As a physiologist and biomedical scientist, I have worked throughout my career to transform our knowledge of the science of labour by conducting world-leading research.

I have an expertise in uterine contractility and smooth muscle function of which I am proud. My scientific discoveries into the physiological causes of difficult labour, have moved clinicians (and many women) from simply lamenting, “these things happen, nothing can be done”, to appreciating that research is providing reasons and pointing the way to treatments. This is critical to maternal and child health.

The use of oral bicarbonate to replace emergency Caesarean sections in difficult labours, is a simple solution with the potential to change labours world-wide. Underlying this simple solution is a complex and detailed understanding of the physiological drivers of these difficult labours, which comes directly from my team’s discoveries. These studies showed how elevated lactate is a signature of difficult labours, from which predications of outcome and therapeutic interventions have stemmed.

My career is characterised by overcoming conceptual blocks in understanding, by developing new techniques. My drive is always to obtain data on physiologically relevant preparations, so that ultimately it contributes to greater understanding of mechanisms and function and can be translated. To obtain these data, I pioneered the use of many techniques to the study of intact uterus and smooth muscle. My scientific discoveries range from the molecular aspects of the ion channels determining myometrial excitability, to the metabolic and energetic changes produced by contractions and revealing an intrinsic protective feedback mechanism.

I am proud to have mentored many trainees, spoken out and supported women in science and given back by proudly serving in non-renumerated professional leadership positions in national and international bodies.