Inaugural Professorial Lecture: Professor Rebecca Campbell

Professor Rebecca Campbell delivers her Inaugural Professorial Lecture (IPL) titled: Illuminating the role of the brain in polycystic ovary syndrome

In this talk, Rebecca will mostly take the opportunity to celebrate and express gratitude for all of the amazing individuals who have influenced and supported her scientific journey. She will share her personal career journey of curiosity about female health and the brain and some of her research findings about the beautiful networks of neurons that regulate our most fundamental reproductive processes. She will describe some of the ways in which her team has used the power of light to investigate the role of specific brain circuits in PCOS, and how this work has contributed to our understanding of this common infertility disorder.

Rebecca is a neuroendocrinologist and is passionate about understanding how the brain regulates fertility. Currently, her research is focused on investigating how excess androgens impact the female brain in the development and pathology of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrine disorder amongst women of reproductive age. Using a wide range of anatomical and functional neuroscience tools in transgenic and disease models, her work has defined important characteristics of specific brain circuits relevant to reproductive health. Her team has discovered that androgen excess drives changes in the female brain that are associated with the development and maintenance of PCOS-like features, and it is focused on identifying novel ways to prevent, treat and reverse PCOS in the clinic. Rebecca is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Neuroendocrinology, served previously as the Associate Dean Research for the School of Biomedical Sciences (BMS), and currently sits on the Maurice Wilkins Centre of Research Excellence Leadership Forum. She has had the privilege of leading a Health Research Council Programme and was honoured to receive the BMS Distinguished Researcher Award in 2020.

This lecture will be followed with light refreshments, tea, coffee & juice.

This event will be live-streamed, from 5:25pm Tuesday 26 July 2022, at the above live streaming link (see website section).