It was one of the worst days of my time as a doctor.
Mother of one, Maureen* was 35 weeks pregnant with her second child when she began feeling lightheaded and seeing spots.
When she felt as if her eyes were rolling around in her head, she thought she’d better get to the hospital.
By the time she began having seizures, it was too late for her.
Both she and her baby died in the emergency department.
Maureen had pre-eclampsia, which causes extremely high blood pressure. It can be deadly, causing 500,000 foetal deaths and 50,000 maternal deaths globally each year.
What really broke my heart is that pre-eclampsia is largely treatable.If diagnosed early, through an ultrasound at 12 weeks, it can often be prevented cheaply and effectively with daily low-dose aspirin.
Maureen didn’t have to die.
Our aim is to provide this test to all women,
so no mother or baby has to lose their life.
Professor Jon Hyett
Head of Obstetrics Research, Ingham Institute
*names have been changed to protect privacy
By 20-weeks, a female foetus has developed all her eggs, which means the mother’s health and environment will impact their yet to be conceived grandchild’s health and development.
That makes in utero health multigenerational.
In the broader Western Sydney area, 30% of women booking for maternity care have some higher risk and need more intensive/specialist levels of care.
That’s why the focus of Obstetrics Research at Ingham Institute is on:
When you support Obstetrics Research at Ingham Institute, you support
improved health outcomes for the foetus, the baby, the mother, and future
generations of women and children.
It could be your daughter or granddaughter that our research and care help.
Key initiatives
Please join us to inspire health and transform the treatment and care of
people living with the most prevalent medical conditions and diseases.
For more information or should you wish to personally discuss your
giving priorities or philanthropic partnership opportunities please
contact our Philanthropy team at giving@inghaminstitute.org.au or
call +61 2 8738 9000.
will help test a woman to see if she’s at risk of delivering her baby too early
will help identify women at risk of life-threatening pre-eclampsia
will help purchase a specialised ultrasound machine to predict and prevent babies being stillborn
will pay for 12 genomic tests to determine why some women deliver their babies too early or develop pre-eclampsia