British Maternal and Fetal Medicine (BMFMS) and Wellbeing of Women (WoW) jointly funded research projects

We are delighted to announce that in 2023/2024 the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine (BMFMS) and Wellbeing of Women (WoW) jointly funded two research projects:

Exploring a new type of treatment to protect babies in the womb

Fetal growth restriction is a condition where an unborn baby is smaller than expected or stops growing during pregnancy. It affects around 1 in 12 pregnancies and can result in pregnancy complications, premature birth, or stillbirth. Dr Michael Wilkinson, based at the University of Manchester, will lead a project in the lab to find out if low-dose steroids could improve blood flow to the placenta. If successful it could be the first step towards a new way of treating this condition.

Joining the dots between pregnancy, cardiovascular health, and ethnicity

Hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (HDP) affect 60,000 women in the UK each year, and describe complications related to blood pressure. Women who had HDP have double the risk of cardiovascular problems after pregnancy but we don’t know who’s at highest risk. Using a range of data sources, Dr Jennifer Jardine plans to hunt for patterns and join the dots between HDP in pregnancy, ethnicity and long-term health outcomes. She hopes to identify those at highest risk and develop potential interventions to prevent HDP in women from ethnic minority groups.

BMFMS will be announcing further joint bursaries later in the year.