Early Life – NIHR HRC in Paediatrics and Child Health

RESEARCH THEME

EARLY LIFE

The Need

Poor perinatal outcomes have a significant, life-long impact on babies, their families, and society.

Every year in the UK, more than 3,500 babies develop severe brain injury resulting in life-long disabilities, such as deafness, blindness, and cerebral palsy.

Approximately 1 in 400 children in the UK have cerebral palsy, and many more have more subtle neurodevelopmental deficits, related to early life care, that negatively impact their educational and employment potential.

Critically, ethnic patient groups, such as Asian and Black women, are 2-4 times more likely to die in pregnancy, and areas of high deprivation are associated with rates higher stillbirth and neonatal death.

Theme Focus

The Early Life theme centres on preterm birth and birth-related brain injury, which are major contributors to the highest burden of death or disability throughout the lifespan.

This theme has seven areas of focus:

Reducing stillbirths and preterm birth through better antenatal diagnostics.
Reducing birth-related brain injury with safer birth through better recognition of maternal or foetal complications during labour and birth.
Advancing resuscitation and stabilisation of high-risk infants at birth.
Making postnatal inter-hospital transfer for newborns safer.
Improving intensive care monitoring to support transition to family integrated care for high-risk infants.
Reducing the burden of hospital acquired infections on preterm infants through avoidance of microbial biofilm formation on medical devices.
Utilising data driven discovery and large datasets to identify disparities in care and improve service provision.

Case Studies

Quantifying movement of infants to improve the diagnosis and treatment of abnormal movement disorders

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Next generation high-risk newborn resuscitation device

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Antimicrobial polymer coating for neonatal medical devices

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Team

PROF DON SHARKEY

THEME LEAD

Professor Don Sharkey is Clinical Associate Professor of Neonatal Medicine at the University of Nottingham and Neonatal Intensivist at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Don is an academic neonatologist and has broad research portfolio aimed at reducing major morbidities in newborn infants.

PROF KATE WALKER

DEPUTY THEME LEAD

Professor Kate Walker is a Clinical Professor in Obstetrics at the University of Nottingham. Kate’s clinical interests include high risk pregnancy, labour ward management, and obstetric ultrasound scanning. Her research work to date has focused on randomised controlled trials in obstetrics, neonatology, and sexual health.

JESS MCNEILL

PROJECT MANAGER

Jess McNeill is our communications and education programme lead. Jess also manages the Early Life theme and leads the planning for the Child Health Technology conference. Before joining the team, Jess worked in the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Clinical Research Facility where she managed a portfolio of studies covering infectious diseases, rheumatology, and gastroenterology.

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