Researcher biography

Prof Paul Colditz is the Director of the Perinatal Research Centre.

Paul is a practicing neonatologist with a DPhil in Medicine from Oxford University, UK. He is the Foundation Professor of Perinatal Medicine at UQ, Director of the Perinatal Research Centre, one of the largest research centres in the School of Medicine and Deputy Director at University of Queensland Centre for Clinical Research (UQCCR). More recently he has been appointed to the position of President-elect, Paediatrics and Child Health Division, Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

He has professional qualifications in paediatrics, biomedical engineering and medical research. He is involved in teaching and clinical practice. He advises numerous postgraduate students from clinical, engineering and scientific backgrounds and teaches undergraduate and postgraduate medical and science students.Paul is involved in the clinical care of babies and their families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and in the clinical assessment of infant neurodevelopment.

Paul's research focuses on clinically important perinatal health problems and translation to clinical practice. It includes investigations relating to brain injury and neuroprotection, seizure identification and treatment, neural plasticity and pathways to improving neurodevelopmental outcomes, environmental influences (e.g. nutrition, massage) on brain development and infant body composition. He has been lead CI on a number of multi-site randomized controlled trials. His group has become an international leader in the development of the preterm connectome using MRI.

Paul has been a member or chair of NHMRC project and program grant review panels regularly for over a decade and has been a member of NHMRC Australia Fellowship panel. In recent years he has been a member of a NHMRC Career Development Fellowships Panel. This year he has been a member of an NZ HRC program panel, a NHMRC project panel, the RACP scholarship panel, the RACP career establishment panel and the SIDS&Kids/CureKids grant panel. Paul's academic leadership is recognised by being sought to advance clinical research at local, state and national levels: Chair Qld Clinician Scientists Assoc., senior roles in the Division of Paediatrics and Child Health within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, RACP (Chair PCHD Research Committee, member of Council, member of Executive) as well as in the RACP (Chair College Research Committee, Director/board member RACP), member Qld Maternal and Perinatal Quality Council, Chair Qld Congenital malformations committee, leader State Clinical Guideline on Neonatal Seizures, member Qld Health paediatric RCA team, member Qld Dept Communities child death review panel. His experience in knowledge application includes commercialization and the application of research knowledge to clinical practice and health policy. He has several high impact publications that define current clinical practice (Lancet, JAMA, Am J OG) and holds an Australian patent (2006 Approved 2006906381) for a method for detecting EEG seizures in the newborn.

Featured projects Duration
Long-term protection in the growth restricted newborn
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