Directorate

Associate Professor Frank Bloomfield

NRCGD Director (Acting)

Frank is a neonatal paediatrian whose research interests focus on fetal and neonatal nutrition and growth, including long-term consequences of altered growth trajectories, fetal development in twins, development of the fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and consequences of perinatal care. He carries out his clinical duties in the newborn nursery at National Women's Hospital and is leader of the fetal and neonatal physiology research group at the Liggins Institute. He also has an appointment in the Department of Paediatrics, The University of Auckland.

Dr Deborah Sloboda

Deputy Director

Associate Director, Experimental physiology

Deborah is a fetal physiologist whose primary research interest is the effect of maternal nutrition during pregnancy on reproductive development in the offspring. She is a member of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) Council and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. Deborah leads an NRCGD Major Project employing an animal model to investigate the effects of a high-fat maternal diet during pregnancy on growth and reproductive function in the offspring.

Dr Roger Lins

Chief Operating Officer

Roger is a biological chemist by training with a background in research management and a keen interest in scientific communication and outreach. He held research positions in England, Scotland, and New Zealand before moving into research management, and joined the Liggins Institute as an academic writer in 2007. He was appointed to the NRCGD Directorate in mid-2008 and is responsible for the operational management and administration of the Centre.

Jacquie Bay

Associate Director, Outreach programmes

Jacquie, an experienced secondary school biology teacher, is Director of LENScience, a programme bringing schools and scientists together to promote scientific literacy and capability. Her research investigates public perceptions of the relationship between nutrition and disease risk, and the use of e-learning strategies to connect school students and scientists. She is Chair of the New Zealand Biology Educators’ Association and a member of the NZ Association of Science Educators Council.

Professor Hugh Blair

Associate Director, Animal sciences

Site representative, Massey University

Hugh’s research interests are in animal genetics and epigenetics, and the inheritance of disease. Hugh is currently Deputy Head and Director of Research and Commercialisation for the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences at Massey University. He holds several industry consulting positions. Hugh leads an NRCGD Major Project investigating the effects of fetal programming on later life productivity in sheep and cattle.

Professor Wayne Cutfield

Associate Director, Clinical sciences

Site representative, Liggins Institute

Wayne is a paediatric endocrinologist and an expert on insulin sensitivity and action in children. He is Director of the Liggins Institute and Director of Endocrinology at Auckland’s Starship Hospital. As Director of the Liggins Institute’s Maurice and Nessie Paykel Clinical Research Unit, he leads clinical research investigating how environmental influences early in life affect childhood growth and development. Wayne’s NRCGD Major Project is focused on the growth and metabolism of children born through assisted reproduction or to older mothers.

Associate Professor Peter Dearden

Associate Director, Molecular sciences

Site representative, University of Otago

Peter is an evolutionary geneticist whose research interests are in evolution and development, with a particular focus on how morphology evolves at the molecular level, and in identifying ancient and conserved developmental programmes. He established the Laboratory for Evolution and Development at the University of Otago, is the Scientific Director of Genetics Otago, and in 2009 was appointed to the Science Advisory Board of the New Zealand Science Media Centre. He leads an NRCGD Major Project investigating the phenomenon of developmental plasticity in invertebrate model organisms.

Dr Susan Morton

Associate Director, Public policy

Susan is an epidemiologist and specialist in public health medicine with a general interest in life-course epidemiology, particularly as it pertains to reproductive outcomes, growth throughout the life-course, and women’s adult health. Susan is the Director and principal investigator for a new longitudinal study ‘Growing Up in New Zealand’, which will follow the lives of 7,800 children born in the Auckland and Waikato regions in 2008–2010 for approximately twenty years. She leads an NRCGD Major Project which aims to provide policy-makers with a robust economic model of the costs of a poor start to life.