MRC INTEGRATIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY UNIT (IEU) 

SPECIAL SEMINAR

MONDAY, 22^ND DECEMBER, 2014
16.00 – 17.00 : SEMINAR ROOM
2^nd FLOOR, OAKFIELD HOUSE

 Martha Hickey
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology

University of Melbourne, Head of Menopause Unit
The Women’s Hospital, Melbourne


 “Female reproductive health; what can cohort studies tell us?”

 Abstract

Reproductive health shapes contributes to adult physical and emotional wellbeing as well as the health of subsequent generations. There is growing recognition that adult reproductive health is modified by factors during prenatal and early life. This is particularly pertinent for females, where total ovarian reserve is established during prenatal life and developing oocytes highly vulnerable to an adverse early life environment.

 Understanding the genetic and environmental factors that shape reproductive health requires longitudinal studies commencing at birth, or preferably at conception. These cohort studies can provide key information about normal reproductive development and potentially inform the antecedents of common reproductive conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome, abnormal uterine bleeding and infertility. Reproductive milestones such as age at menarche are consistent risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic abnormalities as well as breast cancer. Understanding the contribution of early life factors to these milestones can provide new information on risk factors and potential mechanisms and prevention strategies for later life diseases.

This presentation will discuss how cohort studies can inform female reproductive health and set directions for future investigation, protocols and collaboration

Martha Hickey BA (Hons); MSc (Clin Psych); MBChB, FRANZCOG, MD

Professor Martha Hickey is Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne and holds Adjunct positions at Harvard University and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Australia. She is an NHMRC Practitioner Fellow. She graduated in 1990 from Bristol University and was awarded her MD in 1996 from Bristol in reproductive medicine.

Professor Hickey is an experienced clinician researcher in reproductive endocrinology. She has a particular interest in the early life origins of reproductive health and disease and has worked extensively with the Raine cohort in Western Australia.

She is a member of the World Health Organisation Human Reproduction Program Research Review Panel and an Editor for the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group.

  

ALL WELCOME