Level E Promotions
Professor Tu’uhevaha Kaitu’u-Lino & Professor Natalie Hannan
We want to give a huge congratulations to The Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology researchers, Professor Natalie Hannan and Professor Tu'uhevaha Kaitu’u-Lino who were both successfully promoted to Level E recently.
As ambassadors for the University, Melbourne Professors advance the capacity and standing of the institution. The leadership of our professors is essential to achieving international excellence for the University and for the wider community.
Professor Natalie Hannan is a NHMRC Career Development Fellow, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women. She is Lab Head of the Therapeutics Discovery and Vascular Function in Pregnancy Group. Her research is focused on understanding placental development and vascular function in pregnancy, with a focus on developing new therapies and delivery strategies to combat major complications of pregnancy. Her work has had international impact and recognition. She has published >115 peer-reviewed manuscripts and attracted over $9 Million in competitive funding. She has received several prominent awards including the IFPA Andrèe Gruslin award and the VESKI Inspiring Women Fellowship award. Her pre-clinical research has led to Phase II clinical trials both internationally and nationally. Natalie is the President of the Australia and New Zealand Placental Research Association (ANZPRA), and she serves on the Executive Council for the International Federation of Placental Associations (IFPA) and the Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand (SOMANZ). Natalie is a passionate advocate for equity, diversity and inclusion. She is the Associate Dean Diversity and Inclusion, in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne; where she leads critical new initiatives to enhance equity, diversity and inclusion within the Faculty and more broadly.
Professor Tu’uhevaha Kaitu’u-Lino is head of the Diagnostics Discovery and Reverse Translation in Pregnancy Group, based at the Mercy Hospital for Women. A University of Melbourne Dame Kate Campbell Fellow and NHMRC CDF2 Fellow, she is passionate about improving outcomes for mother’s and their babies, so that more parents can take home a healthy baby. She is currently driving important research to identify biomarkers for pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction and using these findings to delve deeper into the underlying pathogenesis of these conditions. She has a track record of success, with >110 publications, >$13M in competitive funding and many invited national and international presentations and awards. Prof Kaitu’u-Lino is also passionate about growing the next generation of scientists and clinician scientists and loves sharing her knowledge and passion with the wonderful scientists and students within the Department.
Prof Hannan and Prof Kaitu’u-Lino have enjoyed a career walking by one another’s side. In 2007, they submitted their PhD Theses to Monash University on the same day, before heading off to new labs to begin their post-doctoral lives. Re-uniting at the Mercy Hospital for Women in 2012, they were both promoted to Level C and Level D on the same day. As such, we were very happy that their individual hard work and excellence has been recognised to allow them to also be promoted to Level E on the same day! Prof Hannan & Prof Kaitu’u-Lino have also shared their experience of raising children and being proud mums; Tu’uhe with her 4 children and Natalie with her 2 children. “We’ve walked the whole way together” Prof Kaitu’u-Lino said of the synchronistic milestones. “It’s been wonderful to support each other and share many successes along the way too” Prof Hannan.
We congratulate both for this well-deserved achievement and celebrate their success.