At the end of 2013, The Society for Reproduction Biology (SRB) convened a meeting in Melbourne to see whether a national network could be formed to advance research and improve clinical care for women diagnosed with preeclampsia. SRB recognized Australia had some of the leading international teams who study this important pregnancy complication.
Since then, there have been three further gatherings, attended by leading academics and clinicians involved in pre-eclampsia research: 3-4 of October at Mercy Hospital, Melbourne in 2014, 1-2 of May at The Robinson Institute, Adelaide in 2015, and now on the 15th of October at SOMANZ, Melbourne 2015. Importantly, these gatherings have been multi-disciplinary, with clinicians and scientists participating.
The concept of The Australian Pre-eclampsia Network (APN) is still evolving, but we have already had some tangible and exciting outcomes. For instance, as a result of these meetings, there has been a special pre-eclampsia session at the recent SRB Meeting (Adelaide 2015). The concept the pre-eclampsia theme day at this year’s SOMANZ arose from the APN network meetings. We have also started a number of other initiatives.
Here, I will present an overview of the APN.