Rate My Professor Janet Pitman

Professor Janet Pitman serves as Professor of Reproductive Biology and Head of the School of Biological Sciences within the Faculty of Science at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. She earned her PhD in Reproductive Biology from the University of Otago in 1997, where her doctoral research at AgResearch Invermay investigated the endocrine regulation of reproduction in the brushtail possum. Following her PhD, Pitman held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Human Reproductive Sciences Unit of the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 1998 to 2002. She then joined AgResearch Wallaceville in Upper Hutt as a Scientist in Reproductive Biology from 2002 to 2007. In 2007, she moved to Victoria University of Wellington as a Senior Research Fellow until 2012, subsequently advancing to Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Biology and Biotechnology from 2013 onward, and later to her current professorial role and headship.

Pitman's research centers on the factors regulating oocyte maturation in mammals, with a particular emphasis on characterizing the follicular microenvironment that enables oocytes to develop into viable offspring following fertilization. Her earlier work explored endocrine regulation of reproduction in the brushtail possum, molecular influences of the brain on mammalian reproduction, and prolactin's role in possum reproduction, including identification of potential biocontrol targets. She develops diagnostic tests to improve in vitro fertilization success in women and detect aneuploidy in embryos, and her studies address oocyte quality and fertility in New Zealand dairy cows. Pitman has secured funding from the Marsden Fund for collaborative research projects. Notable publications include 'The follicular microenvironment in low (++ ) and high (I+B+) responder Jersey heifers' (Reproduction, 2020), 'The ovarian follicle of ruminants: The path from conceptus to adult' (Reproduction, 2021, co-authored), and 'The Validation of a Precursor Lesion of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer in Fancd2-KO Mice' (Biology, 2023). She coordinates and teaches courses such as BTEC301 Biotechnological Techniques and Processes and BTEC201 Molecular Biotechnology.