Prof Melissa WestwoodBSc, PhD (Manchester)

Biography

I graduated form the University of Manchester with a first class honours degree in Anatomical Sciences in 1991 and began my PhD studies, also at the University of Manchester, on the role of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis in diabetes. However, an unexpected finding led me into pregnancy research and this has remained the focus of my reseach ever since. In 1997 I was awarded a prestigious Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship to pursue my PhD findings, which resulted in a number of key studies relating to the control of IGF bioavailability in normal and compromised pregnancies.

I was appointed Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Endocrinology in the Schools of Medicine and Biological Sciences in 1999 and 2005 respectively, then promoted to Professor in 2015.  My research group currently consists of 6 postdoctoral research associates, technicians and PhD students funded mainly through Research Council and charitable sources. We are part of the Manchester Maternal & Fetal Health Reserach Centre in the Division of Developmental Biology and Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.

I serve on the Editorial Board for Trophoblast Research and the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. I serve on Council of the Society for Endocrinology and am a member of the International Federation of the Placenta Association's Awards and Publications Committees.

Qualifications

1991  BSc (Hons) Anatomical Sciences  (1st class),  University of Manchester 

1995  PhD  Medicine, University of Manchester     

2006  PGCE  Teaching & Learning  in Higher Education, University of Manchester     

Memberships of committees and professional bodies

Society for Endocrinology

American Endocrine Society

European Placenta Group

International Federation of the Placenta Associaltions

Fellow Society of Biology