Members

Biography: Prof. Cynthia Farquhar

Cynthia (Cindy) Farquhar, MB ChB MD MRCOG FRANZCOG CREI MPH is the Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland. Cynthia is the coordinating editor of the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group since 1996. Her research interests include clinical trials within subfertility and menstrual disorders, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines. In 2000, Cynthia was a Harkness Fellow for the Commonwealth Fund and spent one year at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Washington, DC. Her clinical interests are polycystic ovarian syndrome, pelvic pain, endometriosis and the management of abnormal uterine bleeding. Cynthia has led guideline development groups on heavy menstrual bleeding, uterine fibroids and the management of women with breech presentation and vaginal birth after caesarean section, as well as assisting with training in guideline development workshops in NZ. She is also the deputy chair of the board of the NZ Guidelines Group (www.nzgg.org.nz).

Biography: Jacqueline Anderson

Jacqueline (Jacqui) Anderson (Christchurch) is an independent midwife, a midwifery lecturer and Co-Head of Midwifery at Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. Jacqui has an extensive background in midwifery practice and this includes being the midwifery manager at a primary maternity unit and a midwife in a Tertiary Obstetric facilities in New Zealand and overseas. She gained her Postgraduate Diploma in Midwifery in 2002 (Otago Polytechnic) and is currently a candidate for Master of Midwifery (Otago Polytechnic). Her area of research relates to the outcomes for women who plan to birth at home and the promotion of low intervention birthing.

Jacqui is a life member of the New Zealand College of Midwives and has represented midwives on a number of groups and committees including the Canterbury DHB Women's Health Advisory Group (1988-1990), the Health Funding Authority National Maternity Advisory Committee (1998-2002) and in negotiations related to Section 51 and 88 service specifications. She is also a midwifery advisor to the Health and Disability Commissioner and ACC and has been a panel member on the Midwifery Council of New Zealand Competence Review. Jacqui is the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Midwifery Maternity Provider Organisation. She is a co-author of a chapter in the recently published Australasian textbook for midwives; Midwifery: preparation for practice.

Biography: Vicki Culling

Vicki Culling lives in Wellington and is currently employed by Stillbirth and Newborn Death Support (Sands) as a Project Coordinator for one year through a grant made available by the Vodafone New Zealand Foundation World of Difference Programme. Vicki experienced the death of her first child, Aster, at 42 weeks gestation. Vicki and her husband Kevan have another daughter, Phoebe, who is six years old.

Vicki has an MA in Social Work and graduated with her PhD in 2002. Her thesis focused on the ways that New Zealand women's menstrual knowledge is constructed. Vicki was a member of the Wellington Women's Health Collective from 1997 till this year and has been active in SANDS Wellington for four years. She taught in the social work programme at Whitireia Polytechnic for the last two years.

Biography: Dr Dawn Elder

Dr Dawn Elder is a paediatrician who has had a long-term clinical interest in the accurate diagnosis of cause of death in term and preterm infants through her experience working as a neonatal paediatrician. She also has clinical expertise in the management of child abuse and neglect.

Dawn has an academic post as Senior Lecturer in Paediatrics at the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Research interests have focussed on the role of post mortem after neonatal death and the documentation of respiratory instability in preterm infants.

Biography: Deborah Harris

Deborah Harris has been registered as a Nurse Practitioner in neonatology since 2001. Her current role is within the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Waikato Hospital. Deborah also has an honorary appointment with the University of Auckland as clinical lecturer. Deborah is an evidence-based practitioner who is actively involved in teaching nurses, midwives, registrars and specialists both within the Waikato and other centres in New Zealand.

Deborah is the current Chair of the Perinatal Society of New Zealand. The Perinatal Society of New Zealand is a multi-disciplinary society for all professionals working with families and babies. The Perinatal Society has been lobbying for the establishment of the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee for many years.

Deborah is currently working on a PhD. The topic of the PhD is neonatal hypoglycaemia. Among other research interests Deborah is the principle investigator for an international prospective randomised control trial which is seeking to understand the associations between infection, immunogloblins and neonatal outcome.

Biography: Associate Professor Lesley McCowan

Lesley McCowan has worked as a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology since 1987. Her current role is as Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland National Women's Hospital. Lesley is an evidence based practitioner who is actively involved in teaching midwives and specialists both within Auckland and in other regions in New Zealand.

