Dr Tanith Alexander, a specialist in helping babies gain weight after an early delivery has just received a massive boost to her work at Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau.
Tanith, a 15-year Middlemore veteran has been given The Health Research Council’s Clinical Practitioners’ Reearch Fellowship totalling near $470,000.
“Typically pre-term babies, born between 32 and 36 weeks gestation have nutrition problems, and there are particular difficulties for Maaori and Pasifika neonates,” says Tanith
“I want to get to the bottom of these issues and come up with better ways of feeding improve outcomes.
Tanith will research neonatal nutrition relentlessly for the next five years, working closely with health professionals who serve in this area and be trialling different methods of feeding to see what works best.
She has a PhD in moderate to preterm babies. She’s it’s the first time a non-medical doctor has received this award.