Areas of medical strength come together

Health Sciences

A world-class facility bringing together researchers in obstetrics, gynaecology, paediatrics and reproductive health has opened in the University's Medical School.

SA Minister for Health the Hon. John Hill recently launched the co-location of the Discipline of Obstetrics & Gynaecology and the Research Centre for Reproductive Health to one site in the University's Medical School. The launch also celebrated the introduction of the School of Paediatrics and Reproductive Health.

For the past 20 years the groups have operated at two separate locations - the University and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The project has been jointly funded by the SA Department of Health and the University of Adelaide in order to create closer ties with the Women's and Children's Hospital and a stronger collaboration between research and clinical groups.

Both areas have an international reputation as leaders in their field, with a history of world-leading research over the past 50 years.

Since 1958 when the Discipline of Obstetrics & Gynaecology launched Australia's first ovulation stimulation program - paving the way for in-vitro fertilisation - the discipline has celebrated a number of "firsts". These include the establishment of the first IVF program in South Australia, Australia's first birth by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection and preimplantation genetic diagnosis, as well as world-leading pregnancy rates.

Over the past 10 years the University of Adelaide has also been awarded the largest number of competitive research grants for any Australian university obstetrics and gynaecology department.

The Director of the Research Centre for Reproductive Health, Professor Rob Norman, said the co-location brought together two NHMRC program grants worth $2.6 million a year, around 100 researchers in reproductive health and approximately 2200 square metres of high-quality laboratories.

"Adelaide has been one of Australia's leading centres in obstetrics and gynaecology for the past four decades and this move allows us to consolidate our international reputation," Professor Norman said.

Story by Candy Gibson