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What if period pain wasn’t “just part of growing up”?

9/22/2025

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Adolescents worldwide face significant challenges from heavy menstrual bleeding and dysmenorrhea—conditions that severely affect education, wellbeing, and quality of life. Despite their prevalence, support and evidence-based self-management strategies are limited.

Over 70% of young women struggle with heavy bleeding or painful periods—yet their needs remain overlooked. Our new review reveals the hidden impact on education, wellbeing, and daily life.

This systematic review of 55 studies consolidates global evidence, highlighting urgent gaps in care and the need for culturally appropriate education, early intervention, and better research.

Full article: Heavy menstrual bleeding and dysmenorrhea in adolescents: A systematic review

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Lucy Caughey presents at ESHRE in Paris, July 2025

8/21/2025

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PHD Scholar and Research Assistant Lucy Caughey presents her research findings to an international audience at ESHRE on elective egg freezers’ disposition decision pathways.

As disposition decisions are individual and personal, the study highlights the importance of counselling for elective egg freezers when considering disposition options. The research recommends the development of support tools to help patients navigate this complex decision.

Congratulations Lucy on representing the University of Melbourne at this important annual meeting.

The journal pre-proof "Elective egg freezers’ disposition decisions pathway" will be found online at Reproductive BioMedicine Online, Lucy Caughey , Katherine M. White , Sarah Lensen , Alex Polyakov , Iolonda S. Rodino , Franca Agresta , Michelle Peate , Elective egg freezers’ disposition decisions pathways, Reproductive BioMedicine Online (2025), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rbmo.2025.105133

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Evidence-based IVF Website is Launched

4/8/2025

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Check it out the new University of Melbourne IVF Website here:

🔗 unimelb.edu.au/ivf

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Zobaida Edib's PhD Completion

3/17/2025

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Congratulations to Zobaida Edib whose thesis The development of an infertility risk prediction tool for young women with breast cancer was recently accepted. Dr Edib was supervised by A/Prof Michelle Peate, A/Prof Yasmin Jayasinghe, Prof Martha Hickey, K Nguyen & A Gorelik.
http://hdl.handle.net/11343/355786
https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/items/6bbe48be-888e-40c8-bdba-d3cc2e3836ca

The potential impact of cancer treatments on fertility is a high priority for young breast cancer patients. Fertility concerns can influence treatment decisions, with some patients choosing to forgo recommended treatments due to the risk of infertility or not adhering to recommended endocrine therapy in an attempt to preserve their fertility. Current risk prediction models to predict likely fertility outcomes after breast cancer treatments are imprecise and have limited applicability in clinical practice. Hence, there is an unmet need for a resource to inform young women of their personalised risk of infertility following breast cancer treatment.

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Dorcas Serwaa Presents at National Cancer Survivorship Conference

3/13/2025

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Dorcas Serwaa presented her work "Managing Menopausal Symptoms in Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Study of the Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to the Use of an Online Patient-driven Stepped-Care Platform" at the National Cancer Survivorship Conference, hosted by Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, 2025.

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Publication News - Jacqueline Hunter

3/13/2025

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PhD student Jacqueline Hunter is first author on the research article Delivering Trio Germline Whole Genome Sequencing to Patients Newly Diagnosed With Childhood Cancer: Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives of the PREDICT Study which was published in Cancer Medicine on 14 February 2025.

Children diagnosed with cancer are increasingly receiving personalised care, informed by genetic testing which shows their predisposition to the disease.

This can help families understand the causes of the cancer, guide treatment, and inform future health decisions. But healthcare professionals report multiple logistical and resourcing issues are hindering the rollout of such testing, new research published in Cancer Medicine shows.

Then there are the potential negative psychosocial impacts on families, says lead author PhD student Jacqueline Hunter, from University of Melbourne Department of Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Newborn Health and UNSW's School of Clinical Medicine and the Behavioural Sciences Unit at the Kids Cancer Centre, Sydney Children's Hospital.

"The potential psychological impact of uncovering a heritable cancer risk is a significant concern for families. Health professional can also be deterred from offering such testing, due to fear of causing families additional distress at an already difficult time," she said.

