Fellow 2022-24

The 2022 – 2024 Norman Beischer Clinical Research Fellowship has been awarded to Associate Professor Lisa Hui to help reduce the burden of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) Infection. With the Fellowship’s $600,000 funding, A/Prof Hui will be partnering with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, Mercy Health, Austin Health, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, CMV Australia, and other collaborators to implement her three-year research program.

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection occurs in about 1 in 200 babies worldwide and is Australia’s leading infectious and preventable cause of disabilities in infants such as deafness, developmental delay, and cerebral palsy. Preventing congenital CMV requires a multi-faceted approach incorporating different strategies. The Norman Beischer Clinical Research Fellowship complements a concurrent NHMRC-funded study on newborn screening for CMV, in which A/Prof Hui is a chief investigator.

“I am so thrilled that the Foundation has awarded me this Fellowship so that the maternity clinicians can finally tackle the complex problem of congenital CMV in Australia.” A/Prof Hui said.

“In my role as the obstetric lead in the Mercy Perinatal’s Infectious Diseases clinic, I am all too aware of the devastating impact of CMV on the developing baby’s brain, and the anxious pregnancy journey that many couples experience when there is a suspected infection. As CMV is usually a silent infection, we don’t know that a pregnant woman is infected until it is too late.”

A/Prof Lisa Hui is an obstetrician with subspecialist qualifications in maternal fetal medicine and clinical appointments at the Mercy Hospital for Women and The Northern Hospital. She is Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at The University of Melbourne and team leader in the Reproductive Epidemiology group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

A/Prof Hui’s overarching vision is to ensure that clinicians translate the benefits demonstrated in research trials into everyday practice. Her work as a maternal fetal medicine specialist continues to inspire her, enabling her to answer high priority research questions with well-designed, feasible projects that will have a real impact on clinical care.