Mercy Perinatal is about bringing mothers and babies safely home. When a pregnancy is diagnosed, women dream not just of the baby to come. They dream of their healthy child, their vibrant adolescent, the independent adult they will one day leave safely behind. Yet when babies are born small, born sick or born still, these dreams can suddenly slip out of reach. Complications affecting the mother’s health or baby’s development can leave a lifelong footprint. This is why the first nine months are arguably the most important months of our whole lives. Mercy Perinatal is about investing in the first nine months.
As the Co-Directors of Mercy Perinatal, we recognise that bringing mothers and their babies safely home needs more than university laboratories, teaching institutions or hospital clinics. Bringing them home lies in the integration of these three axes; bringing the three pillars of clinical care, teaching and research together. Drawing on our combined strengths- Stephen as a clinician scientist, and Sue as Professor of Maternal Fetal Medicine- we began in 2014, on our journey toward Mercy Perinatal.
Our vision? To create a 3-pillar centre of excellence: excellence in care, in inspiration and in discovery.
Our strengths in high risk pregnancy care means partnering with women and their families to realise the dream of safe motherhood and the best possible start to life. Our strengths in education means ensuring the best of knowledge in high risk pregnancy is accessible to maternity care providers everywhere. Our strengths in research means having the capacity to ask, and answer, the big questions that herald safer pregnancy for this generation, and the next. Yet in spite of these strengths, Mercy Perinatal would never have come to fruition without the unqualified support of Mercy Health Leadership, in particular Dr Linda Mellors and Adjunct Professor Stephen Cornelissen.
Our greatest strength is our people- clinicians, teachers and researchers who share our commitment to work together. Who also believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Who share our passion to bring mothers and babies, here and around the world, safely home. The face of Mercy Perinatal is in all of them. We invite you to come and meet them- and to join us. Here’s to the best possible nine months- a kickstart for life.
Sue and Stephen
