Waves of Change 2025

Prof. Asma Khalil

Asma Khalil is a Professor of Fetal Medicine. She is the Obstetric Lead at the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA). She gained her MD at the University of London in 2008.
Prof. Asma Khalil has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers, and many published review articles and chapters. She was awarded many research prizes, both at national and international meetings. She was awarded the 2021 FIGO Women’s Awards: Recognising Female Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Her research interests include twin pregnancy, congenital infections, fetal growth restriction and hypertensive disorders in pregnancy.
She had a fellowship with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE). committed to the implementation of clinical guidelines in practice. She is the Lead author of the ISUOG guideline on the role of ultrasound in twins and congenital infections. She also led the guideline team developing the FIGO guideline on twin pregnancies. She was a member of the NICE Guideline Committee updating the Twin and Multiple Pregnancy guidance.

Professor Hannah Dahlen AM

Hannah Dahlen is the Professor of Midwifery and Associate Dean (Research and Higher Degree Research) in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Western Sydney University. She has been a midwife for more than 35 years. She is one of the first midwives in Australia to gain Eligibility and access to a Medicare provider number and prescribing rights following government reforms in 2010. Hannah worked for nearly 10 years as a privately practising midwife alongside her role as a Professor of Midwifery. Hannah has published over 300 papers and book chapters and has strong national and international research partnerships. She has been in the Stanford World top 2% of scientists list for two years running.
In 2019 Hannah was awarded a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia (General Division) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for her significant services to midwifery, nursing and medical education and research. In November 2012 Hannah was named in the Sydney Morning Herald’s list of 100 “people who change our city for the better” and named as one of the leading “science and knowledge thinkers” for 2012.

Associate Professor Zoe Bradfield

Dr Zoe Bradfield is an Associate Professor of Midwifery with a joint appointment between Curtin University and the Women and Newborn Health Service in Western Australia. Zoe also holds an adjunct at the School of Medicine at the University of Western Australia, and has an Honorary Appointment at the Burnet Institute in Victoria. Zoe has worked as a nurse and a midwife across a variety of rural and metropolitan settings for over 25 years; and as an academic for the last 11 years. Her research focuses on clinical care and health systems innovations to improve outcomes for women, their families, and society. Her translational and transformational research programs have attracted >$21M in funding and received several high-impact awards. Zoe is an NHMRC Early Leadership Fellow and is the President of the Australian College of Midwives, the peak professional body for midwifery in Australia.

Professor Stephen Tong

Professor Stephen Tong is clinician-scientist – a general obstetrician at Mercy hospital for Women and Professor at the University of Melbourne. He is co-director of Mercy Perinatal.
Stephen’s main interest is translational research: identifying new diagnostics and treatments to treat major pregnancy complications. His particular focus is finding new diagnostics to prevent stillbirth and poor neonatal outcomes; and new therapies to treat preeclampsia. He also has an interest in population health research.
He holds an NHMRC Fellowship, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Science, and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Robinson Research Institute. Since 2020, he has published in many eminent journals: BMJ, Lancet, JAMA Pediatrics, JAMA Psychiatry, Nature Communications, Nature Medicine and others.

Professor Craig Pennell

Professor Craig Pennell is the Chair in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Head of Discipline at the
University of Newcastle, and Senior Sta? Specialist in Maternal Fetal Medicine (John Hunter Hospital). In addition to his subspecialty training in Maternal Fetal Medicine, he has a PhD in fetal physiology and completed postdoctoral training in molecular genetics in Toronto. Professor Pennell has managed high risk pregnancies as a subspecialist for over 20-years in Canada,
Perth and now Newcastle. His clinical work focuses on maternal fetal medicine, preterm birth
prevention and the management of pregnancy after pregnancy loss. Professor Pennell’s research is broadly encompassed by the concept of precision medicine. He applies this to both pregnancy
complications and the development of health and disease. His aim is to use targeted management to allow every woman to have a successful pregnancy and to develop ways to prevent adult disease at its earliest origin in pregnancy and the first 1000 days of life.
In addition to research, teaching and clinical medicine, he is the Foundation Scientific Director of the Newcastle 1000 Family Study (NEW1000) and is a Board Member of Red Nose.
Over his research career, he has published more than 300 papers, been cited more than 24,000 times and been awarded more than $33M in competitive research grants.