Lesley's clinical expertise is in the management of high risk pregnancies as part of a multidisciplinary team of midwives, physicians and other clinicians. Lesley has chaired the perinatal mortality review process at National Women's Hospital since 1995. Since 2000, she has also been the New Zealand representative on a special interest group of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand, which has produced a new method of classification of perinatal deaths.
This system (PSANZ-Perinatal Death Classification) has recently been updated, and is now in use in all states in Australia and in a number of large centres in New Zealand.

Lesley's main research activity is the SCOPE study which is a large screening study aiming to identify early in pregnancy, first time pregnant women, who will later develop pre-eclampsia, preterm birth or have a growth restricted baby. If these women can be identified early in pregnancy preventative therapies could prevent a number of these pregnancy complications. She is also a principle investigator in a prospective, multidisciplinary, Auckland wide study which aims to identify risk factors for stillbirth.

Biography: Dr Stephanie Palmer

Stephanie Palmer, (Te Aitanga-a-Mate, Te Whanau o Iritekura, Ngāti Porou) B.Sc (Hons, 1st class) and PhD, is a company director of Tūmana Research and a Irihapeti Rehi-Murchie Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (2002-2005). She is also a mother of five and an active member of Harataunga Marae, Te Roopu Whaiti, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Harataunga and Ngā Maia o Aotearoa me te Waipounamu (trustee for 3 years).

She is currently a member on the following committees - Northern X Regional Ethics Committee, Maternity Policy Advisory Group and the Community Organisation Grants Scheme (current chair).

Stephanie's background is in psychology, science and Māori health research and her interests are in psycho-social mediators of birth outcomes for Māori, psychometrics, waiora, matauranga Māori and maternity services for Māori.

The projects Stephanie is currently involved in are:

• the validation of a tool for the measurement of waiora (HRC funding with Massey University as the host institution)
• Ko Taku Iwi Tuaroa Tena – factors in decision-making about immunisation for Māori (HRC/MoH funded under the Immunisation Research Strategy, Te Korowai Hauora o Hauraki as the host institution)
• Whakaohooho I te Mauri – the evaluation of a pilot matauranga Māori antenatal education programme (contracted by Ngā Maia) Rapua te Rautaki Rangahau - a strategic plan on the educational potential of our ngāhere and moana (Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Harataunga as the host institution)
• Te Wharenui o te Iwi – use of the wharenui as a construct for conceptualising and measuring cultural vitality and wellbeing (Harataunga Marae as the host institution).

Biography: Jane Zuccollo

Dr Jane Zuccollo is one of only three perinatal pathologists in New Zealand and she is the only one of the three who's role is purely autopsy based perinatal and paediatric. Currenlty Jane is consultant perinatal pathologist for Capital and Coast and Auckland DHBs, and is the senior lecturer in perinatal pathology at Wellington School of Medicine. Prior to this Jane worked at the University Hospital in Nottingham (United Kingdom) as senior registrar in pathology (1986-1991) then as staff grade with consultant duties (1991-1993). Jane gained a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Obstetrics from Trinity College (Dublin) and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia in 1981.

Jane was a member of the Child Youth Mortality Review Committee (2002-2003) and the Perinatal Mortality Committee for the Trent region (UK) as part of the Confidential Enquiry into Stillbirths and Deaths in Infancy (CESDI) (1992-1993). Dr Zuccollo currently participates in regular perinatal mortality and/or post-neonatal review meetings for National Women’s Hospital (Auckland), Middlemore Hospital (Auckland), Hawke's Bay Hospital, Starship Hospital and the monthly national teleconference for perinatal pathology.

Biography: Anja Hale

Anja Hale has been a Registered Nurse working in the Paediatric and Neonatal fields since 1984. She works as a Clinical Nurse Specialist at the Waikato Newborn Intensive Care Unit.

In April 2009 Anja graduated with her Master of Nursing, Neonatal (Hons 1st class) and she hopes to follow this with an application for Nurse Practitioner endorsement later in the year.

Anja is passionate about neonatal care, and is active in educating and nurturing fellow neonatal colleagues, encouraging professional development and improving the understanding of broader neonatal issues in today’s society. She has a strong interest in neonatal brain injury and is currently contributing to a neonatal nursing textbook on this topic.

She has been involved in a research nurse capacity in two international studies: ICE—Infant Cooling Evaluation and INIS—International Neonatal Immunotherapy Study.


Anja is currently a member of the following committees:

• Neonatal Nurses College of Aotearoa (NNCA)
• Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee—Neonatal Encephalopathy Working Group (PMMRC—NE working group).

Page last updated: 17 November 2009