Women's & Children's Health

Our academic section of Women's & Children's Health is led by Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe, Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at the National Maternity Hospital and specialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine.  The section comprises academic and clinical staff with expertise in paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology from across our four affiliated paediatrics and maternity hospitals.

 

Subject Areas

Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Two surgical/medical specialties dealing with the health and disease of the female reproductive system during pregnancy and non-pregnancy states respectively. The specialty also includes fetal/maternal medicine, reproduction and infertility.

Head of Subject: Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe

 

Paediatrics

The branch of medicine that specialises in the care and treatment of infants, children and adolescents.

Head of Subjects: Dr Sinéad Murphy 

 

Biography: Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe

Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe

Fionnuala McAuliffe is a Full Academic Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at National Maternity Hospital Dublin, Head of Women’s and Child’s Health at University College Dublin and Director of the UCD Perinatal Research Centre.

a multidisciplinary research centre aiming to improve outcome for mother and baby though clinically relevant pregnancy research.

Research interests

Prof McAuliffe is the principal Investigator on many clinical randomised intervention trials in pregnancy to improve maternal and infant health such as ROLO study which is a large randomised trial examining the impact of a low glycaemic diet on maternal and fetal health,  and is currently following these mothers and children to 10 years of age, PROPS study (RCT of probiotics in obese and diabetic pregnancy), PEARS study (RCT of lifestyle package with smart phone app) and the TEST study (RCT of aspirin in low risk pregnancy) Latch on Study (Multicentre RCT of breastfeeding support for women with BMI>25). She has recently received grant funding from Science Foundation Ireland to carry out a research programme on the inter-relation between mother and baby microbiome (Microbe Mom).

She has received significant grant funding both nationally and internationally  and has over 380 peer reviewed publications. She is a reviewer for over 40 international scientific journals and has developed guidelines for pregnancy in Ireland, UK and internationally.