The Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation is proud to announce its 2025 research grant recipients, leading a diverse array of groundbreaking projects aimed at improving health outcomes for children and families.

Almost $3 million has been committed to these projects over the coming years, supporting vital research into mental health and rare diseases:

• Associate Professor Anne Sved Williams and her team will develop and evaluate telehealth delivery of a program for mothers with Borderline Personality Disorder, enabling them to access mental health support from home, no matter where they live. 

• Dr Alyssa Sawyer and her team will evaluate an attachment-informed perinatal care program designed to strengthen parent–infant bonds, build parental confidence, and promote lifelong wellbeing. 

• Professor Michael Stark and his team will trial late amino acid administration in infants requiring urgent surgery for serious and rare abdominal defects through the DELA3Y Trial, to improve recovery outcomes for these vulnerable babies. 

• Professor Jozef Gecz and his team will develop oligonucleotide therapies for two rare disorders causing epilepsy. This groundbreaking research could not only provide real treatment options for these rare disorders but also open the door to transformative therapies for many others. 

• Professor Kim Hemsley and her team will conduct pre-clinical evaluation of a potential drug treatment for childhood dementia, offering a beacon of hope for children and families affected by this devastating condition.  

• Dr Karissa Barthelson and her team will use zebrafish models to investigate skeletal phenotypes in Morquio syndrome, to uncover new insights into the condition, paving the way for improved treatments. 

These projects aim to create transformational change in healthcare for families across South Australia and beyond.

Established in 2006 by Matthew Scriver’s parents in memory of their beloved son, the Matthew Scriver Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) Nurses Scholarship has become a beacon of hope and support within the Women’s and Children’s Hospital (WCH) and the broader Women’s and Children’s Health Network (WCHN). Built on compassion and a sense of community, this scholarship empowers nurses to develop and deliver projects that place holistic and psychosocial care at the heart of the PICU experience, especially for long-stay patients and their families.

This year, we are proud to announce that the scholarship has been awarded to Alyssia Baker, a committed nurse whose family shares a legacy of giving, with her grandparents being proud supporters of the WCH Foundation. Alyssia’s project, titled “Retrospective Review of Neuroprotective Management in Paediatric Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Admitted to PICU,” aims to improve the care and outcomes for children facing severe brain injury.

“I am very passionate about this topic, particularly as our bedside management is absolutely critical to preventing further brain injury from the inflammation and damage that occurs in the days following the accident,” shares Alyssia.

Her project aligns closely with new guidelines being introduced by WCH consultants and neurosurgery teams, and will provide valuable insights into current practices, gaps, and areas for improvement in neuroprotective care. “Protecting the brain is an extremely complex balancing act and it is so important we get it right,” she says. “Ultimately this project will help support our goal of helping these children achieve their best possible neurological outcome.”

Through ongoing investment in nurses’ professional development and innovative care, Matthew’s legacy continues helping drive better futures for children and families in PICU and beyond.

The commitment and passion of Bridget Claire McCartan for burns nursing continues to leave a lasting mark on the field, empowering dedicated nurses to advance their expertise and deliver exceptional care.

To honour her memory and tireless dedication, the Bridget Claire McCartan (BCM) Scholarship was established by Bridget’s family to support nurses committed to burns care, offering them opportunities for professional growth and fostering excellence within the specialty.

For Round 1 of 2025, the scholarship was proudly presented to two outstanding recipients, Rochelle Claude (pictured far left) and Amy Myatt (pictured second from left). Selected for their outstanding dedication to advancing burns care, Amy and Rochelle have been awarded the opportunity to attend the Australian and New Zealand Burn Association (ANZBA) Nursing Seminar, taking place in Hobart on May 30 – 31, 2025.

This opportunity, made possible through the BCM Scholarship, offers a valuable platform for nurses to expand their knowledge, share best practices, and further develop their expertise in burn injury management and care.

Looking ahead, the scholarship continues to pave the way for even greater opportunities. Round 2 of the 2025 BCM Scholarship will open soon, offering another chance for nurses to attend the ANZBA Annual Scientific Meeting held in Adelaide, between October 14 – 17, 2025.

Through the ongoing support provided by the Bridget Claire McCartan Scholarship, Bridget’s legacy lives on as a source of inspiration, empowerment, and excellence in the care of burns patients.

