Rate My Professor Ian Symonds

Professor Ian Symonds serves as Honorary Professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Newcastle, Australia. A graduate of the University of Nottingham, UK, he holds a Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Honours), Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (1983), Doctor of Medicine (1995), and Master of Medical Sciences in Clinical Education (2004). His distinguished career encompasses leadership roles in medical education and obstetrics and gynaecology. From 2004, he was Head of Discipline and Professor of Reproductive Medicine at the University of Newcastle, later becoming Head of the School of Medicine and Public Health and Dean of the Joint Medical Program with the University of New England. Prior to this, he established the academic Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Derby, UK, in 1998 with Professor Arulkumaran, securing over £1.3 million in external funding in its first three years, and served as Senior Lecturer at the University of Nottingham School of Human Development. He has held positions such as Senior Staff Specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Hunter Area Health Service and Co-ordinator of the MRANZCOG written examination for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Professor Symonds' research interests span obstetrics, gynaecology, and medical education, with principal investigator roles in projects on intrapartum fetal hypoxia detection via fetal ECG-ST analysis, dysfunctional uterine bleeding treatment, pre-eclampsia genetics, cervical smear analysis using infrared spectroscopy, ovarian cancer detection with Tc-99 labeled monoclonal antibodies, innate immunity to sexually transmitted infections like Chlamydia, medical student selection, and psychosocial effects of maternal ageing. He has fostered collaborations in Australia through the Mothers and Babies research centre and contributed to international efforts on preterm labour. Awards include the Lord Dearing Award for Teaching and Learning (University of Nottingham, 2003) and Young MRCOG new investigators award (1990). Key publications feature textbooks such as Oxford Handbook of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2004), Essential Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2004), and Problem Orientated Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2002), alongside peer-reviewed articles on topics like balloon catheters for labour induction (The Lancet, 2022) and practice change interventions for reducing alcohol consumption in pregnancy (2022). His contributions extend to curriculum development, interprofessional education, and examination roles, influencing medical training regionally and globally.