Julienne Rutherford

For nearly 25 years, Dr. Julienne Rutherford has sustained a program of research exploring the intrauterine environment as a biosocial determinant of health. Her research studies how maternal life history and lived experience shape this earliest developmental setting, and how, in turn, the intrauterine environment influences growth, health, and development across the life course and across generations. Her research has two primary arms. The first is the pathophysiology of postpartum hemorrhage, and the potential role placental processes early in pregnancy play in increased risk of excessive bleeding at birth. The second program of research is in the marmoset monkey, which is studied as a model of variable early-life environments. Dr. Rutherford designed and led a "Womb to Womb" NICHD-funded R01 study of marmosets to determine how prenatal influences shape female reproductive development and pregnancy outcomes across generations. Together with her team, she has shown that in the marmoset, a mother's own birth weight and litter size are associated with her pregnancy outcomes in adulthood and the reproductive development of her daughters. Her research is now expanding that lens to include the impact of early life environments in males on their adult reproductive function, including sperm quality and genetics.