Skip to the content
 

Dr Mary Anne Biro

PhD, BA, RN RM (Currently enrolled in the Master of Public Health (Biostatistics & Epidemiology) at Melbourne University)

Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator - Master of Clinical Midwifery, Clayton Campus

Staff Picture

Phone: 61 3 9905 4838

Fax: 61 3 9905 4837

Email: mary.biro@med.monash.edu.au

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. 

 

Research

Major Research Interests

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

Prefered Research Methodologies

  • Quantitative methods

 

Current Project

Title: Birth outcomes of Australian women aged 35 years and older.

Team: Dr Mary Carolan, Ms Mary-Ann Davey, Dr Mary Anne Biro, Michelle Kealy

Funding: Victoria University

Status: Papers in preparation

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

Publications

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Watson LF, Davey MA, Biro MA, King JF. (2009). Adverse outcomes of labour in public and private hospitals in Australia.  Letter to the Editor. Medical Journal of Australia. 190 (9): 518-519.

McLachlan, H., Forster, D.,  Davey, M.A., Lumley, J., Farrell, T., Oats, J., Gold, L., Waldenström, 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, 2008, 8,35.

Biro, M. (2006). Who will be delivering babies and where will they be delivered in twenty years? Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynaecology Review, 2006; Autumn.

Biro, M., Waldenström, U., Brown, S. & Pannifex, J. (2003). Satisfaction with Team Midwifery Care for Low and High risk Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Birth, 30(1),1-10.

Biro, M., Waldenström, U. & Pannifex, J. (2000). Team Midwifery Care in Tertiary Level Obstetric Service: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Birth 2000, 27(3),168-173.

Biro, M. & Lumley J. (1991) The Safety of Team Midwifery: The first decade of the Monash Birth Centre. Medical Journal of Australia, 155: 478-480.

REPORTS TO DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

Biro M. The Collaborative Pregnancy Care/Team Midwifery Study: Final Evaluation Report for Commonwealth Birthing Services Program, Southern Health, Melbourne, 1999.

Biro M. and Connellan M.  The Development of a Breastfeeding Clinical Indicator: Final Report for Department of Human Services, Southern Health, Melbourne, 2000.

CONFERENCE ABSTRACTS

 

 Biro MA, Morton H, McIntyre M, Patrick A. (2009). Moving Toward a Standardised Clinical Assessment Tool: The Victorian Experience. Australian College of Midwives 16th National Conference: September 22nd-25th, Adelaide.

 Biro MA, Carolan M, Davey M, Kealy, M. (2009). Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes for Victorian Women of Advanced Maternal Age. School of Nursing & Midwifery Symposium. June 9th, Monash University, Clayton.

Biro M, Yelland J, Krastev A. “Improving postnatal care: what should we do? The challenge for midwives.”  13th Biennial National Conference, Australian College of Midwives, Darwin, September 2003.

Biro M, Waldenström U and Pannifex J, “Satisfaction with team midwifery care in a tertiary level obstetric service”, International Confederation of Midwives 26th Triennial Congress, Vienna, April 2002.

Betts L, Alexander-Smith U, Biro M and Pannifex J, “Improving Breastfeeding Communication Skills of Midwives”: An Experiential Learning Model for Role Change: A Case Study, International Confederation of Midwives 26th Triennial Congress, Vienna, April 2002.

Pannifex J and Biro M, “Improving Maternity Care at an Organisational Level: Some lessons from an Australian Context”, International Confederation of Midwives 26th Triennial Congress, Vienna, April 2002.

Ching M, Phillips D, Bethune E and Biro M, “Rethinking midwifery education: an Australian experience”, International Confederation of Midwives 26th Triennial Congress, Vienna, April 2002.

Biro M, Yelland J and Krastev A, “Who is feeding the baby? What Mothers and Midwives say about Breastfeeding in the Early Postnatal Period”, Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand 5th Annual Congress, Canberra, March 2001.

Biro M, Connellan M, Yelland J and Krastev A, “Women’s experiences of infant feeding: what women say about breastfeeding from birth to 3 months postpartum”, Australian Lactation Consultants Association Biennial Conference, Melbourne, 2000.

Biro M, “The Collaborative Pregnancy Care/Team Midwifery Study: A Randomised Controlled Trial”, Perinatal Society of Australia and New Zealand 4th Annual Congress, Brisbane, 2000.
  [an error occurred while processing this directive]