Professor Geoffrey Davidson, the founding head of Gastroenterology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and an Emeritus Professor of the Discipline of Paediatrics at the University of Adelaide, was a leader in the field of paediatric healthcare. His passing in 2020 marked the loss of a remarkable clinician-researcher whose contributions transformed the health outcomes of children around the globe.

With a medical and research career that spanned decades, Professor Davidson’s work has had a lasting impact, both nationally and internationally. He was part of the team of researchers who discovered Rotavirus, a viral cause of severe diarrhoea in infants and young children. Until the early 2000s, Rotavirus remained a major cause of gastroenteritis in children under five worldwide. The discovery of this virus led to the development of a life-saving vaccine, which has since significantly reduced illness, hospitalizations, and deaths among young children across the world.

In addition to this groundbreaking work, Professor Davidson was a pioneer in the development of breath hydrogen testing for sugar malabsorption in children. His innovative research not only advanced the understanding of gastrointestinal disorders in children but also improved diagnostic methods, offering families new avenues for treatment and care.

To celebrate and carry forward his extraordinary legacy, the Geoffrey Davidson Gastroenterology Research Development Fellowship was established in his honour. Each year, the Fellowship supports research development activities in non-medical staff working in Gastroenterology at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

The creation of this Fellowship was made possible through the love and support of Professor Davidson’s wife, Marnie, as well as the generosity of his family, friends, and colleagues. Their commitment ensures that clinicians and researchers can continue to publish their work, share discoveries, and stay informed about the latest advances in paediatric gastroenterology. By supporting the development of future clinicians and researchers, this Fellowship allows Professor Davidson’s influence to endure, fostering new breakthroughs and leading healthcare that will positively impact on children’s health.

The 2024 fellow is a nurse practitioner in the Gastroenterology Department of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital since 1999, who was personally selected for her role by Professor Davidson himself. Helen Jurgens (pictured above with Marnie Davidson), who is in the process of becoming a dedicated IBD nurse practitioner, will be using the fellowship to support her attendance at the 2025 Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) conference, where she hopes to enhance her knowledge of new and contemporary practice in IBD management.

Helen shared her gratitude for the opportunity:

“Despite not being part of our Gastroenterology team for several years, Geoff is still spoken of often with much respect and fondness. He was a wonderful, inspirational, and supportive mentor, and I feel very grateful and privileged to receive this fellowship in his honour.”

Professor Davidson’s legacy is one of discovery, dedication, and compassion for the health of children. His life’s work has touched countless lives, and through the Geoffrey Davidson Fellowship, his contributions will continue to inspire and shape the future of paediatric gastroenterology for many years to come.

Geoffrey Davidson Gastroenterology Research Development Fellowship rounds will be advertised on our Research Funding Opportunities page.

Dr Tom Goddard of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network and his team, with the support of our Bloom Research Program, will develop a rapid diagnostic tool to allow clinicians to diagnose and treat lung infections in Aboriginal children living in rural and remote regions in a timely manner.

Aboriginal children in rural and remote communities have the world’s highest rates of bronchiectasis, a preventable lung condition caused by chronic lung infections.

Dr Goddard is a paediatric respiratory and sleep physician based at the Women and Children’s Hospital and performs outreach clinics at Alice Springs Hospital and Mount Gambier Hospital, where he sees many children with chronic lung disease.

He says, “We have children that are dying young, often in their teens or twenties, from preventable health conditions. Anything we can do to try and improve outcomes for these children is really important.”

Effective treatment of these infections is reliant on an accurate diagnosis. However, it can take weeks to determine the cause of lung infections in these children due to their remoteness, by which time infections have worsened.

Funds from our Bloom Research Program will support the development of a rapid diagnostic tool, using DNA sequencing, to allow clinicians to diagnose and treat lung infections in Aboriginal children living in rural and remote regions, through the team’s project titled ‘RRR2 Rapid Respiratory Response in Rural and Remote Regions – an observational study of bronchiectasis using ground-breaking tools’.

Dr Goddard says, “We’re hoping that we can get results back within an hour so that we can make an educated decision on what the best form of treatment is for these patients.”

It is hoped that this tool will mean timely treatment, preventing the need for children to be hospitalised at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital away from home and family support, and reduce the risk of permanent lung damage.

Learn more about our 2024 Bloom Research Program grant recipients

Professor Peter Anderson of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network and his team, with the support of our Bloom Research Program, will investigate a targeted, non-surgical treatment for craniosynostosis based on stem cell technology, to prevent the bones of the infant skull fusing prematurely, reducing the need for invasive surgery.

