About us
research
We have over 160 members including senior academic staff, clinicians, research support staff, professional staff and graduate students carrying out research towards a higher degree.
The department encompasses multi-disciplinary research across four overarching themes; Cancer, Global Health, Maternal & Fetal Health and Reproductive Medicine & Genetics. Find out more about our Research here. We focus on genetic studies, the dissection of molecular, biochemical and cellular mechanisms underlying normal and aberrant reproductive tissue function, clinical studies in women’s health and pregnancy and growth and development across the first 1000 days of life.
where we work
Our clinical and laboratory-based research programmes are based in the Women’s Centre, the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (both at the John Radcliffe Hospital) and the Institute of Reproductive Sciences (IRS), Oxford Business Park. There are extensive collaborations with a number of University Science Departments and other research groups in the UK and abroad. The department's main offices are on level 3 of the Women’s Centre (John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford) which is responsible for the care of over 7,000 pregnant women and over 7,500 new gynaecology patients per year. The hospital is a tertiary referral centre for obstetric medicine, pre-natal diagnosis, endometriosis, reproductive medicine, IVF, urogynaecology and gynaecological oncology.
Find out more about where we work
TEACHING
In addition to undertaking worldwide acclaimed research, we also teach students and provide clinical care for patients at the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. In 2008 we established the MSc Course in Clinical Embryology, a world-class course that has won numerous University awards for teaching innovation and excellence. We supervise research students (MSc by research and DPhil) and teach clinical undergraduate students as part of their medical degree.
Find out more about our study programmes
Our high performing team includes researchers, researchers support staff, clinicians, graduate students and administration.
Find out more about our staff and students
ATHENA SWAN
The Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health is the proud holder of an Athena SWAN Silver Award in recognition of its efforts to introduce organisational and cultural practices that promote gender equality and create a better working environment for both men and women.
Find out more about Athena SWAN.
FUNDING
The department's average annual expenditure is approximately £8 million, of which over 75% is funded from outside sources. Our department sits within the Medical Sciences Division, which is an internationally recognised centre of excellence for biomedical and clinical research and teaching, and the largest of the four academic divisions within the University of Oxford.
Watch a video about research in the Medical Sciences Division
Head of Department
Professor of Reproductive and Genomic Epidemiology, Co-Director Endometriosis Care.
Women Making History
Our department has a rich history of exceptional women - starting with Dr Anne Anderson who joined the University of Oxford in 1973 and became university lecturer and honorary consultant in clinical reproductive physiology in the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford. She led research into the birth process in sheep and also took on studies of the causes and management of preterm labour, gynaecological endocrinology, and infertility. She founded one of the first NHS menopause clinics in the UK in 1975 with Philip Sarrel from Yale when he was on a travelling fellowship. Today, Menopause in the workplace is now an important issue worldwide, with workplace health and wellbeing frameworks and policies seeking to incorporate menopausal health as part of the wider context of gender and age equality and reproductive and post-reproductive health. Anne was a major contributor to evidence-based health care and made a huge impact, so much so, our lecture theatre is named in her honour. Many outstanding women are following in her footsteps and continue to contribute and inspire other women to improve health knowledge for the good of their communities.
Medical Sciences Division
The Nuffield Department of Women's & Reproductive Health sits within the Medical Sciences Division - an internationally recognised centre of excellence for biomedical and clinical research and teaching, it is the largest of the four academic divisions within the University of Oxford. There are over 5000 academics, researchers, NHS clinicians and GPs, and administrative staff, 1500 graduate and 1600 undergraduate students, together contribute to our extensive and exemplary research, teaching and clinical portfolios.