Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand, Inc
Cerebral Palsy Through the Lifespan

I am a researcher and writer with the Cerebral Palsy Society of New Zealand. 

My background is in qualitative research. 

The main areas of interest include transition between pediatric and adult services, patient-practitioner interactions, and effective communication and self-advocacy.

I have worked as an advocate both inside and outside the disability sector for the past 15 years, teaching medical students, informing government policies, and working towards sustainable change. 

Current projects include defining intensive rehabilitation in New Zealand, CP through the lifespan, and understanding SDR in New Zealand. 

Liggins Institute, University of Auckland
New Zealand working together for evidence-based practice - The ON TRACK Network

Katie Groom is Associate Professor of Maternal and Perinatal Health and the Hugo Charitable Trust Fellow at the Liggins Institute, University of Auckland. She is a Subspecialist in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at National Women’s Health, Auckland City Hospital.

Katie is passionate about improving health outcomes for mothers and babies through effective clinical trials research integrated into clinical practice as part of a learning healthcare system. She is an ANZ leader in clinical trials networks as current Chairperson of the Perinatal Society or Australia and New Zealand Interdisciplinary Maternal and Perinatal Australasian Collaborative Trials (IMPACT) Network and Chairperson of the National Executive Committee of the New Zealand-wide ON TRACK Network for Better Health for Mothers and Babies. She has been an elected board member of the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance (ACTA).

Wellington Regional Hospital Allied Health
Infant Swallowing – Case Studies and a Look from the Inside

Set on a career in Speech Language Pathology from high school, I went straight to university and subsequently graduate school where I completed a Master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology.  During my graduate school program, I developed a particular interest in the specialty area of infant/paediatric feeding and swallowing. The majority of my clinical training has taken place in the USA including prior work at Texas Children’s Hospital.   

Radiology Department, Capital and Cost District Health Board
Foetal MRI

Paediatric Radiologist based at Wellington Hospital.Fellowship in Paediatric Radiology from University of British Columbia with BC Children’s Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia. Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists.

Mothers and Babies South Island Perinatal Mental Health Service

Liz is a perinatal psychiatrist who has worked in the area of Maternal Mental health for many years. She is Clinical Head at the Mother and Baby service at Princess Margaret Hospital Christchurch where she leads a team which provides in-patient and out-patient treatment for pregnant and post-partum mothers with mental health disorders in the South Island. She has a particular interest on the effects of maternal mental illness on infant development, and has a post graduate diploma in Infant Mental Health from the University of New South Wales. 

Fetal Physiology and Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Physiology, New Zealand
Therapeutic potential of recombinant human erythropoietin for hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy

Simerdeep Dhillon is a PhD student in the Fetal Physiology and Neuroscience lab, The University of Auckland. Her interests include understanding the role of growth factors such as Erythropoietin in endogenous neuroprotection after perinatal hypoxia-ischemia and how to best use them to augment neural recovery. 

Obstetrician Gynaecologist, Maternal fetal medicine, Wellington Hospital
Gastroschisis; the antenatal perspective

I am Jade. I am one of the team in the Wellington Hospital Maternal Fetal Medicine and Women’s Ultrasound department. I have recently returned to Wellington after a few years at the Mater Mother’s Hospital in Brisbane where I did my Maternal Fetal Medicine fellowship. Fetal medicine fascinates me and I hope we can have an enjoyable discussion about the antenatal diagnosis, management and outcomes of Gastroschisis.

Heart Kids NZ
The Role of Heart Kids in your Community

My name is Rachael Hopkirk. I have been working for Heart Kids NZ for the last 3.5 years. I feel extremely lucky to be a part of the journey that all our Heart Families travel. Before taking on this role I worked on the Paediatric Ward at Hutt Hospital for 11 years. Working for Heart Kids allows me to be around for my 2 beautiful daughters while making a difference in our community everyday.

Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Service, Starship Children’s Hospital
Timing of diagnosis and outcome in readily treatable congenital heart disease

Dr Gentles is the Director of the Green Lane Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Service at Starship Children’s Hospital, and Chair of the Paediatric and Congenital Council of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand. His subspecialty interests are in echocardiography and fetal cardiology and research interests are in the areas of imaging in congenital and rheumatic heart disease, and the impact of mode and timing of diagnosis on outcome in infants with critical congenital heart disease. 

The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Monash University. 
Studies on the Neuroprotective Capacity of Dietary Creatine: An Update

Stacey is a NHMRC Peter Doherty Early Career Research Fellow at The Ritchie Centre, Hudson Institute of Medical Research. Her primary interest is in cellular energy homeostasis in the brain during events of perinatal compromise. Stacey leads an international program of work investigating the use of dietary creatine supplementation both during pregnancy and in the early postnatal period, to improve neonatal outcomes in babies at risk of developing cerebral palsy, including those affected by preterm birth, fetal growth restriction or perinatal asphyxia.

This program of work is conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of basic scientists, nurses, midwives, obstetricians and neonatologists across Australia (Monash Health), New Zealand (Capital Coast DHB, Wellington) and the US (Oregon National Primate Research Facility). The team is engaged in both preclinical studies in relevant in vitro and animal models, and prospective studies in antenatal clinics and NICUs. 

The collective aim is to establish whether this simple nutritional supplement could improve outcomes for babies at risk of perinatal brain injury.

Hawke’s Bay Fallen Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital
Listening to the baby’s voice

The birth of a new baby is a normative crisis, one that is a different experience for every infant, parent and family system. For families of high-risk infants, this transition can be fraught with vulnerability.  

The high-risk infant requires an individualised, developmentally supportive approach to care that promotes self-regulation and reduces developmental vulnerability. An understanding of the infants behavioural cues and a responsiveness to the infants developmental needs can be key elements in the support health care professionals can offer parents, at a time when the very basis of the infant-parent relationship is being established. The Newborn Behavioral Observations (NBO) system is a relationship-based tool that offers individualised information to parents about their baby’s communication strategies, capacities and individuality, in order to foster the relationship between parent and infant and between the clinician and the family.

Danielle is an Occupational Therapist who is passionate about working with infants/children and their whanau/families; observing infant behaviour and supporting the infant/parent relationship. She is a certified Neonatal Behavioural Assessment Scale (NBAS) Trainer and Newborn Behavioural Observation (NBO) Trainer for Australia and New Zealand and a member of the New Zealand Bobath/Neurodevelopmental Therapy, Tutors Group. Danielle works with parents/carers and their infants in the Special Care Baby Unit at Hawkes Bay Fallen Soldiers Memorial Hospital, as well as working with infants/children who have experienced trauma in their lives through abuse, non/accidental injury or who have neurological impairment. 

Danielle ‘s clinical focus is on developmental care, neurobehavioural and neurodevelopmental assessments, developmental and relationship based interventions including follow up after discharge.

Specialist Maternal Mental Health Service
Being With Babies: Supporting Infant Mental Health in NICU

Dr Lucie Zwimpfer is a Registered Parent Infant Psychotherapist. She works in both a Maternal Mental Health Service and in private practice.  

She is the Vice President of the Infant Mental Health Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (IMHAANZ). Her PhD research considered the role of non-parental care-givers in supporting Infant Mental Health in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.