Kirsten Palmer

Professor Kirsten Palmer is a clinician researcher. She is a maternal fetal medicine sub-specialist and heads the Maternal Fetal Medicine unit at Monash Medical Centre, Monash Health; an incredible team of people that provide care for some of the most complex pregnancies in Victoria. She leads the Pregnancy Discovery and Translational Research Collaborative, a research team focusing on reducing the impact of major pregnancy complications, such as fetal growth restriction and preeclampsia.

Her clinical and research interests closely align with a strong focus on improving outcomes for women and babies impacted by pregnancy complications. She has a particular focus on disorders of placentation, which lead to pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. She currently leads several clinical trials, including the world-first large, multicentre clinical trial exploring the use of melatonin for fetal neuroprotection in pregnancies complicated by fetal growth restriction. In translating melatonin from bench to bedside, the pipeline developed now supports several new promising therapeutics she is translating to address preeclampsia, birth asphyxia and postpartum haemorrhage.

Professor Palmer led the implementation of telehealth in pregnancy care during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to explore digital tool improvements to enhance access and equity in pregnancy care.

At a national level, Professor Palmer is an executive committee member of the Interdisciplinary Maternal and Perinatal Australasian Clinical Trials (IMPACT) network, working to improve perinatal clinical trials across Australia and New Zealand to support the time to completion and then implementation of new advances in perinatal medicine. 

She is absolutely passionate about improving the clinical care for pregnant women and advancing knowledge to achieve this. A passion made all the stronger thanks to her two incredible children who are a constant reminder as to what a privilege and gift parenthood is.