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Yu Gao is Professor of Health Services Redesign (Maternal, Infant and Child Health) in the Faculty of Health at Charles Darwin University, where she is affiliated with the Molly Wardaguga Institute for First Nations Birth Rights. Trained as an obstetrician, she completed eight years of medical training in China and earned a Master of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2004 from Shanxi Medical University. Following one year as a Resident Obstetrician in a large teaching hospital, she pursued her Doctor of Philosophy at Charles Darwin University, completing in 2008 with a thesis titled 'A study of accessibility, quality of services and other factors that contribute to maternal death in Shanxi Province, China,' supervised by Professor Lesley Barclay and Professor Sue Kildea. Currently serving as Statistical and Health Economics Lead and Deputy Director of Data and Data Integrity, she leads quantitative data management, advanced biostatistics, health economic evaluations, scalable data infrastructure, and AI/machine learning applications in healthcare.
Her research specializations include midwifery, maternal and infant health, rural and remote health, Aboriginal health, and health economics, contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals such as good health and well-being, gender equality, and reduced inequalities. Key projects encompass the NHMRC-funded 1+1= A Healthy Start to Life study, the first to demonstrate that midwifery group practice improves outcomes and reduces costs for Indigenous women in remote areas, with methods replicated in the Lowitja Institute-funded Baby Basket Program evaluation. She conducted economic evaluations for the Birthing in our Community study, utilizing propensity score matching to reveal reductions in preterm birth rates for First Nations women, results published in The Lancet Regional Health Western Pacific and securing $4.1 million for service expansion. Notable publications include 'Effect of a Birthing on Country service redesign on preterm birth' (2021), 'Sterile water injections for relief of labour pain: the SATURN trial' (2022), 'Birthing on Country service compared to standard care for First Nations women' (2023), 'An Explainable Graph Learning Framework for Severe Maternal Morbidity Prediction' (2025), and 'Public Versus Private Obstetric Care: Methodological and Costing Considerations' (2025). With 50 research outputs, over 1,260 citations, and media coverage on improving First Nations birthing outcomes, her work informs evidence-based health policy and resource allocation. She has served as a member of the Grant Assessment Committee for the Medical Research Future Fund (2022 and 2023) and as an external assessor for the National Health and Medical Research Council (2016).
Charles Darwin University research on the Birthing on Country model at Waminda reveals improved vaginal births, breastfeeding rates, and holistic care for First Nations rural maternity, advancing Closing the Gap efforts.
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