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

Multivitamin supplement use before and during pregnancy is not unusual, with most Australian women taking a multivitamin supplement at some stage during pregnancy.

Folic acid supplementation before pregnancy and during the first trimester is widely accepted as the easiest and most important thing mothers can do to benefit the health of their baby, as it reduces the chances of having a baby with a neural tube defect, such as spina bifida. Folic acid is therefore included in most prenatal and pregnancy supplements. Women typically continue to take these supplements throughout the remainder of their pregnancy, yet it is not known whether it is beneficial to continue folic acid supplementation beyond the first trimester.

Professor Tim Green of the Folic Acid in Gestation (FIG) Study, supported by the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation (WCH Foundation) through its Bloom Research Program, said:

“We know that folic acid is a game-changer in those early stages of pregnancy … we want to understand how, or if, it can help further into pregnancy.”

The FIG Study, led by Professor Tim Green and Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak of Flinders University, in partnership with the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), will explore the impact of folic acid supplementation during the later stages of pregnancy and the early months of a baby’s life.

Associate Professor Luke Grzeskowiak said, “For most women, we don’t know whether it is good or bad to continue folic acid supplements after the neural tube has closed at the end of the first trimester. We need robust evidence to ensure we’re providing the best and safest advice to expectant mothers about supplement use.”

The FIG study will recruit nearly 3,000 mothers from across Australia to be involved in a randomised controlled trial. Study coordinator Brooke Spencer says that the study is looking for women less than 16 weeks pregnant to participate. Pregnancy supplements will be provided throughout the second and third trimester, and for three months after delivery, at no cost to participants. The study will also involve dietary surveys to assess folic acid consumed in food.

Brooke said, “Those interested in taking part can visit our website for more information, or contact us by emailing FIGStudy@sahmri.com.”

The FIG study will help future families and their doctors make informed decisions about folic acid supplementation during later pregnancy and lactation, while the study has the potential to change current Australian and global guidelines around folic acid supplementation.

Through our Bloom Research Program, we support large-scale research projects into women’s and children’s health, led by South Australian researchers and institutions. We are proud to be supporting this rigorous trial, which we hope will add to the evidence base regarding how best to promote healthy foetal development during pregnancy.

Learn more about our medical research funding

Outcomes for children with brain cancer have changed very little in the last 30 years. Brain cancer leads to more deaths in children than any other disease, and survival is often coupled with lifelong disability.

Our 2023 WCH Foundation Bloom Research Program grant round called for projects to bring new hope to kids with brain cancer – and Professors Jordan Hansford and Simon Barry answered that call with two projects hoping to understand the predictors of survivorship and explore new treatments.

Dr Noralyn Manucat-Tan, Professor Jordan Hansford and Amanda Luck in the SAHMRI labs.

Professor Hansford and his team have been biobanking brain tumour samples in the labs of SAHMRI, preserving them for years to come and making them accessible to researchers globally.

Our community’s support has allowed the team to start advanced genomic and epigenomic investigation into the predictors of late effects in long-term survivors of paediatric brain cancer. They are using the latest molecular and sequencing technologies to learn all that they can from the biobanked samples and share the knowledge worldwide.

While in the labs of the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Professor Simon Barry and his team are focusing their attention on immunotherapy, so that children with this devastating disease may both survive, and thrive. This revolutionary treatment is already standard for some children and young people with leukaemia.

Our community’s generous support, along with gifts left in Wills, has brought together key experts in CAR-T and childhood brain cancer to establish the SA Centre for Paediatric Cancer Immunotherapy, which it is hoped will eventually pave the way for clinical delivery of immunotherapy here in SA.

Learn more about our Bloom Research Program

You may have heard of the various health benefits of Omega 3s, the fatty acids commonly found in fish, such as better heart health and a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. But did you know that a particular Omega 3 given to preterm babies may actually make them smarter?

Docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, is essential for brain development. Babies ordinarily receive DHA from their mother while in utero, but for babies born prematurely, this supply of DHA is cut off early.

Preterm babies receive some DHA through breastmilk and formula, but less than they would normally receive through the placenta – meaning that these babies may be lacking an important nutrient at a time of rapid brain development.

Researchers set out to determine if supplementing these tiny babies with DHA to the same amount they would have received in utero would lead to better developmental outcomes, such as a higher IQ and fewer behavioural problems.

Supported by a Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation research grant, along with funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Dr Jacqueline Gould of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) Women and Kids theme led the study.

The study involved infants born at less than 29 weeks gestational age at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, and nine other Australian hospitals with neonatal units. Half of the babies were randomised to receive DHA supplementation and half received a placebo as part of a trial exploring the effect of DHA on lung health. Families were followed up when the babies turned five years of age to undergo IQ testing and have parents complete a survey of behavioural and emotional functioning and child health.

Dr Jacqueline Gould.

Dr Gould says, “More than half of infants born extremely preterm have some form of neurobehavioural disability, such as a behavioural problem or learning disorder.”

“The goal of our research was to test if supplementing these children with DHA after they’re born can make up for some of what they lacked due to preterm birth and boost brain development.”

They found that the babies who received DHA supplementation were behaviourally no different to those who did not at five years of age, although they did have a slightly higher IQ (a mean difference of 3.5 points). They also showed that the babies who received DHA did not have any difference in long-term respiratory or other health problems, providing some reassurance that supplementing babies may be safe.

Findings have been published in high ranking medical journals, the New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA Pediatrics.

Future research will aim to confirm the safety of DHA supplementation before it is recommended as a standard treatment for preterm babies.

Dr Gould says, “Thanks to the support of the WCH Foundation, we were able to assess the long-term effects of the DHA supplementation on the behaviour and health of the preterm children born in Australia.”

“Importantly, WCH Foundation funding allowed us to involve families that were not eligible for the IQ assessment, or who were unable to attend an IQ assessment due to COVID restrictions.”

Learn more about the medical research we fund