UCD School of Medicine & Medical Science : Women's & Children's Health

Our academic section of Women's & Children's Health is led by Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe, Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist at the National Maternity Hospital and specialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine. The section comprises academic and clinical staff with expertise in paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology from across our four affiliated paediatrics and maternity hospitals.

The group has active research programmes in rare genetic diseases and inherited conditions, neonatal, reproductive and maternal health. Several members of the group work as part of the National Centre for Medical Genetics.

Subject Areas Within this Section

Obstetrics & Gynaecology

Two surgical/medical specialties dealing with the health and disease of the female reproductive system during pregnancy and non-pregnancy states respectively. The specialty also includes fetal/maternal medicine, reproduction and infertility.

Head of Subject: Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe

Paediatrics

The branch of medicine that specialises in the care and treatment of infants, children and adolescents.

Head of Subjects: Professor Ronan O'Sullivan

Biography: Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe

Professor Fionnuala McAuliffe

Fionnuala McAuliffe is an Obstetrician with a special interest in maternal and fetal medicine, at National Maternity Hospital Dublin. She is Head of Women’s and Child’s Health at University College Dublin and also holds positions as Associate Professor of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Programme Director of the Maternal and Fetal Medicine training programme and is a Conway Fellow at The Conway Institute of Biomedical and Biomolecular Science.

Research interests

Areas of interests include Obstetrics, Maternal and Fetal Medicine, diabetic pregnancy, prenatal ultrasound. She has received significant grant funding both nationally and internationally (circa 2.2 million over recent years) and has more than 90 peer reviewed publications.

Recent research has focused on maternal nutrition in pregnancy and impact on mother and infant health. She is the principal Investigator on the ROLO study which is a large randomised trial examining the impact of a low glycaemic diet on maternal and fetal health, funded by the Health Research Board and EU FP7.

Recent research funding obtained circa €2.2 million over recent years.

2012-2017 EU FP7 Early life nutrition total €9,000,000 . FMcAuliffe, Co-Applicant. UCD part of the grant worth €459,500, A large-scale integrating project under the 7th Framework Programme for Research Ref: FP7-KBBE-2011-5 CP-IP. ‘Long-term effects of early nutrition on later health.’ €13,613,501 across 30 Consortium members
2008-2013 Health Research Board, Ireland. Health Research Centre for diet, nutrition and diabetes. Total €4,900,000. F. McAuliffe, Co-Applicant. UCD part of the grant worth €487,500.
2005-2014 Health Research Board, Ireland. National Obstetric ultrasound research consortium of Ireland. Total €3,900,000. F. McAuliffe, Co-Applicant. UCD part of the grant worth €490,500.
2008-2011 Science Foundation Ireland. Development of a Quantification and Visualisation tool for the assessment of fetal abnormalities. F. McAuliffe, Co-Applicant €100,000.