANZCOG College Council as one of the NSW Councillors. Her current research with Womens and Babies Research, Kolling Institute, University of Sydney, aims to make a major contribution to the judicious use of obstetric interventions & the practice of evidence-based maternity care.A/Prof Nippita is a Staff Specialist Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Royal North Shore Hospital, Sydney, Australia. In addition to her substantial clinical responsibilities, Tanya’s passion lies in education and clinical research. She is a RANZCOG ITP Supervisor, a RANZCOG OSCE Co-Ordinator and sits on the 10th RANZCOG College Council as one of the NSW Councillors. Her current research with Womens and Babies Research, Kolling Institute, University of Sydney, aims to make a major contribution to the judicious use of obstetric interventions & the practice of evidence-based maternity care.
• 

  Director

  Karli Treyvaud

   Dr Karli Treyvaud is a clinical psychologist and academic with expertise in parent and child mental health and parenting. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology and Counselling at La Trobe University in Melbourne, a member of the Centre of Research Excellence in Newborn Medicine, and an honorary research fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Royal Woman’s Hospital.

  Dr Treyvaud’s research is focused on understanding and supporting mental health, developmental, and parent-child relationship outcomes for children and parents after premature birth or NICU admission. She also has strong interests in clinical service and early intervention evaluation, and student supervision and training.
• 

  Representing Early Career Research

  Dr Ishmael Inocencio

   Mikee's research focus is to investigate and develop novel mechanisms for the management and treatment of preterm babies. Mikee received my PhD from Monash University in 2020, where he investigated novel therapies for preterm lung injury and fetal growth restriction using large animal models. This experience has provided him with an excellent background in fetal development and neonatal management. Now, as a post-doctoral research fellow, his current research focuses on investigating how differing conditions of birth and early neonatal treatments can influence organ structure and function in newborn babies.