Dr Rachael Sumner was awarded an AMRF Doctoral Scholarship in 2016 and was over the moon to receive an AMRF Postdoctoral Fellowship seven years later.
"This comes at a perfect time in my journey, allowing me to continue developing my own research identity and programme investigating women's health, specifically, the myriad of neurological and psychiatric disorders caused by, or made worse by, major changes in hormones around the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause.”
Rachael has spent two years planning a catamenial epilepsy study to help the estimated 25,000 New Zealand women with epilepsy, 40% of whom experience double the number of seizures at specific phases of their menstrual cycle. The seizures are often resistant to treatment and result in women not being allowed to drive, work or take part in their daily routines.
I can continue developing my own research identity and programme investigating women’s health.
Through sampling, it has been established females with catamenial epilepsy do not have different levels of hormones in their blood so Rachael’s research lab will focus on advancing knowledge of how the brain is responding to their changes in hormones.
This will be the first human clinical research programme focused on finding an objective mechanism of catamenial seizures and Rachael is equally excited by the prospect that knowledge gained may benefit other disorders.
“I am extremely grateful to AMRF for supporting my research and career. I aim to demonstrate my gratitude by working hard to do great science, mentor students (our future scientists), develop my career momentum, and ultimately produce real improvements in seizures for women with catamenial epilepsy,” said Rachael.
Are you interested in participating in a research study about epilepsy? Click for more info.
For this study, Contact Dr. Rachael Sumner and Malak Alshakhouri at catamenial.study@auckland.ac.nz
To find out more about this study, contact Dr Rachael Sumner and Sruti Rahman at catstudy@auckland.ac.nz
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