Dr Mary Biro - Researcher Profile

Biography

Mary Anne has been a midwife since 1978.  She joined the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Monash University in March 2009 to lead the Master of Clinical Midwifery at the Clayton campus.  Prior to her current position she was a Research Fellow at Mother & Child Health Research, La Trobe University and was the project coordinator for the COSMOS trial, a randomised trial of caseload midwifery funded by the National Health & Medical Research Council.  She has extensive experience in developing and leading midwifery models of care and evaluating their effectiveness.  She managed the Birth Centre at Monash Medical Centre for many years.  She was awarded a PhD in 2003.  Her PhD study focussed on an evaluation of a team midwifery model of care set in a tertiary level maternity service.  She has also been involved in implementing other innovations in maternity care, and has been successful in gaining Commonwealth and State government grants.  From 2005 -2007, Mary Anne was the Manager of the Midwifery Care Program at Monash Medical Centre and before this, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery at Victoria University and course coordinator of the Bachelor of Midwifery program. 

Teaching   

MID9001 Woman Midwife Partnerships
MID9002 Extending Midwifery Partnerships
MID9003 Midwifery and Maternity in Context

Research

Major Research Interests

• Midwifery models of care
• women’s experiences of maternity care
• breastfeeding
• older mothers       

Prefered Research Methodologies

• Quantitative methods     
•  

Professional Affiliations

VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES

• Member: Consultative Council on Obstetric & Paediatric Mortality and Morbidity
• Member: Quality and Safety Committee, Maternity Services Clinical Network

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Australian College of Midwives
• Australian Nursing Federation
• Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand

Qualifications

MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Institution: University of Melbourne

Year awarded: 2011

PHD

Institution: La Trobe University

Year awarded: 2003

BACHELOR OF ARTS

Institution: Deakin University

Year awarded: 1994

MIDWIFERY

Institution: Mercy Maternity Hospital

Year awarded: 1977

GENERAL NURSING

Institution: Preston and Northcote Community Hospital

Year awarded: 1973

Publications

Journal Articles

Biro, M., Davey, M., Carolan, M., Kealy, M., 2012, Advanced maternal age and obstetric morbidity for women giving birth in Victoria, Australia: a population-based study, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology [E], vol 52, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia, Australia, pp. 229-234.

Scholes, J., Endacott, R., Biro, M., Bulle, B., Cooper, S., Miles, M., Gilmour, C., Buykx, P., Kinsman, L., Boland, R., Jones, J., Zaidi, F., 2012, Clinical decision-making: midwifery students' recognition of, and response to, postpartum haemorrhage in the simulation environment, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth [P], vol 12, issue 19, BioMed Central Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 1-12.

McLachlan, H.L., Forster, D.A., Davey, M., Farrell, T., Gold, L., Biro, M.A., Albers, L., Flood, M., Oats, J., Waldenstrom, U., 2012, Effects of continuity of care by a primary midwife (caseload midwifery) on caesarean section rates in women of low obstetric risk: The COSMOS randomised controlled trial, BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology [E], vol 119, issue 2, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 1483-1492.

Cooper, S.J.R., Bulle, B., Biro, M., Jones, J., Miles, M., Gilmour, C., Buykx, P., Boland, R., Kinsman, L., Scholes, J., Endacott, R., 2012, Managing women with acute physiological deterioration: Student midwives performance in a simulated setting, Women and Birth [P], vol 25, issue 3, Elsevier BV, Netherlands, pp. e27-e36.

Carolan, M., Davey, M., Biro, M., Kealy, M., 2012, Maternal age, ethnicity and gestational diabetes mellitus, Midwifery [P], vol 28, issue 6, Elsevier, UK, pp. 778-783.

McKenna, L.G., Gilmour, C.J., Biro, M.A., McIntyre, M.J., Bailey, C.M., Jones, J.M., Miles, M.A., Hall, H.G., McLelland, G.E., 2012, Undergraduate midwifery students' sense of belongingness in clinical practice, Nurse Education Today [P], vol In Press, Elsevier - churchill Livingstone, United Kingdom, pp. 1-4.

Biro, M.A., Yelland, J., Sutherland, G., Brown, S., 2012, Women's experience of the domiciliary postnatal care in Victoria and South Australia: a population-based survey, Australian Health Review [P], vol 36, CSIRO Publishing, Australia, pp. 448-456.

Biro, M., Sutherland, G., Yelland, J., Hardy, P., Brown, S., 2011, In-hospital formula supplementation of breastfed babies: A population-based survey, Birth: Issues In Perinatal Care [P], vol 38, issue 4, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc., USA, pp. 302-310.

Carolan, M., Davey, M., Biro, M., Kealy, M., 2011, Older maternal age and intervention in labor: A population-based study comparing older and younger first-time mothers in Victoria, Australia, Birth: Issues In Perinatal Care [P], vol 38, issue 1, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc., USA, pp. 24-29.

Biro, M., 2011, What has public health got to do with midwifery? Midwives' role in securing better health outcomes for mothers and babies, Women and Birth [P], vol 24, issue 1, Elsevier, Australia, pp. 17-23.

McLachlan, H., Forster, D., Davey, M., Lumley, J., Farrell, T., Oats, J., Gold, L., Waldenstrom, U., Albers, L., Biro, M., 2008, COSMOS: COmparing Standard Maternity care with One-to-one midwifery Support: a randomised controlled trial, BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth [P], vol 8, BioMed Central, On-Line, pp. 1-12.

Biro, M.A., Waldenstrom, U., Brown, S., Pannifex, J., 2003, Satisfaction with team midwifery care for low- and high-risk women: a randomized controlled trial, Birth [E], vol 30, issue 1, Blackwell Publishing, UK, pp. 1-10.

Conference Proceedings

Biro, M., Sutherland, G., Yelland, J., Hardy, P., Brown, S., 2011, In-hospital formula supplementation of breastfed newborns - How can we reduce its use?, Journal of Paedieatrics and Child Health: Abstracts of the 15th Annual Congress of the Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand, 10-13 April 2011, Wiley-Blackwell, Richmond, Victoria, Australia, pp. 39-40.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Effect of Early Skin to Skin Contact after Caesarean section on Exclusive Breastfeeding in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia.

Supervisors:

Biro, M (Joint-co), East, C (Associate).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Waterbirth in Australia.

Supervisors:

Mckenna, L (Main), Biro, M (Associate).