Reproductive Sciences

The Division of Reproductive Sciences is located on the main campus of the University of Alberta. Our laboratories occupy approximately 6000 square feet of dedicated research laboratory space and accompanying office space for faculty, research associates, post-doctoral fellows and a wide variety of graduate, undergraduate and research students. Overall, our Division is comprised of 25-30 full-time committed researchers.

We are all members of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute (WCHRI), which supports research through a variety of platforms and funding programs. WCHRI is the shared vision of the University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services (AHS) with core funding from the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation (SCHF) and the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation (RAHF). The latter supports the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, which is the academic home for our Department.

Division Initiatives

The Division is composed of internationally recognized basic, clinical and population-based scientists who use biomedical techniques and epidemiological approaches to study women's health. All members serve as supervisors and committee members for undergraduate and postgraduate students in a broad range of departments and faculties. The Division developed and offers a post-graduate level course, Physiology 513 (Fetal Physiology).

Members in our Division focus on women's health, from pregnancies to aging. Pregnancy-based research programs include animal models and human studies in the areas of pre-eclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, preterm birth and developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD). Research in these areas focus on the cardiovascular system, maternal aging, infections, regulation of the timing of parturition and how perinatal and social determinants contribute to shape longitudinal trajectories of non-communicable diseases in both mother and child. Research focusing on mature women's health include the impact of pelvic floor disorders and menopause on mature women's wellness and the role of chronic infections in vascular and metabolic health.

In addition to producing innovative and significant research findings, an important initiative for the Division members is to mentor and prepare the next generation of researchers in women's health. These new investigators will be competent with the latest technological advances and will also have skills to form collaborative relationships with other researchers and to move their discoveries from the laboratory to business and industrial partners, and eventually to practitioners.

To learn more about each academic member and their research, please visit the Reproductive Sciences research page.

Division Members