Professor Sandra Rees

Sandra Rees leads the most prominent research group in Australia investigating the causes and prevention of fetal brain injury. In this field, she has made internationally acknowledged contributions. A prime objective of her work has been to address questions which have relevance to human brain development and neurological disorders. This objective has far reaching significance as there is evidence that neurological disorders, such as cerebral palsy, schizophrenia and a spectrum of motor, cognitive and behavioural problems, can be partly or completely accounted for by development in a less than optimal intrauterine environment. Understanding the pathogenesis of brain injury represents one of the greatest challenges in perinatal medicine. This is made more urgent by the increasing survival rates of very premature and very low birth weight infants at least 10% of whom will develop spastic motor deficits and another 20-50% will suffer developmental or behavioural disabilities. Hypoxia and infection are the leading causes of perinatal brain damage. The development of specific neuroprotective strategies for such damage is now a major focus of her work.