Rate My Professor Teodora Georgescu

Dr Teodora Georgescu is a Research Fellow in the Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Otago. She holds a BSc(Hons) and PhD, having completed her doctorate at the University of Aberdeen in 2017 investigating the role of specific brainstem neurons in obesity. Following her PhD, she joined the University of Otago as a postdoctoral researcher and was awarded an Otago Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2019. She now serves as Principal Investigator of the Georgescu Laboratory within the Centre for Neuroendocrinology, where she is also Chair. Additionally, she founded and chairs the Centre for Neuroendocrinology Equity & Diversity Forum (Te Ohu Matahuhua).

Her research in neuroendocrinology centers on the adaptations to autonomic functions during pregnancy and lactation induced by maternal hormones such as oestrogen, progesterone, and prolactin. The Georgescu Laboratory employs techniques like radio telemetry, ex vivo and in vivo calcium imaging, viral manipulation of neuronal circuits, and immunohistochemistry to study how these hormones act on brain receptors to regulate fever, breathing, and cardiovascular responses. This work has implications for maternal and fetal health in conditions including infections and fevers, dyspnoea, and preeclampsia. Key projects explore prolactin-driven pathways in fever suppression during pregnancy and restraint of maternal aggression to prioritize offspring care.

Georgescu has earned major awards and grants recognizing her early-career impact, including the Health Research Council Emerging Researcher First Grant ($250,000, 2023) for brain processes suppressing fever in pregnancy, Marsden Fund Fast-Start grant (2023) on hormonal suppression of fever, Hypothalamic Neuroscience and Neuroendocrinology Australasia publication prize (2021) for her PNAS paper 'Prolactin-mediated restraint of maternal aggression in lactation' (2022), NZSE Emerging Researcher Award, and Early Career Researcher Award Recognising Science Excellence and Community (2025). Select publications include 'Prolactin modulation of thermoregulatory circuits provides resilience to thermal challenge of pregnancy' in Cell Reports (2025), 'The role of maternal hormones in regulating autonomic functions during pregnancy' in Journal of Neuroendocrinology (2023), and multiple presentations at the New Zealand Medical Sciences Congress (2024). Her contributions elucidate neural mechanisms in maternal physiology, informing potential therapies for postpartum mood disorders.