Professor Anderson, Senior Craniofacial Surgeon in the Cleft and Craniofacial SA Unit at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and Principal Fellow at South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, says, “The brain grows more quickly than any other part of a baby, so by the time they’re just over two, their brain is 85% adult size.”

“For that to happen safely, the brain box has to grow rapidly, or else the brain gets squashed. So, my job as a surgeon is performing surgery to make brain boxes bigger on children whose growth plates in their skulls have fused too early and are not getting normal growth.”

Craniosynostosis is a devastating and potentially life-threatening condition, where the bones of the infant skull prematurely fuse before the brain is fully formed.

Current treatment involves major surgery, and if this is not performed in a timely manner, the condition can lead to increased cranial pressure, causing developmental delay and blindness.

Professor Anderson says, “Dealing with parents, particularly first-time parents, when they’ve got their new baby who’s their pride and joy, and a surgeon is telling them they need major surgery – it’s devastating.”

“If we could do things to improve these families’ lives, they would be incredibly grateful.”

Funds from our Bloom Research Program will support Professor Peter Anderson and his team to develop targeted medical treatment based on stem cell technology to prevent the fibrous joints between the bones of the skull from converting to bone, with their project titled ‘Precision Medicine to treat Craniosynostosis’.

It is hoped that the findings of this project might reduce the need for invasive surgery in infants with craniosynostosis, making treatment of this condition less physically and psychologically burdensome on infants and their families.

Learn more about our 2024 Bloom Research Program grant recipients

Dr Jacqueline Gould of SAHMRI and her team have previously shown that Omega 3 DHA given to very preterm infants can improve their IQ.

With funding from our Bloom Research Program, they will now undertake research to develop guidelines that will make DHA supplementation in very preterm infants standard practice in South Australia and beyond.

Very preterm infants miss out on months of placental supply of the Omega 3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, during a phase of rapid neurodevelopment.

Dr Gould and the team of researchers at SAHMRI Women and Kids have a long history of groundbreaking research exploring the benefits of DHA in women and babies.

One of their recent findings was that very preterm infants supplemented with DHA have a higher IQ.

Dr Gould says, “Of the infants who miss that full last trimester of the placental supply of DHA, about 50% will have some kind of neurodevelopmental problem, like a learning disability or a behavioural problem.”

“We’ve seen that if you can restore the DHA supply to these infants after birth, you increase their IQ by about three and a half points.”

Funds from our Bloom Research Program will enable the team to undertake a series of projects to resolve the remaining evidence gaps before developing guidelines that will allow adoption of DHA supplementation in very preterm babies in South Australia, and beyond, through their project titled ‘Overcoming barriers to clinical practice: meeting the omega-3 fat DHA requirements of infants born very preterm with personalised feeding protocols.’

Learn more about our 2024 Bloom Research Program grant recipients

Professor David Lynn of Flinders University and SAHMRI, and his collaborators, with the support of our Bloom Research Program, will explore whether probiotics can help improve the vaccination response of infants who have received antibiotic treatment, so they are better protected against disease.

Vaccination is the best way to protect infants against infectious disease, but some infants produce lower than expected amounts of antibodies following vaccination, so may not be as well protected from disease.

Professor David Lynn, Professor of Systems Immunology at Flinders University and SAHMRI, and his collaborators, discovered that antibiotic treatment in infancy leads to lower levels of ‘good’ bacteria in the gut, and the levels of these good bacteria at the time of vaccination was linked with how well infants responded to their vaccinations.

Professor Lynn says, “When different infants get the same vaccine, some infants will produce lots of antibodies which mediate the protection against those vaccines. Other infants will produce middling levels of antibodies, and some will produce very little antibodies, and will then not be as well protected.”

“It has been a mystery for quite a while, but my group has been trying to understand the role of the microbes that live within us, and whether that can influence how well you respond to a vaccine.”

“What we have observed is that infants, particularly those that get antibiotics in the very early neonatal period, have much lower antibody responses to different vaccines.”

“And so we’re now interested in if there is a way that we can improve our gut microbiome health to boost immune responses to vaccinations.”

Funds from our Bloom Research Program will support a trial of probiotic treatment in infants who have received antibiotics, in the hope that it will restore their good bacteria, improving their vaccine response, and better protecting them against potentially deadly disease, through the team’s project titled ‘Precision Vaccinology: A randomised controlled trial to assess if a probiotic intervention leads to enhanced immune responses to vaccination in antibiotic-treated infants.’

