Current Research Programmes

• Perinatal Ireland – Collaborative research consortium, based at the RCSI Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, including the eight major maternity centres on the island of Ireland (The Rotunda Hospital, Coombe Women’s Hospital, National Maternity Hospital, Cork University Hospital, University Hospital Galway, Mid-Western Hospital Limerick, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, Royal Hospitals Belfast). Together these centres look after over 50,000 pregnancies per annum and have been resourced with dedicated research equipment and personnel to collaborate on large scale clinical research studies.
  
  
• Subclinical hypothyroidism in pregnancy – To establish the role of mass spectrometry in defining subclinical hypothyroidism and to evaluate the contribution of this condition to maternal and paediatric morbidity
  
  
• Subclinical hypothyroidism and subfertility – To evaluate the contribution of subtle defects in thyroid homeostasis and fertility
  
  
• Intrauterine Growth Restriction Surveillance – To establish the optimal surveillance programme for fetal growth restriction secondary to uteroplacental insufficiency, and optimising the timing of delivery of such fetuses to minimise paediatric morbidity and mortality
  
  
• Attitudes to Prenatal Screening and Diagnosis – To establish the knowledge, attitudes and opinions of patients and health care providers in Ireland to a range of invasive and non-invasive tests of fetal health
  
  
• Innovative Population Screening Programmes for Fetal Aneuploidy – To develop and evaluate new approaches to screening pregnant patients for fetal chromosomal abnormalities, using novel combinations of maternal serum and sonographic markers
  
  
• An evaluation of Platelet Function in High and Low Estrogen States in Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertlisation- To evaluate changes in blood clotting in women taking the oral contraceptive pill and in women undergoing In Vitro Fertilisation Treatment where higher levels of Estrogen are present.