With up to 400 deliveries in the maternity ward each year, paediatric research never goes astray at Nepean Hospital.
And with a dynamic husband and wife duo heading the local research team, it is no wonder Nepean is pioneering the field.
Professor Ralph Nanan is the Sub-Dean of Research for the Sydney University Nepean Clinical School and his wife, Brigitte, is a PhD scientist.
They both came to the local hospital almost 10 years ago from Germany.
The Nanans are currently looking at factors in pregnancy that can influence a baby’s immune system.
“There is a disease called preeclampsia that affects about three per cent of the population. It is a very dangerous disease where you can develop hypertension, liver disease and your kidneys can be affected,” Prof Nanan said.
“We think it is the mother’s immune system that rejects the foetus just out of the blue, so we’re looking at how that affects the pregnancy and how it affects the baby’s immune system.”
Their research into preeclampsia has received international acclaim having recently been published in various medical journals, and the couple agree it is one of the most successful research projects they have undertaken at Nepean Hospital.
The Nanans work together on every research project, which they say works well both at the hospital and at home.
“For us it works quite well working and developing things together. If it didn’t we wouldn’t have lasted this long,” Mrs Nanan said.
“Being a researcher can be quite demanding… doing experiments late into the evening. With three kids now we can share the load a little, we complement each other quite well in that sense,” Prof Nanan added.
But the Nanans agreed their work at Nepean Hospital wouldn’t be possible without the strong community support.
“We have very strong support from the community here – Nepean Medical Research Foundation as well as OZWAC – they have supported tremendously over the past few years, which really retains us here as well,” Prof Nanan said.