Learn more about our 2024 Bloom Research Program grant recipients

The Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation (WCH Foundation) is proud to announce the awarding of $4 million in research funding to projects aiming to close the gap in health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children, and to enhance healthcare in newborn infants.

Research teams from the Women’s and Children’s Health Network (WCHN), South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Flinders University were awarded funds through the WCH Foundation Bloom Research Program. The 2024 Bloom Research Program grant round sought applications focusing on priority populations, emerging technologies and innovative solutions to health problems faced by women, children and families in SA.

After a rigorous and competitive application process, five projects were awarded a share in $4 million of research funding, including:

• Professor David Lynn of Flinders University and SAHMRI and his collaborators will trial probiotic treatment in infants who have received antibiotics, in the hope that it will restore the good bacteria in their gut, improving their vaccine response, and better protecting them against potentially deadly disease.
• Dr Tom Goddard of WCHN and his team will develop a rapid diagnostic tool to allow clinicians to diagnose and treat lung infections in Aboriginal children living in rural and remote regions in a timely manner, preventing the need for hospitalisation in the city and reducing the risk of permanent lung damage.
• Dr Jacqueline Gould of SAHMRI and her team have previously shown that Omega 3 DHA given to very preterm infants can improve their IQ. They will now undertake research to develop guidelines that will allow adoption of DHA supplementation in very preterm infants in SA and beyond.
• Cathy Leane of WCHN and her team will integrate Aboriginal ways of knowing into the healthcare system, by co-designing and testing community-based yarning circles to improve sexual, reproductive and perinatal healthcare amongst Aboriginal women and families.
• Professor Peter Anderson of WCHN and his team will investigate a targeted, non-surgical treatment for craniosynostosis based on stem cell technology, to prevent the bones of the infant skull fusing prematurely, reducing the need for invasive surgery.

Verity Gobbett, Head of Mission at the WCH Foundation, said that following last year’s huge inaugural year for the Bloom Research Program, this exciting outcome is even more wonderful news for the women, children and families of South Australia.

“Health and medical research is the backbone of modern healthcare for women, children, and families.”

“Our Bloom Research Program empowers South Australia’s brightest researchers to embark on large-scale projects, providing clear answers and innovative solutions to some of healthcare’s most pressing challenges. We are so proud to be supporting these projects, which would not be possible without the generous support of the South Australian community.”

Cathy Leane of the Women’s and Children’s Health Network and her team, with the support of our Bloom Research Program, will integrate Aboriginal ways of knowing into the healthcare system, by co-designing and testing community-based Yarning Circles to improve sexual, reproductive and perinatal healthcare amongst Aboriginal women and families.

The rate of stillbirth, preterm birth and other sexual and reproductive health issues in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women remains unacceptably high. There is a clear need for culturally safe education and support to close this gap in health outcomes.

Bec Smith, Principal Project Manager of the SA Health Maternal, Neonatal and Gynecology Strategic Executive Leadership Committee, says, “We undertook specific Aboriginal engagement and what we found is that we weren’t embracing Aboriginal ways of knowing and traditional Aboriginal ways of finding information.”

“If we were able to approach things in a different way, where we were valuing community members, and particularly Aboriginal women who are Elders, Aunties, grandmothers, trusted members within the community, we could potentially inform the community members in a better way, and then perhaps we would be able to have people better engage in care.”

Funds from our Bloom Research Program will enable the co-design and testing of community-based yarning circles to improve sexual, reproductive and perinatal health care amongst Aboriginal women and families through a project titled ‘Building on Aboriginal women’s ways of knowing – collaborative Yarning Circles to improve sexual, reproductive, and perinatal health literacy and engagement in care.’

Yarning uses storytelling to share knowledge, build understanding and create connection, and has been used by Aboriginal communities for generations.

Cathy Leane, Darug woman and WCHN Manager Strategic Partnerships, Aboriginal Health Division, says, “We are building up the skills and knowledge of our Aboriginal grandmothers, our Aboriginal Aunties, our Aboriginal big sisters, who will then be able to support women on their journey through sexual health and parenting.”

It is hoped that integrating Aboriginal ways of knowing into the healthcare system will engage and empower Aboriginal women and families, leading to improved sexual, reproductive and perinatal health.

Learn more about our 2024 Bloom Research Program grant recipients