Rate My Professor Alys Clark

Professor Alys Clark is a Professor at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Mathematical Sciences from the University of Oxford (1 October 1999 to 31 July 2002), Master of Mathematical Sciences in Applied Mathematics from the University of Adelaide (1 February 2004 to 1 February 2005), and PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Adelaide (1 August 2005 to 9 August 2009). Clark joined the Auckland Bioengineering Institute in 2008 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (17 November 2008 to 30 September 2012), progressed to Aotearoa Foundation Research Fellow (1 August 2012 to 1 November 2015), and then Rutherford Discovery Fellow and Senior Research Fellow (1 November 2015 to 31 December 2020) prior to her appointment as Professor. Her achievements include the Royal Society of New Zealand Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, the 2017 J.H. Michell Medal for Applied Mathematics, and a University of Auckland Research Excellence Medal as part of a team.

Clark's academic interests encompass the placenta and pregnancy, uterine health including pelvic pain and fertility, and respiratory function through life with a focus on pulmonary vascular health and development. She co-leads the Pregnancy Modelling Group alongside Associate Professor Jo James, developing computational, imaging, and experimental techniques to advance pregnancy health. She also leads efforts in the Uterine Health Group and contributes to the Lung Group. Her expertise lies in multi-scale modelling of biological fluid flows and nutrient transport mechanisms, image analysis with computational models for functional interpretation, and modelling structure-function relationships in complex vascular networks. Clark has received Marsden Fund support for innovative projects such as the virtual pregnancy model (2018, $954,000) and virtual uterus. She is a PhD/Doctoral Accredited Supervisor who has guided 15 PhD students to completion between 2015 and 2025 on topics including placental vascular development, fetal growth restriction, uterine electrophysiology, and lung mechanics, and currently supervises 10 doctoral candidates. Key publications include 'Multiscale modelling of the feto-placental vasculature' (Interface Focus, 2015, 5:20140078). Her research influences clinical practices by enhancing the analysis of ultrasound, CT, and MRI imaging alongside physiological data to improve outcomes in reproductive and respiratory health.