David Ellwood
David Ellwood
Dean of Medicine and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Griffith University School of MedicineState or Territory:
- Queensland
Primary position including institution/organisation:
- Dean of Medicine and Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Griffith University School of Medicine
- Director of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at Gold Coast University Hospital
About Professor David Ellwood:
- I am a Maternal-Fetal Medicine sub-specialist, and I have worked throughout my career in various tertiary hospitals in NSW, ACT and now in Queensland at the new Gold Coast University Hospital. I have also been involved for many years in the collection and reporting of perinatal data at both state and national levels.
- As a clinician, educator and researcher I have tried to do whatever I can to understand and reduce the mortality and morbidity caused by the adverse outcomes of pregnancy. As an active member of PSANZ I have been involved in recruiting to many of the RCTs that have been carried out to try to improve the evidence-base for perinatal care around preterm birth.
- As well as my role in APBPA I am the co-Director of a Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth, another massive public health problem related to pregnancy. There are many synergies between the work of the Stillbirth CRE and APBPA as many of the risk factors for both adverse outcomes are the same.
Why does preventing early birth matter to you?
“Throughout my career I have worked in high-risk pregnancy care and many of the women I have cared for have experienced preterm birth. I have seen first-hand on literally hundreds of occasions the emotional trauma for families which follows the birth of a very premature baby, as well as the long-term consequences for their babies, including early and late neonatal death. Reducing that burden is a major goal of all of us who work in this field, so the work of the Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance is something about which I care deeply. I am very pleased to be part of this important new initiative.”
The Australian Preterm Birth Prevention Alliance is working to safely lower the rate of early birth across Australia.