Submitted by Yan Pan on Thu, 20/02/2025 - 15:40
We're delighted to announce that Dr Carmel McEniery, Principal Research Associate at the Department of Medicine, has been Highly Commended together with the POPPY team in the Established Academic Award of the Cambridge Awards 2024 for their exemplary work in raising awareness, fostering collaborations, and enriching research to improve women's health.
The POPPY Study established an inclusive PPI panel and fostered collaborations with charities, councils and online influencers to raise awareness about placental complications and women's long-term cardiovascular health. Through extensive public engagement, undertaken in collaboration with members of the public, the study has revealed critical gaps in awareness, care and follow-up of conditions such as pre-eclampsia, underscoring the importance of community involvement in research.
Dr Carmel McEniery, a Principal Research Associate in the Division of Experimental Medicine and Immunotherapeutics under the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Medicine (CaRM) section at the Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, has been leading The Preconception to pOst-partum study of cardiometabolic health in Primigravid PregnancY (The POPPY study) into pre-eclampsia.
The study aims to understand more about the risks of developing heart disease and diabetes in women who experience placental complications such as pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure and kidney problems), high blood pressure during pregnancy and fetal growth restriction (baby being small).
"Many pregnancy-related studies start from the first trimester of pregnancy, but the POPPY study is recruiting women who are planning to become pregnant for the first time. This will allow us to examine women’s cardiovascular health before they become pregnant, which will provide important and novel insights about whether a woman might have “pre-pregnancy factors” which affect her risk of developing a placental syndrome and future cardiovascular disease," said Carmel.
The study is led by the University of Cambridge and involves 7 universities across the UK as well as 6 NHS organisations, including the Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. The study is funded by Wellcome.
Organised by the University of Cambridge Public Engagement and Impact team, the Cambridge Awards for Research Impact and Engagement recognise outstanding achievement, innovation and creativity in devising and implementing ambitious engagement and impact plans which have the potential to create significant economic, social and cultural impact from, and engagement with, research.
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