Dr. Meredith Kelleher is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Reproductive & Developmental Sciences at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC). ONPRC is one of seven National Primate Research Centers funded by the NIH and is home to a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary research community with unique infrastructure for studies of human disease. Dr. Kelleher received her Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Hons) and PhD in Experimental Pharmacology from the University of Newcastle, Australia, supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award. Her doctoral research examined the effects of neurosteroid replacement therapy on perinatal brain development following premature birth.

Dr. Kelleher's research program focuses on the physiology of pregnancy and the perinatal period, with an emphasis on intrauterine Ureaplasma infection, preterm labor, fetal inflammatory response syndrome, and perinatal brain injury including mechanisms of neuroinflammation, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and cerebral palsy. A central goal of her work is identifying the mechanisms by which intrauterine infection triggers preterm birth, with the ultimate goal of developing targets for clinical intervention to prevent preterm labor and its consequences, an area of significant unmet clinical need, as no effective treatments currently exist.

Nonhuman primate (NHP) models are essential to this research. The unique similarities between rhesus macaque and human pregnancy, including placental structure, immune development, and fetal neurodevelopment, make NHP models irreplaceable for studying the mechanisms of preterm labor and evaluating candidate therapies prior to clinical translation. Dr. Kelleher's research relies on the chronically catheterized pregnant rhesus macaque, a specialized approach that enables continuous, real-time assessment of maternal, placental, and fetal physiology throughout gestation, measurements that are not obtainable by any other means.

Dr. Kelleher's research is supported by multiple awards from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). She also maintains active collaborations, including a collaboration aimed at developing alternative in vitro methods to model pregnancy and perinatal outcomes. This work seeks to create an alternative to animal models, with the long-term goal of reducing reliance on animal use as the technology advances.

Dr. Kelleher welcomes inquiries from prospective graduate students and postdoctoral fellows interested in reproductive physiology, perinatal neuroscience, and translational models of preterm birth. Further information about training opportunities at ONPRC can be found at the ONPRC website.