Dr Heazell awarded Star Legacy Foundation international stillbirth research award
Congratulations to Dr Alex Heazell who fought off competition from researchers in the USA and Australia to be awarded the Research Star award at the Star Legacy Foundation Gala.
The Star Legacy Foundation raises funding and awareness of stillbirth, so that better technology, education and research are available to families and healthcare providers. Funds raised by the Start Legacy Foundation also support stillbirth research and education projects.
In the Research Star award category, the foundation recognises researchers who demonstrate dedication to stillbirth prevention or care of bereaved families. Their work will represent understanding of the issues important to families, as well as engaging in collaborative work and emerging ideas.
L to R: Graham, Ms Louise Stephens, Dr Alexander Heazell, Ms Vicky Holmes
Dr Alex Heazell, Clinical Director of the Tommy’s Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, Saint Mary’s Hospital and Senior Clinical Lecturer at The University of Manchester has a long standing history of stillbirth research.
He said of his award:
I am thrilled to receive this award on behalf of our research team. The field contained some world-leading researchers and it is a real honour to have our work recognised. We hope that through our work we will save babies lives and improve care for parents who experience a stillbirth.
Since 2010, the Tommy’s Maternal and Fetal Health Centre has developed a strong stillbirth research programme. The Centre is a collaboration between The University of Manchester and Saint Mary’s Hospital, with the aim of reducing preventable stillbirths by 50% in the Manchester region by 2020. This will be done by looking to understand the cause of stillbirth and develop effective means to prevent pregnancy loss and improve care for parents whose babies are stillborn.
Research led by Dr Heazell has resulted in changes in practice, including the introduction of a new consent form for perinatal autopsy and UK guidelines for the management of reduced fetal movements. A specialise clinical service was has also been launched, for families in subsequent pregnancies after stillbirth, called the Manchester Rainbow Clinic, which has now seen over 300 families, allowing us to directly move our research findings into clinical practice.
These changes have increased the rate of investigations after stillbirth such that only 7% of stillbirths in our institution are “unexplained” and our stillbirth rate has fallen by 22% since 2010.
Lindsey J. Wimmer, Executive Director, Star Legacy Foundation, added:
“The stillbirth community is grateful for this work because it is leading by example how families should be cared for before, during and after as poor pregnancy outcome.
Dr Heazell is will to embrace new ideas and has a genuine desire to drastically reduce the rate of stillbirth in the UK and around the world. It is our honour and pleasure to acknowledge the work of Dr Heazell and his colleagues. Congratulations!
