RANZCOG Women’s Health Foundation

Research and Travel Scholarship

Recipients 2015 - 2019

Research and Travel Scholarship Recipients

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RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS

Arthur Wilson Memorial Scholarship 2018 – 2019 Recipient: Dr Natasha Pritchard

Institution: The University of Melbourne Project: Novel therapeutic agents to treat pre-eclampsia in obese mice models.

2016 – 2017 Recipient: Dr LuFee Wong Institution: Monash IVF and Monash Ultrasound for Women Project: Reproducibility of three-dimensional ultrasound of the junctional zone

in myometrial pathology and their correlation with pregnancy rates.

Ella Macknight Memorial Scholarship 2019 – 2020 Recipient: Dr Monika Skubisz

Institution: South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute Project: A randomised controlled trial to investigate the necessity of prenatal

folic acid supplementation beyond 12 weeks of gestation.

2015 – 2016 Recipient: Dr Shakyalal Vidhura (Shavi) Fernando Institution: Monash University Project: Melatonin and infertility: Can we improve outcomes of assisted

reproductive technology - a placebo controlled randomised controlled trial.

Fotheringham Research Scholarship 2018 – 2019 Recipient: Dr Maya Reddy Institution: Monash University

Project: The cardiovascular toll of pre-eclampsia: determining impacts on the maternal, fetal and placental vasculature.

2016 – 2017 Recipient: Dr Ryan Hodges Institution: The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute, Monash University

Project: Fetal therapy for congenital diaphragmatic hernia: a global partnership to translate surgical and cellular innovation.

Global Health Pacific Research Scholarships 2017 Recipient: Dr John Bolnga (Only year offered) Institution: Modilin General Hospital, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea

Project: Safety and efficacy of oral misoprostol for the induction of labour in Papua New Guinean women: low dose regimen versus standard treatment regimen. A randomized controlled trial. (ISRCTN 10107246)

Research and Travel Scholarship Recipients

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Recipient: Dr Nancy Hamura Institution: Port Moresby General Hospital, Papua New Guinea Project: Factors influencing initiation of antenatal care of pregnant women at Port Moresby General Hospital.

Glyn White Research Fellowship 2019 – 2020 Recipient: Dr Roxanne Hastie Institution: University of Melbourne/Mercy Hospital for Women Project: Improved Characterisation of Eclampsia (ICE study).

2017 – 2018 Recipient: Dr Kirsten Palmer Institution: Monash University Project: Targeting placental specific sFLT-1: enhancing the prediction and

diagnosis of pre-Eclampsia.

2015 – 2016 Recipient: Dr Stella Liong Institution: Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department (Mercy Hospital for Women),

The University of Melbourne Project: Can dietary phytophenols prevent the development of gestational

diabetes?

Luke Proposch Perinatal Research Scholarship 2017 Recipient: Dr Thomas Cade (Final year offered) Institution: Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne

Project: New criteria for the diagnosis of gestational diabetes: A maternal and neonatal health outcome and economic analysis in a large tertiary level maternity centre.

2016 Recipient: Dr Natalie Hannan Institution: University of Melbourne/Mercy Hospital for Women Project: Clopidogrel: a potential treatment for pre-eclampsia.

2015 Recipient: Dr Sebastian Hobson Institution: Monash University Project: The role of melatonin in mitigating oxidative stress in pre-eclampsia.

Mary Elizabeth Courier Research Scholarship 2019 – 2020 Recipient: Dr Daniella Susic

Institution: University of New South Wales/Royal Hospital for Women Project: The uterine microbiome in obesity-related endometrial cancer:

identifying it's composition and relationship with clinicopathological features and local and systemic biomarkers.

2017 – 2018 Recipient: Dr Rachael Rodgers Institution: University of New South Wales Project: The administration of anti-mullerian hormone to protect the ovaries

during chemotherapy.

Research and Travel Scholarship Recipients

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2015 – 2016 Recipient: Dr Luke Larmour

Institution: Monash University Project: Factors influencing the progression of high-grade cervical dysplasia to

invasive carcinoma.

Norman Beischer Clinical Research Scholarship 2019 – 2020 Recipient: Dr Carole-Anne Whigham

Institution: University of Melbourne/Mercy Hospital for Women Project: Detecting Circulating Maternal Biomarkers to Predict Fetal Size: FLAG

2 (Fetal Longitudinal Assessment of Growth).

2018 – 2019 Recipient: Dr Amanda Poprzeczny Institution: The University of Adelaide Project: Maternal Overweight and Obesity and Gestational Diabetes:

Effect on Fetal Growth and Adiposity.

2017 – 2018 Recipient: Dr Monica Zen (First year offered) Institution: Westmead Hospital

Project: The impacts of kidney disease in pregnancy.

RANZCOG Fellows' Clinical Research Scholarship 2017 Recipient: Dr Tanya Nippita (Final year offered) Institution: Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital Project: Probiotics for women with preterm prelabour rupture of membranes

(PPROM) to delay preterm birth: a randomised controlled trial.

2016 Recipient: Dr Erin Nesbitt-Hawes Institution: Royal Hospital for Women Project: Four-dimensional ultrasound of the pelvic floor.

2015 Recipient: Dr Stefan Kane Institution: The Royal Women’s Hospital, Department of Perinatal Medicine Project: Maternal ophthalmic artery Doppler waveform analysis in the

assessment and management of pre-eclampsia.