Professor Vicki Flenady AM

Prof. Flenady is the Co-Director of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth. Vicki’s research focusses on collaborative programs in Australia and globally to effectively reduce the numbers of babies who are stillborn and to improve care for families who experience this loss.

Professor Sailesh Kumar

Professor Kumar is a Maternal Fetal Medicine Specialist and Mayne Professor and Head of the Academy of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at The University of Queensland. Prof. Kumar’s research interests are in complex pregnancies and fetal therapy with a particular focus on complications related to placental dysfunction. He heads the Genesis Maternal Fetal Research Group at the Mater Research Institute-University of Queensland.

Professor Fabricio Costa

Prof Costa is a Consultant at the Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit, Gold Coast University Hospital and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Griffith University. Fabricio’s integrated program of perinatal research spans laboratory-based discovery research, clinical trials, implementation science, and health policy.

Professor Adrienne Gordon

Prof Gordon is a Senior Staff Specialist Neonatologist in the RPA Centre for Newborn Care, Clinical Professor at the University of Sydney and Chief Investigator on the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence. She is President-Elect of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand, Co-Chair of the IMPACT Network (Improving Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes – Action through Clinical Trials) and a Board Member of the International Stillbirth Alliance. She has strong links with National parent led organisations and is Deputy Chair of the National RedNose scientific advisory group. Adrienne is a key member of the Safer Baby Bundle initiative and leads the MRFF funded PreBabe Trial which aims to improve pregnancy and newborn outcomes for women with overweight or obesity. She founded the award winning Sydney local health district iSAIL (integrated support after infant loss) service.

Dr Glenn Gardener

Dr Glenn Gardener is the Director of Maternal, Fetal and Obstetric Medicine at Mater Mothers Hospital, South Brisbane, MFM VMO to Townsville and Gold Coast University Hospitals and RANZCOG CMFM training supervisor and examiner. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with Mater Research, University of Qld. Having completing his medical training at the University of Qld, he pursued a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, subspecialising in Maternal Fetal Medicine and undertaking a 2-year fellowship at University College London, United Kingdom. He returned to Brisbane as Consultant in Maternal Fetal Medicine and in 2007 he was appointed Director of the service. He has authored 87 peer reviewed publications and 5 book chapters. His research interests include prenatal diagnosis, fetal therapy, fetal growth restriction, ultrasound in obstetrics, telehealth and the investigation and prevention of stillbirth.

Professor David Ellwood AO

Prof. Ellwood is Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Griffith University, Queensland and Director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Unit at Gold Coast University Hospital. He is a senior clinician researcher with over 200 publications, multiple competitive research grants, and successful HDR completions. His research interests span a range of adverse outcomes of pregnancy but particularly include maternal and perinatal death. He is the co-Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth (the Stillbirth CRE) and has co-authored many articles on this topic.

Dr Pita Birch

Dr Pita Birch is the Director of Neonatology at Mater and a neonatologist with over 15 years of consultant experience, 14 years in Queensland. Dr Birch trained in neonatology New Zealand at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne and has worked as a neonatologist in Melbourne, Auckland and the Gold Coast before moving to Mater in Brisbane in March 2018. Dr Birch is trained in point of care ultrasound and has clinical interests in haemodynamic management, particularly in extremely preterm infants, as well as the respiratory management of term and preterm infants. He has research interests in infection prevention, respiratory management for the prevention of chronic neonatal lung disease and neonatal nutrition. In his time as director at the Mater, Dr Birch has championed quality improvement and has been part of the leadership team that has initiated the Tiny Baby project.

Associate Professor Miranda Davies-Tuck

A/Professor Miranda Davies-Tuck is the Head of Epidemiology and Clinical Trials, Hudson Institute of Medical Research. She is also a Chief Investigator on the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence where she co-leads the Stillbirth CRE’s Equity Program. Miranda is also the current President of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (PSANZ) and executive member of the PSANZ Interdisciplinary Maternal Perinatal Australasian Collaborative Trials (IMPACT) Network. Miranda leads dynamic and collaborative research program that spans the entire translational pipeline, including discovery science, epidemiology, randomised controlled trials, evidence synthesis, implementation, and evaluation. Her work seeks to transform care, mitigating adverse events in pregnancy and guaranteeing equitable outcomes for every mother and her baby, irrespective of her background.