Associate Professor Brett Manley honoured for outstanding contribution to research

Brett Manley, Consultant neonatologist at The Women’s hospital in Melbourne, Associate Professor at The University of Melbourne and CRE in Newborn Medicine Chief Investigator, was late last year awarded a Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

This Fellowship recognises his “contribution through outstanding research & wider involvement in local community and the world stage” and it comes as no surprise to his colleagues. “Like Dame Kate before him, Brett is passionate about improving the care of newborn babies and he does this using a highly ethical, team driven approach. We are all very proud of him” said Professor Peter Davis, Director of Neonatal Medicine at The Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne.

Brett joined The Women’s Newborn Research team in 2010 and completed a PhD in respiratory support for preterm infants. He has gone on to lead several large randomised clinical trials aiming to improve outcomes for newborn, particularly preterm, infants. The HUNTER Trial of breathing supports for newborn infants was ground-breaking due to it being conducted in smaller, non-academic hospitals where newborn clinical research of such scale is uncommon. Brett is currently leading the international, multicentre PLUSS trial, which is investigating whether mixing a corticosteroid with surfactant can improve rates of survival free of chronic lung disease in extremely preterm infants.

Brett was delighted with the news that he had been awarded the Fellowship, which he said was a lovely surprise. “What an honour to be the recipient of an award named after Dame Kate Campbell, who was the original Neonatologist at The Women’s and one of the first to make the link between overtreatment with oxygen and blindness in preterm babies.”

Brett was one of 35 recipients of the Dame Kate Campbell Fellowship and this award means he will be able to continue his work to improve the outcomes of babies born preterm.

We all offer our congratulations to Brett for this richly deserved achievement.