RANZCOG NSW Regional Committee Trainee Research Grants 2019 Recipient: Dr Kata Kraljevic Institution: Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital

Project: How and what do obstetricians discuss with pregnant women who have had a caesarean section regarding their next birth options, and is this consistent with the best available evidence?

Recipient: Dr Sameer Mathur Institution: Kolling Institute of Medical Research, Royal North Shore Hospital

Project: The use of cervical cerclage for women at risk of preterm birth: a survey of current clinical practice and predictors of cerclage success.

Research and Travel Scholarship Recipients

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Recipient: Dr Russell Duncan

Institution: Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Project: A potential role for the Ghrelin axis in endometriosis

Recipient: Dr Nicole Stamatopoulos Institution: Nepean Clinical School

Project: Factors affecting early pregnancy and miscarriage.

2018 Recipient: Dr Amy Goh Institution: Sydney West Advanced Pelvic Surgery

Project: The comparison of surgical outcomes using LigaSure and Gyrus PK in total laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Recipient: Dr Aiat Shamsa Institution: The University of New South Wales

Project: Novel Biomarkers in women with benign Gynaecological conditions and those undergoing IVF.

Recipient: Dr Daniella Susic Institution: St George Hospital, NSW

Project: The Microbiome in Pregnancy and Infancy: comprehensive assessment of its composition, and its relationship to health and disease.

2017 Recipient: Dr Sarika Gupta (First year offered) Institution: University of Sydney

Project: Investigating the impact of community contraceptive implant provision on maternal morbidity and mortality on Karkar Island, Papua New Guinea.

Recipient: Dr Jason Phung Institution: Hunter Medical Research Institute Project: Understanding myometrial transition in term and preterm labour to

guide tocolysis.

RANZCOG/OvCan (ACT & Region) Ovarian Cancer Awareness / Support Scholarship 2016 Recipient: Dr Noor Lokman Institution: University of Adelaide Project: Targeting hyaluronan to overcome chemoresistance in ovarian cancer.

Robert Wrigley Pain Research Scholarship 2018 – 2019 Recipient: Dr Lauren Kite Institution: Women’s Health and Research Institute of Australia (WHRIA)

Project: Randomised cross-over trial assessing the efficacy of adding hyaluronic acid to local anaesthetic in pudendal nerve blocks.

Research and Travel Scholarship Recipients

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Taylor-Hammond Research Scholarship

2019 Recipient: Dr Joseph Carpini Institution: The University of Western Australia Project: Unlocking the “Black Box”: Effects of Cognitive and Emotional

Demands on Surgical Performance in OBGYN.

2018 Recipient: Dr Aaron Budden Institution: The University of New South Wales Project: Measuring Stress in Surgeons.

2017 Recipient: Dr Charlotte Oyston* Institution: University of Auckland Project: The placental transcriptome in severe early onset fetal growth

restriction: effect of sildenafil citrate.

2016 Recipient: Dr Teresa MacDonald Institution: Mercy Hospital for Women/ University of Melbourne Project: Improving the Prediction and Detection of Contributors to Term

Stillbirth: Fetal Longitudinal Assessment of Growth (FLAG) Study.

2015 Recipient: Dr Victoria Nisenblat* Institution: The Robinson Institute, School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health,

Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, the University of Adelaide Project: ‘Development and evaluation of plasma non-invasive diagnostic test

for endometriosis’

*Project discontinued – scholarship relinquished by recipient.

UroGynaecological Society of Australasia (UGSA) Research Scholarship 2019 Recipient: Dr Zhuoran Chen Institution: University of New South Wales Project: Refractory Urge Incontinence: the role of cytokines a marker for

persistent infection in these patients?

Recipient: Dr Chin Yong Institution: The Royal Women’s Hospital Project: Bilateral sacrospinous ligament flap for treatment of apical pelvic

organ prolapse: a combined cadaveric study and magnetic resonance imaging study.

2018 Recipient: Dr Alex Mowat Institution: Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Project: Evaluation of Polycaprolactone (PCL) as a tissue engineering scaffold

for the surgical treatment of pelvic organ prolapse in the sheep model.

2017 Recipient: Dr Lin Li Ow (First year offered) Institution: Monash Health Project: Mini sling or Retropubic sling in women with Intrinsic Sphincter

Deficiency - a RCT study (Mini RISD).

Research and Travel Scholarship Recipients

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TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS

ASGO International Travelling Fellowship 2017 Recipient: Dr Nirmala Kampan Institution: Undertaking a placement in the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne’s Gynae/Oncology Unit.

Beresford Buttery Travel Grant

2018 Recipient: Dr Maya Reddy Institution: Undertaking an observership in the Fetal Medicine Unit at St George’s

Hospital, London.

Brown Craig Travel Fellowship

2018 Recipient: Dr Asha-Rhiannon Short Institution: Undertaking an observership at the University College London

Hospital/ Great Ormond Street Hospital, London.

2016 Recipient: Dr Felicity Gould Institution: Undertaking research and observation within the Department of

Urogynaecology at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK.

Miriam O’Connor Travelling Fellowship

2019 Recipient: Dr Manarangi De Silva Institution: Undertaking an observership at the National Referral Hospital,

Honiara, Solomon Islands.