Endocrine Abstracts

Hilary Critchley, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK Abstract

Hilary Critchley is Professor of Reproductive Medicine (Personal Chair awarded 1999) at the University of Edinburgh and clinical Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh.

She graduated in medicine from the University of Manchester. Her research training was undertaken with Professor David Baird (Edinburgh), Professor David Anderson (Manchester) and Professor David Healy (Melbourne).

Her research focuses upon local uterine mechanisms involved in menstruation and implantation and addresses mechanisms common to these reproductive processes - injury and repair, endocrine- immune interactions and regulation of inflammatory mediators. A particular area of interest has been the local endometrial response to withdrawal of progesterone, both physiological and pharmacological.

Her fundamental studies have made major contributions to the understanding of mechanisms regulating the onset of menstruation and established local effects of pharmacological steroid receptor modulation in uterine tissues with a view to development of novel treatment strategies for menstrual complaints and in the field of endometrial contraception. She is a past-Convenor of Study Groups for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG; 2002-2005). Since 2006 she has been Deputy Coordinator of the ESHRE Special Interest Group in Endometriosis and Endometrium (SIGEE).