Professor Frank Harry Bloomfield
PhD, MBChB, BSc (Hons), FRACP, MRCP (UK)
Biography
Professor Frank Bloomfield is the Director of the Liggins Institute. He is a Professor in Neonatology, a Consultant Neonatologist at Auckland City Hospital, and past President of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand.
Frank took a BSc (first class honours) in Experimental Immunology and Oncology at the University of Manchester and then MBChB, also at Manchester. He trained in paediatrics in the north-west of England, obtaining MRCP before moving to New Zealand where he specialised in neonatal paediatrics, obtaining FRACP. He took a PhD in paediatrics at The University of Auckland and spent two years in Toronto as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and a neonatal transport fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children. He was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in Neonatology at The University of Auckland and a specialist neonatologist at Auckland City Hospital in 2002. In 2013 he was promoted to Professor and in 2015 was appointed Director of the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland.
Affiliations and collaborations:
Research collaborations within NZ and also with Monash University, Melbourne, partners in Europe and in the USA. Member of the international NEOMUNE consortium to improve neonatal nutrition.
Research | Current
- Neonatal paediatrics
- complications of preterm birth
- fetal growth and development, particularly endocrine development
- developmental origins of health and disease
- neonatal nutrition and growth and the life-long consequences of altered growth
- fetal growth restriction - definitions and core outcome sets
Major current research grants:
- HRC project grant "ProVIDe RCT: does better early nutrition in preterm babies improve development?" 2014-2019
- HRC programme grant “Feeding preterm babies for life-long health" 2016-2021
- HRC project grant “Reducing inequity through timely detection of critical congenital heart disease" 2017-2020
Postgraduate supervision
Currently supervising 9 PhD students.
Distinctions/Honours
- FRACP
- MRCP
Committees/Professional groups/Services
President, Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand (2014-2016)
Member, National Maternity Monitoring Group, Ministry of Health
Member, Ministry of Health Expert Working Group on Maternity Indicators
Member, New Zealand Paediatric and Child Health Division Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (2011-2015)
Document Development Committee on Newborn Premature Screening, Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute
Council Member, Perinatal Research Society (USA) 2015-2017
President, Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand 2010-2014
Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)
- Cormack, B. E., Jiang, Y., Harding, J. E., Crowther, C. A., Lynn, A., Nair, A., ... Webster, D. (2020). Plasma ammonia concentrations in extremely low birthweight infants in the first week after birth: secondary analysis from the ProVIDe randomized clinical trial. Pediatric research, 88 (2), 250-256. 10.1038/s41390-019-0730-z
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Yannan Jiang, Barbara Cormack, Jane Harding, Caroline Crowther - Cormack, B. E., Jiang, Y., Harding, J. E., Crowther, C. A., Bloomfield, F. H., & ProVIDe Trial Group (2020). Neonatal Refeeding Syndrome and Clinical Outcome in Extremely Low-Birth-Weight Babies: Secondary Cohort Analysis From the ProVIDe Trial. JPEN. Journal of parenteral and enteral nutrition10.1002/jpen.1934
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Yannan Jiang, Barbara Cormack, Jane Harding, Caroline Crowther - Spiroski, A.-M., Oliver, M. H., Jaquiery, A. L., Gunn, T. D., Harding, J. E., & Bloomfield, F. H. (2020). Effects of intrauterine insulin-like growth factor-1 therapy for fetal growth restriction on adult metabolism and body composition are sex specific. American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism, 318 (4), E568-E578. 10.1152/ajpendo.00481.2019
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Mark Oliver, Anne Jaquiery, Jane Harding - Tottman, A. C., Bloomfield, F. H., Cormack, B. E., Harding, J. E., Taylor, J., & Alsweiler, J. M. (2020). Sex-specific relationships between early nutrition and neurodevelopment in preterm infants. Pediatric research, 87 (5), 872-878. 10.1038/s41390-019-0695-y
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/49933
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Anna Tottman, Barbara Cormack, Jane Harding, Jane Alsweiler - Cormack, B. E., Jiang, Y., Harding, J. E., Crowther, C. A., & Bloomfield, F. H. (2020). Relationships between Neonatal Nutrition and Growth to 36 Weeks' Corrected Age in ELBW Babies-Secondary Cohort Analysis from the Provide Trial. Nutrients, 12 (3).10.3390/nu12030760
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Yannan Jiang, Barbara Cormack, Jane Harding, Caroline Crowther - Anthony, R., Riviere, D., McKinlay, C. J. D., & Bloomfield, F. H. (2020). Adaptation for life after birth: a review of neonatal physiology. ANAESTHESIA AND INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE, 21 (2), 71-79.
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Chris McKinlay - Ward, K., Dixon, L., Cloete, E., Gentles, T., Bloomfield, F., & Pulse Oximetry Steering Committee (2020). Health professionals' views of newborn pulse oximetry screening in a midwifery-led maternity setting. "It's a good thing to do, but fund it!". Midwifery, 8110.1016/j.midw.2019.102593
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Elza Cloete, Kim Ward - Cloete, E., Gentles, T. L., & Bloomfield, F. H. (2020). New Zealand should introduce nationwide pulse oximetry screening for the detection of critical congenital heart disease and other hypoxaemic conditions in the newborn. New Zealand Medical Journal, 133 (1508), 111-117. Related URL.
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Elza Cloete
Identifiers
Contact details
Alternative contact
Kate Sommers, EA to Prof Bloomfield
Ext: 88346
Primary office location
M&HS BUILDING 505 - Bldg 505
Level 2, Room 202A
85 PARK RD
GRAFTON
AUCKLAND 1023
New Zealand