Women’s health and neuroscience research programme
The overall research programme focuses on women, women’s health, fertility, brain, nutrition, neuroendocrine and female athlete optimisation. We want to investigate the intricate relationship between hormones and concussion outcomes, which is essential for developing targeted interventions and improving the wellbeing of females, who may experience unique hormonal responses after concussions. There will be a number of studies in the women’s health and neuroscience (WHN) research programme.
Participant recruitment
We're looking for participants who have experienced a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (mTBI). To join the mTBI group, individuals must be evaluated by a qualified healthcare professional who believes they have likely suffered an mTBI.
Interested individuals can contact the research team via brain@aut.ac.nz, undergo initial screening to ensure you meet the inclusion criteria, and then provide informed consent before being enrolled in the study.
Women’s health and neuroscience research projects in progress
For details please click on the project titles below.
The study hopes to improve how we detect and manage mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) using blood tests for females.
We aim to understand whether biomarkers (I.e., GFAP and UCH-L1) can assist in monitoring mTBI recovery in females. The main study questions are:
- What are the optimal sampling times for blood biomarkers to determine the prediction of recovery from mTBI for females?
- What is the feasibility of data collection in the NZ environment?
Quick facts
Study acronym: Concussion Blood Sampling (CBS)
Study period: Feb 2025 to Dec 2025
HDEC ethics: HDEC 2024 EXP 21888
AUTEC ethics: # pending
Clinical trial registration number: Application number 388790
Further information
Research team members
Co-ordinating Principle Investigator: Professor Patria Hume
Co-Principle Investigators: Dr Ed Maunder, Scott Crawford, Dr Doug King, Dr Beth McQuiston, Dr Chris Puliu’vea, Dr Stephen Kara, Professor Alice Theadom, Assoc Prof Mangor Pedersen, Dr Anja Zoellner.
Co-Associate Investigators: Dr Ryu Yoshida, Dr Helen Danesh-Myer, Dr Mark Fulcher, Dr Swati Pradhan-Bhatt, Katherine Forch, Dr Trevor Clark, Sapi Mukerji, Prof Andrew Kilding, Dr Danielle Yang, Dr Sharon Olsen, Dr Stacy Sims, Dr Brian Russell, Dr Ken Quarrie, Christina Emmerson, Christi Essex, Dr Kuniaki Hirayama, Marguerite Sandleback.
Research students: Nikki Reynolds, Charlotte Bray.
Māori research team members: Dr Doug King (Ngāi Tūhaitara, Ngāi Tūhu), Dr Trevor Clark (Tainui, Ngaati Korokii Kahukura), Dr Stephen Kara.
Pasifica research team members: Dr Chris Puliu’vea, Assoc Prof Mangor Pedersen.
This study hopes to improve how we detect and manage mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI) using eye-tracking tools.
We aim to understand how eye-tracking with virtual reality technology can assist in monitoring mTBI recovery. The main study questions are:
- What are the typical baseline values and population variability for eye tracking metrics?
- What is the feasibility of data collection for eye tracking metrics in the NZ environment?
Quick facts
Study acronym: Eye Tracking (ET)
Study period: Feb 2025 to Dec 2027
HDEC ethics: # pending
AUTEC ethics: # pending
Clinical trial registration number: pending
Research team members
Co-ordinating Investigator: Nikki Reynolds
Co-Principle Investigators: Professor Patria Hume, Professor Alice Theadom, Professor Helen Danesh-Meyer.
Co-Associate Investigators: Dr Doug King (Ngāi Tūhaitara, Ngāi Tūhu), Dr Chris Puliu’vea, Scott Crawford, Marguerite Sandleback, Christi Essex.
We conduct research projects to help improve women’s health with focus on brain health using:
- Brain health screening - Brain-WOF™
- Brain injury screening - BIST™
- Blood biomarkers for brain, hormones, health
- Menstrual cycle tracking
- Eye tracking
- Brain scanning
- Balance testing
- Psychology assessments
- Physiology assessments
- Biomechanics assessments
- Body composition assessments
Media mentions
- AUT And Abbott Team Up To Tackle Concussions & Women’s Health (30 April 2025, Scoop)
Contact us
Scott Crawford
Research Operations Senior Manager
brain@aut.ac.nz
021 294 5714
Christi Essex
Women's Health and Neuroscience Postdoctoral Fellow
brain@aut.ac.nz
021 051 9586
Marguerite Sandleback
Women's Health and Neuroscience Research Officer
brain@aut.ac.nz
021 886 572
Our team
This research programme has been co-created with iwi, interdisciplinary researchers and people from various backgrounds and ethnicities.
Study with us
We are keen to collaborate with postgrad students who want to study how to improve health outcomes for pregnant women at master’s or doctoral level. Our supervisors are experienced in a range of fields.