The University of Southampton

Tag: DOHAD

LifeLab does DOHaD 2019

Posted on by Sian Bryant

Day four

And it’s a wrap! Great way to sign off a fabulous congress with plenty more food for thought thanks to some wonderful speakers. We started the day with a really interesting symposia on Early Life Origins of Mental Health and Well Being, chaired by our very own Prof. Mary Barker with co-chair Sofia Strommer. Presentations covered research that included Craig Olsson from Deakin University highlighting the need for further early life course monitoring and Kimberly Thomson from the University of British Columbia highlighting the need for more research into paternal links.image0-3

After lunch Jacquie Bay, Liggins Institute, Auckland, New Zealand chaired a symposia on Adolescence as a Critical Window for DOHaD. We heard once again from speaker George Patton who highlighted the importance of investing research into this critical phase in development and Rae-Chi Huang who discussed the importance of adolescence in influencing health trajectories. Lauren Hougton gave us plenty of food for thought by summarising how by optimising adolescent diet and nutrition we have the potential to deliver triple benefits of increasing the health capital of the adolescents themselves, protection from future disease and improving the development and health of the next generation
Fascinating presentation on the TALENT project also acknowledged the work carried out by Polly Hardy-Johnson – long time supporter of LifeLab.

In the final closing awards ceremony, Kent Thornburg from Oregon Health and Science University gave the  David Barker Medal Lecture highlighting the work he had carried out with David in Portland Oregon and how he met his daughter – the aforementioned Mary Barker!
It truly was a memorable and thought provoking four days to which LifeLab not only made a real contribution, but also took plenty from. Goodbye Melbourne, you’ve been inspirational. Now to look forward to Vancouver, Canada 2021!
Did you catch our posters? Have a look at what we showcased at DOHaD 2019 here:

Day three

It was a day of presentations and posters today @DOHaD2019. Sadly, our fabulous Early LifeLab lead

Dr Hannah Davey was poorly so could not take to the stage to give her presentation on the module of LifeLab that is aimed at the primary phase. So off the subs’ bench came Dr Kathryn Woods-Townsend to stand in as a very able replacement.

Kathryn Woods-Townsend outlines the Early LifeLab project
Kathryn Woods-Townsend outlines the Early LifeLab project

We got a great response on social media for the presentation which included a video featuring Hannah, so she did get to make an appearance on stage of sorts – we wish her a speedy recovery!

Day three was also full of more presentations and posters. There were plenty of studies and research to soak up including a really interesting challenge to delegates to consider investigating paternal factors in lifelong health, asking whether all the DOHaD research on maternal factors (over 140 papers in 2019) could be contributing to ‘mother blame game’. Lucy Green based at the Institute of Developmental Sciences at Southampton talked about how the UK government has started to take notice of public opinion – in the form of Boaty McBoatface (and Brexit) – and how the ‘Greta factor’ has inspired the young voice to be heard and how we might capitalise on that.

We also has our own posters to showcase, outlining our own impact through our projects in Southampton – including the Young Health Champions, for which we were recently named a Centre of Excellence by the Royal Society for Public Health.

You can see how proud we are of our work.

Pictured from top left clockwise are: teaching fellow Donna Lovelock, programme lead Dr Kathryn Woods-Townsend, Dr Sofia Strommer and teaching fellow Lisa Bagustimage11

You can find out more about our posters by visit the link below.

Strong delegation presents LifeLab at DOHaD 2019

Day two

Another full on day down under with plenty of inspiring people to hear from and engage with. Highlight for us was the panel session where we heard from a range of speakers all of whom struck a huge chord with the work we are doing at LifeLab; investing in young people, putting them at the centre of our work, not making decisions for them but with them and trusting that they can be the agents for change that the world needs.

We posted some of our best quotes on Twitter…

Day one 

Our first day at DOHaD2019 and we were straight into it! Successful workshops discussing DOHaD partnerships and knowledge translation with colleagues including Jacquie Bay from LEN Science. The afternoon was more showcasing of the fabulous work that happens in Southampton with both Dr Wendy Lawrence and Prof. Mary Barker from the University of Southampton talking about their healthy conversations work.

The day also saw presentations from our very own Dr Kathryn Woods-Townsend and Prof Mark Hanson – and that was all before the official opening ceremony! We are worn out but already looking forward to more of the same tomorrow. Catch all the highlights from today on our Twitter…..