Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute (OMPHI)
The Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute (OMPHI) is a multi-disciplinary group of experts leading international research and public health initiatives in women and children’s health.
OMPHI’s strategy leverages the principles of perinatal epidemiology to resolve priority maternal, child and perinatal health problems on a global scale.
Background to OMPHI
OMPHI was founded in Green Templeton College in 2009 and works alongside the university’s Nuffield Department of Women’s & Reproductive Health. Its departmental offices are located on Level 3 of the Women’s Centre at the John Radcliffe Hospital and it retains strong links with college through its fellows and students.
OMPHI is a collaborative effort of over 350 world experts working together to resolve priority maternal, child and perinatal health problems on a global scale.
As of 2023, OMPHI has produced the first international fetal growth standards; the first international early child development standards and the first phenotypic classification of the preterm birth syndrome. The OMPHI team has published over 140 peer-reviewed publications.
Research Themes
The roots of OMPHI’s research initiatives lie in perinatology. Perinatology is the science of maternal-fetal medicine, which focuses on studying the mother and fetus from prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy. OMPHI’s projects span the first 1000 days of life: the period from conception to age 2 years when, compared to all other periods in the lifetime of an individual, the growth and development of all body structures and systems are at their fastest and most sensitive to external influences.
OMPHI’s research themes include:
- Fetal Growth and Development
- Perinatal Epidemiology
- Early Brain Science
- Global Maternal and Child Health
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Green Templeton and OMPHI
Green Templeton’s commitment to promote understanding of the current issues facing women and children globally, and its particular commitment to the flow of ideas across traditional disciplinary and professional boundaries underpins its connection its OMPHI.
OMPHI attracts a number of talented researchers from across the world through its research fellowships. It also offers mentorship to promising female STEM graduates from the Global South through its participating in the Women in Science program.
A limited number of supervised research positions for MSc and DPhil students interested on pursuing postgraduates studies in perinatology across one or more OMPHI research themes are available.
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Team
Professor Michael Katz, President
Professor Ana Langer, Vice-President
Professor Zulfiqar Bhutta, Chair of the Steering Committee
Professor Stephen Kennedy, Co-Director and Professor of Reproductive Medicine
Professor Aris T. Papageorghiou, Co-Director and Professor of Fetal Medicine
Dr Michelle Fernandes, Director of Early Brain Science
Dr Adele Winsey, Executive Manager, INTERGROWTH-21st Project
Jimena Villar de Onis, Deputy Director of Programs
Partners
OMPHI studies are funded by: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation.
We work in close partnership with the Center for Environmental Research and Community Health University of California, Berkeley; the Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health; The Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research; Aga Khan University; and the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton.
