Showcasing Research Across Perinatal Health

This forum is co-hosted with our partner SAHMRI Women & Kids and will focus on their early career researchers covering an array of perinatal health trials, programs and current research work.

OUR SPEAKERS

Dr Arwen Nikolof, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Aboriginal Communities and Families Research Alliance, Women and Kids Theme, SAHMRI

Development of an Aboriginal Children’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing Tool

The Aboriginal Families Study is a prospective cohort study investigating the health and wellbeing of 344 Aboriginal families in South Australia. This presentation outlines the co-development of the Aboriginal Children’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing Tool, designed to assess wellbeing from an Aboriginal perspective. The tool was developed in partnership with the Aboriginal Families Study Governance Group and research team.

Dr Arwen Nikolof is a Narungga and Kaurna woman from South Australia with more than 20 years' experience in Aboriginal health across policy, planning, service development, government, community services, and research. She completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2025, examining housing mobility among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and developing a new approach to assessing Aboriginal children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Dr Nikolof is an Early Career Researcher with the Aboriginal Communities and Families Research Alliance at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). She currently works on the Aboriginal Families Study, a prospective cohort study following 344 Aboriginal families in South Australia, with a focus on Aboriginal child and family wellbeing.

Dr Kylie Lange, Biostatistician Research Fellow, Women and Kids Theme, SAHMRI / School of Medicine, Adelaide University

Including infants from multiple births in clinical trials

Including twins and higher order multiples in clinical trials can increase the generalisability of trial results and enable interesting subgroup analyses. However, their inclusion complicates the statistical aspects of the trial. This presentation will discuss key issues to consider when planning, analysing and interpreting trials that include multiple births, to ensure conclusions are accurate and robust.

Dr Kylie Lange is a Biostatistician Research Fellow in the Women and Kids Theme, SAHMRI, and biostatistician in the School of Medicine, Adelaide University. Her research interests are in clinical trial methodology, with a focus on improving the design and analysis of perinatal trials. Her research has developed reporting guidelines, recommendations for analysis, and new sample size calculators for partially clustered trials, including perinatal trials that include multiple births. She has >20 years experience in clinical research, collaborating on trials in nutrition, diabetes, and critical illness.

Dr Catherine Dimasi, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Women and Kids Theme, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI)

Fatty acid distribution and socioeconomic patterning of omega-3 fatty acid status in early pregnancy: An analysis of the South Australian Omega-3 Test and Treat Program

Despite evidence omega-3 supplementation reduces preterm birth, population level data remains limited. We analysed 26, 389 serum omega-3 samples from South Australian pregnant women. 16.1% had low omega-3 status, with higher prevalence among women living in areas of socioeconomic disadvantage. Increasing testing and supplementation uptake for women in these areas may reduce preterm birth risk.

Dr Catherine Dimasi is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Women and Kids Theme at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). Working in the Pregnancy and Newborn Health Program, her research aims to optimise the perinatal period to improve health outcomes across childhood and into adult life, with a particular focus on the role of omega 3 fatty acids. Catherine holds a hybrid position as both the Project Manager for the Omega 3 Test and Treat Program and a postdoctoral researcher. Catherine completed her PhD in 2024 in the Early Origins of Adult Health Research Group, examining cardiac maturation in the fetus.  She is passionate in improving pregnancy, infant, and maternal health through clinical research and implementation.

Dr Abigail Edwards, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Centre for Research Excellence in Human Milk Nutrition for Preterm Infants, SAHMRI

Supporting Exclusive Breastfeeding After Preterm Birth

The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. However, only 38% of Australian infants meet this target. While breastmilk may be particularly beneficial for preterm infants, mothers of preterm infants face unique barriers to exclusive breastfeeding. We present findings that describe the characteristics associated with poorer exclusive breastfeeding outcomes for mothers and preterm infants, as well as the breastfeeding challenges reported by mothers of preterm infants.

Dr Abigail Edwards (BSc(Hons), PhD) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Centre for Research Excellence in Human Milk Nutrition for Preterm Infants. She completed her PhD at The University of Queensland in 2025, where she investigated how psychological ownership, or the feeling of ownership over a non-physical possession, can be leveraged to improve donor retention. Since completing her PhD, she has contributed to numerous published studies on human milk donation and was awarded competitive seed funding to lead a project investigating the role of social support in facilitating milk donation. Her research now spans donor behaviours and experiences, human milk donation, and breastfeeding outcomes, with a focus on identifying factors that influence the provision of human milk for preterm infants.

OUR CHAIR

Professor Alice Rumbold, Perinatal Epidemiologist and Theme Leader, SAHMRI Women and Kids.

Alice manages a multidisciplinary research team focussed on improving health outcomes for women, babies and families. She is internationally recognised for her leadership of research programs focussed on reducing adverse reproductive and perinatal health exposures and interventions to reduce the burden of prematurity, including promotion of human milk feeding. She is Director of the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Human Milk Nutrition for Preterm Infants, bringing together a team of experts across Australia to optimise the use of human milk in preterm infants.

Other event information:

 Networking and light refreshments will follow the session from 7.00pm.

This is a public forum and also open to the community, everyone is welcome to attend.