👏Check out this new paper just out from Dr Andrea Bowe ICAT fellow in INFANT
💡In this paper Andrea examines the potential of Big Data and Machine Learning to help us to identify those children most at risk of learning delay.
🔎 https://rdcu.be/cPi6Q
Last month Dr Ali Khashan and Dr Simon Woodworth travelled to the Kilimanjaro Region of Northern Tanzania as part of the Kilimanjaro ULTRA 2020 project funded by COALESCE. The ULTRA app is currently being trialed across Kilimanjaro and was designed to improve health outcomes of mothers and babies by enabling health officials to accurately record key data so that they can establish targeted intervention strategies aimed at improving maternal healthcare.
Dr Ali Khashan: “We had an exciting visit to our colleagues at KCMC, where we visited several healthcare facilities across the region and had meetings with healthcare professionals including research team lead Dr Blandina Mmbaga and the regional reproductive health officer Gaudensia Olomi. We have learnt a lot about the maternal health care services in the region, where we will pilot the ULTRA App in the next two years. We very much look forward for our future visits.”
Dr Simon Woodworth: “The ULTRA App has the potential to replace existing paper based maternal tracking systems with an electronic system that is easier to use, searchable, and which will provide up to date data to nurses, clinicians and decision makers in the Kilimajaro Regional Health System.”
Dr Blandina Mmgaba: “The sites visits by Dr Ali Khashan, Dr.Simon Woodworth and the ULTRA 2020 study team has shown a snapshot of the need for digital birth registry, the HMIS in practice needs modification to incorporate all necessary variables in the stages of RCH from Antenatal to Postnatal services. For future scale up and sustainability the need to involve the Ministry of Health is crucial. We have started working with the Regional Administrative Secretary through the Regional Medical Officer who is ready to support the digitization of the birth registry within the selected health facilities in the region.”
Learn more about the Kilimanjaro Ultra 2020 project here
The INFANT Research Centre is tremendously proud to announce the admission of Professor and Director of INFANT Geraldine Boylan to The Royal Irish Academy alongside other new members, including INFANT Principal Investigator Professor Mairead Kiely.
The Royal Irish Academy is Ireland’s leading body of experts in sciences & humanities, which provides expert advice; manages research projects; publishes books & journals; sustains a library. The RIA has been honouring Ireland’s leading contributors to the world of learning since its establishment in 1785.
New members were commended for their exceptional contributions to the sciences, humanities, and social sciences – as well as to public service at an admittance day ceremony in Dublin.
Geraldine Boylan is Professor of Neonatal Physiology, University College Cork and Director of INFANT, the Irish Centre for Maternal and Child Health Research. She is a leading figure internationally in Newborn Neurophysiology and has championed the use of signal processing and AI for the identification of infants at risk of brain injury. Her research innovations have now been translated to the patient bedside, benefitting newborns worldwide
Mairead Kiely is a Professor in Human Nutrition at University College Cork. She is an international leader in the field of micronutrient research, in particular vitamin D and its impact on health and child development. Prof Kiely is an expert in nutritional risk assessment and contributes to several international advisory groups in Public Health Nutrition.
Also elected members were: Katherine Browne (University College Dublin); Mary Cannon (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, University of Medicine and Health Sciences); Karen Corrigan (Newcastle University); Mary Cosgrove (TCD); Rónadh Cox (Williams College); Gary Donohoe (NUI Galway); Fiona Doohan (UCD); Linda Doyle (TCD); Mary Doyle (Trinity Long Room Hub); Gladys Ganiel (Queen’s University Belfast); Andreas Hess (UCD); David Jones (QUB); Patricia Kearney (UCC); JoAnne Mancini (Maynooth University); Niamh Moloney (London School of Economics); Orla Muldoon (University of Limerick); Siobhán Mullally (NUIG); James P O’Gara (NUIG) Stefan Oscarson (UCD); Ann Rigney (Utrecht University); Jane Roberts (University of London); David Stifter (MU); Virginia Teehan (Heritage Council of Ireland) and Patrick Wyse Jackson (TCD).
There are 656 members of the RIA including: Nobel Laureates William C Campbell and John O’Keefe; Louise Richardson, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford; Frances Ruane, economist; Philip Lane, European Central Bank; Fabiola Gianotti, director general CERN; Brigid Laffan, Irish political scientist and director of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies and Geraldine Byrne-Nason, Ireland’s permanent representative to the UN.Past Members have included Maria Edgeworth, a pioneer of the modern novel and Nobel laureates WB Yeats; Ernest Walton, Erwin Schrödinger and Seamus Heaney.
Caroline is a PhD student at the INFANT Centre. Caroline completed her BSc Midwifery in the UCC in 2010. After graduating she travelled to Essex in the UK where she worked as a Band 6 Midwife in one of the largest and busiest maternity units in the country. She returned home at the end of 2011 and began working as an agency midwife in various maternity hospitals around Ireland.
Caroline went on to work as a research associate with a medical diagnostics company in conjunction with University College Cork involved in the development of a blood test which can predict the risk that a woman will develop preeclampsia later in their pregnancy.
Caroline has completed a postgraduate diploma with UCC in Preparation for Birth and Parenthood and enjoys providing antenatal classes in her spare time.
Caroline is now pursuing a PhD with INFANT and NPEC in the area of Multiple pregnancy: An investigation of the risk factors and outcomes in the ROI (The MILESTONE study). Her research is funded by the Irish Research Council.
The objective of the study are:
Caroline’s supervisors are Prof. Keelin O’Donoghue (INFANT) and Dr. Sara Leitao (NPEC)
Caroline aims to contribute to improving and standardising the care of twin pregnancies and especially improving the experience of the parents using the services.
VIEW or DOWNLOAD the Report (PDF) here: HSE National Standards for Bereavement Care
Between 2017 and 2021, experts in perinatal bereavement care, bereaved parents and members of support organisations and voluntary groups came together to develop and improve perinatal bereavement care through the implementation of the Standards in all Maternity units. The enclosed report was prepared to present the programmes of work undertaken to implement the Standards.
The content of this report shows the dedication and hard work of both the healthcare professionals and the support groups and voluntary organisations who work with parents bereaved through pregnancy loss and perinatal death. We acknowledge the work and commitment in each Maternity Unit to implement the Standards.
Finally, we present further recommendations based on audit findings, expert opinion, best practice and the learning from experiences of bereaved parents and families, which should be a priority for every Maternity Unit.
The report was compiled by Professor Keelin O’Donoghue – https://www.ucc.ie/en/obsgyn/staff/keelin/ – Clinical lead for Implementation, and Riona Cotter National Programme Manager, the report highlights the dedication and hard work of healthcare professionals, support groups and voluntary organisations who work with parents bereaved through pregnancy loss and perinatal death.
VIEW or DOWNLOAD the Report (PDF) here: HSE National Standards for Bereavement Care
Monday 16 September 2019
A special thank-you to Marcus, Steven and all the team at Stryker who kindly donated €1, 231 from a recent fundraising event.
The event in question was a penalty shoot-out, and by all accounts, was highly competitive!
When asked why the team chose INFANT as the lucky recipient of the funds, Steven explained: “A number of staff, myself included, have had premature babies who spent time in the neonatal intensive care unit in CUMH and experienced first hand the great work that the INFANT Research Centre is doing”.
Stryker’s contribution will allow the centre to purchase new equipment for the NICU, enabling us to continue our research for the most vulnerable in our society.
Thanks again to all involved.
For further information on how you can support INFANT please contact Ms Eimear Keohane via email eimear.keohane@ucc.ie or by phone +353 21 4205409.
