Dr Karen Moritz heads the developmental programming in disease lab.

Professor Karen Moritz is internationally renowned for her work in understanding how early life perturbations contribute to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular, renal and metabolic disease in adulthood. Over the last 15 years, her research has focused on determining how prenatal alcohol can result in “developmental programming” of disease. Her research has identified critical windows of susceptibility to alcohol, including the period around conception and prior to implantation. In addition, her work has identified the placenta as playing a key role in the sex-specific offspring outcomes following maternal perturbations. Her research spans both preclinical and clinical domains.  She was appointed as the Director of UQ’s Child Health Research Centre in 2016 before becoming the Associate Dean of Research in for the Faculty of Medicine in 2021.

Professor Moritz maintains a strong commitment to teaching and mentoring of students and early career researchers.

Find out more information on how to apply for a Research Higher Degree (MPhil or PhD) with the School. For all enquiries regarding research supervision, please contact ask@uq.edu.au.