Rate My Professor Di Leishman

Di Leishman serves as the Clinical Research Midwife in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Otago, Christchurch, within the Division of Health Sciences. A Registered Midwife since 1988, she holds postgraduate certificates and diplomas in midwifery and began her half-time role with the University of Otago in January 2011. In this capacity, she coordinates local, national, and international research studies at Christchurch Women’s Hospital, focusing on critical areas in midwifery and obstetrics such as preterm birth prevention, hypertension in pregnancy, neuroprotection, delayed cord clamping, intrauterine growth restriction, causes of cleft lip and palate, stillbirth reduction, preeclampsia diagnosis, and RSV vaccination during pregnancy. Key trials she has supported include PROMPT for ruptured membranes at 34-37 weeks, CHIPS for hypertension control in pregnancy, Progress using progesterone for preterm birth prevention, MAGENTA administering magnesium sulphate for neuroprotection at 30-34 weeks' gestation, APTS on delayed cord clamping for infants under 30 weeks, STRIDER evaluating sildenafil for early-onset intrauterine growth restriction, My Baby Movements to reduce stillbirths through fetal movement monitoring, PIPIT assessing sFlt-1/PlGF ratios for preeclampsia management, and the RSV vaccine trial in pregnancy. Ongoing contributions involve C*Steroid examining neonatal outcomes from antenatal corticosteroids before elective caesareans and PRECeDe for diabetic women undergoing elective caesareans.

Beyond research coordination, Di Leishman contributes to education by teaching obstetric emergencies in residential courses for the Diploma of Obstetrics and Medical Gynaecology and acting as backup midwife for the fifth-year medical student programme's obstetric emergency scenarios. She is also a member of the New Zealand College of Midwives regional research committee. Her work has been recognized in publications such as the MAGENTA randomized clinical trial on prenatal magnesium and offspring neurodevelopmental outcomes (Crowther et al., JAMA, 2023) and a perinatal trials commentary (Tarnow-Mordi et al., Seminars in Perinatology, 2023), listing her among the study group collaborators.