"To ensure the routine integration of this important testing, we need targeted strategies to tackle logistical challenges and reduce potential stress for families. The findings of this study provide important insights that will help this testing become part of routine care for children with cancer.” Hunter, J.D., Hetherington, K., Wakefield, C.E., Tucker, K.M., McGill, B.C., Grant, A., Fuentes-Bolanos, N.A., Padhye, B., Gleeson, M., Bhatia, K. and Peate, M. (2025), Delivering Trio Germline Whole Genome Sequencing to Patients Newly Diagnosed With Childhood Cancer: Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives of the PREDICT Study. Cancer Med, 14: e70680. https://doi.org/10.1002/cam4.70680

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Making History in Research

10/21/2024

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The Menopause Priority Setting Partnership (MAPS) ran an historical workshop to identify gaps in research about menopause, as identified by people with lived experience and healthcare professionals. The process identified the Top 10 priorities for future menopause research. For more information about this research project please go to: https://obgyn.uchicago.edu/research/menopause-priority-setting-partnership

Women who have experienced menopause, together with health workers from the UK, USA and Australia, got to determine what topics and specific questions will be prioritised for research. As global collaboration it was incredible to participate and listen to women’s experiences of menopause. So empowering for women to contribute to research about their mind and bodies. Congrats to all involved in MAPS - Menopause Priority Setting Partnership.

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Congrats to Louis Taffs and others for publishing their paper on the care needs of young adults with endometriosis

10/21/2024

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Hereditary cancer is more common than you might think by Jacqueline Hunter, University of Melbourne

10/7/2024

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Cancer touches nearly every Australian, with one in two people facing a diagnosis by the age of 85. Around two in ten children diagnosed with cancer are now thought to carry a heritable cancer gene. The ripple effects reach far beyond the individual, impacting families, friends and entire communities.

Understanding your genetic cancer risk enables informed healthcare decisions. Wendy Berill, facing terminal cancer, shares her journey to emphasise the importance of genetic testing.

To read more about Wendy's story by Jacqueline Hunter, University of Melbourne: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/hereditary-cancer-is-more-common-than-you-might-think

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Lucy Caughey presents at the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference 2024

9/16/2024

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Lucy Caughey presented at the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference 2024. "Such an honour to be presenting at the FSANZ Annual Meeting in Perth. Lots of interest in the topical issue of what elective egg freezers’ should do with their surplus or unused eggs in storage – this is called a disposition decision", Lucy Caughey.

Lucy presented on Saturday the 14th of September on Elective Egg Freezers’ Disposition Decisions Helping Patients to Make Informed Decisions and on Tuesday the 17th of September on Elective Egg Freezers’ Disposition Decisions. The Pathways to Donate or Discard.

Lucy is a PhD scholar completing her thesis on Elective Egg Freezers’ Disposition Decisions at the University of Melbourne. Her area of interest is helping elective egg freezers’ make informed decisions to reduce psychological distress and decision regret.

Lucy holds a Bachelor of Behavioural Science (Honours Psychology) with First Class Honours from QUT and is based at the Psychosocial Health and Wellbeing Research Group, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Melbourne.

Lucy is currently involved in the ICE study, a collaboration between consumers and researchers exploring the information needs of elective egg freezers. The ICE study has the goal of setting up an independent trusted website to provide information for elective egg freezers.

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emPoWeR Unit

What if period pain wasn’t “just part of growing up”?

Lucy Caughey presents at ESHRE in Paris, July 2025

Evidence-based IVF Website is Launched

Check it out the new University of Melbourne IVF Website here:

🔗 unimelb.edu.au/ivf

Zobaida Edib's PhD Completion

Dorcas Serwaa Presents at National Cancer Survivorship Conference

Publication News - Jacqueline Hunter

Making History in Research

Congrats to Louis Taffs and others for publishing their paper on the care needs of young adults with endometriosis

Hereditary cancer is more common than you might think by Jacqueline Hunter, University of Melbourne

Lucy Caughey presents at the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Conference 2024

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emPoWeR Unit

Check it out the new University of Melbourne IVF Website here: 🔗 unimelb.edu.au/ivf

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Archives

Categories

Check it out the new University of Melbourne IVF Website here:

🔗 unimelb.edu.au/ivf