Lifestyle in Reproductive Medicine

Richard S. Legro, MD

Our journal is pleased to present our two guest editors Dr. Helena Teede, a medical endocrinologist and Dr. Lisa Moran, a dietitian with a Ph.D. in Nutrition both from Australia. They bring a wealth of expertise in the area of lifestyle modification not only as busy clinicians, but also as researchers, administrators and public health advocates. Their experience has shown that multidisciplinary teams combined with public advocacy can change both medical practice and the environment to improve overall health. On a personal note, both practice what they preach and combine active careers with active lifestyles.

Dr. Teede is a senior reproductive endocrinologist and Professor of Diabetes at Monash Health, Australia's largest health service. She is also Professor of Women's Health at Monash University focused on reproductive and metabolic health in reproductive aged women. As a funded National Health and Medical Research Council Practitioner Research Fellow, she leads an integrated multidisciplinary team and together they conduct research from mechanistic studies, large scale clinical intervention trials, health care improvement and epidemiological research. She supervises 14 PhD students and has over 250 peer reviewed publications, while together with her direct team she currently holds $16M in grant funding.

Dr. Teede also has a leading role in translation from evidence synthesis, international guidelines including with the World Health Organization, co-design of new models of care, implementation and scale-up as well as holding policy advisory roles. She sits on the national NHMRC Research Committee, is on National NHMRC Faculty for Research Translation committees in obesity (member) and diabetes (Chair). Professor Teede is also President of the Endocrine Society of Australia and President Elect of the international Androgen Excess and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Society. She is Executive Director of Monash Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre and Director of the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, School of Public Health, Monash University. Her interests include reproductive and metabolic health in women including polycystic ovary syndrome, the interaction between lifestyle, obesity and reproductive health, preconception and pregnancy health including gestational weight gain and gestational diabetes, and diabetes prevention and management

Dr. Moran is Senior Research Fellow at the Monash Centre for Health Research Implementation, Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. She has a background in basic science, molecular biology and physiology, epidemiology, evidence-based medicine and clinical dietetics and a professional qualification as an Accredited Practicing Dietitian. Her current research focus includes the assessment and treatment of reproductive and metabolic features of polycystic ovary syndrome and the assessment of optimal lifestyle interventions preconception, during pregnancy and post-partum.

Dr. Moran has expertise in human clinical trials in obesity, insulin resistance and polycystic ovary syndrome involving short and long-term dietary weight loss and maintenance interventions, manipulation of macronutrient composition and assessment of acute appetite regulation, energy expenditure and subclinical markers of atherosclerosis. She has expertise in evidence-based medicine including systematic reviews, meta-analysis and Cochrane reviews and national guideline development. Dr. Moran has also provided a leadership role in research translation in the field of Lifestyle Interventions and Women's Health to consumers, medical and allied health professionals and policy makers. She has contributed 107 publications to the peer-reviewed literature and 57 presentations to national and international conferences.