Find an expert

Associate Professor Lauren Kearney is a registered midwife and nurse and is employed as a Conjoint Associate Professor in Midwifery between the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, UQ and the Women's and Newborn Services, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. Lauren’s teaching expertise is within the postgraduate and higher degree by research areas. Her research track record is strongly focused upon maternal and child health; specifically, within the domains of evaluation of models of care (relating to the perinatal period and early years), intravenous fluid management and access during labour and birth, and facilitators to promote a positive and physiological spontaneous vaginal birth. She is also committed to enhancing women's opportunity to breastfeed and thrive in the postpartum period. Lauren has strong industry collaborations. The recipient of several competitive research grants, Lauren is passionate about improving the experience of health care for women and children through translation of high-quality evidence into practice.

Professor David McIntyre trained in Endocrinology in Australia and Belgium. He works clinically as Director of Obstetric Medicine at Mater Health Services and is an Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Medicine (Mater Research). David has published over 250 papers (>25000 citations), primarily in the field of medical complications of pregnancy, with a particular focus on diabetes and obesity. Recent research has examined the effects of diabetes, obesity and hypertension during pregnancy on the health of Mothers and Babies, during pregnancy and with long term follow up. David is a Past Chair of the Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG). In 2016, David became the first Australian trained clinician to receive the Norbert Freinkel Award for contributions to diabetes in pregnancy from the American Diabetes Association. In 2019 he was awarded the Jørgen Pedersen Lecture for diabetes in pregnancy by DPSG Europe and the Stream Lead Award Lecture for “Diabetes and Women” by the International Diabetes Federation.

I am a basic science researcher with training in cell biology, genetics and research translation. My research investigates the female reproductive system by focusing on the contribution of individual cells. I aim to understand the influence of genetic architecture, differentiation and maturation on these individual cells and how this contributes to changes in the microenvironment that can contribute to disease initiation and progression.

After the completion of my PhD in 2008 at the University of Queensland, I undertook post-doctoral studies at the University of Bern, Department of Biomedical Research (DBMR), focusing on endometriosis, ovarian and endometrial cancer. I curated patient samples from clinical research trials to investigate inflammatory and metabolic components of reproductive tissue and disease and began developing patient-derived models of the endometrium. I established a relationship between endometriosis lesions, nerves and pain and how this interaction was mediated by inflammation. I further developed patient-derived in vitro models to understand the interaction between inflammation and hormonal response of endometriotic lesions and how this could be utilized to target current and novel treatments. On returning to Australia in 2016 I joined the Genomics of Reproductive Disorders laboratory to integrate genetic background into patient-derived in vitro models. I established the Endometriosis Research Queensland Study (ERQS) in collaboration with the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and extended in vitro models into complex multi-cellular assembloids (combinations of organoids and surrounding stromal cells).