Rebecca Vanders

Dr. Rebecca Vanders is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Newcastle’s School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, affiliated with the Priority Research Centre for Healthy Lungs. She holds an NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2016–current) and previously served as a TSANZ Early Career Research Fellow (2013–2015). Her work focuses on maternal immunology during pregnancy, particularly respiratory virus susceptibility and interventions to protect maternal-fetal health.

Education: PhD (Medicine, University of Newcastle, 2013) with an APA scholarship; Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences (Hons) from the University of New England. Awards include the Vice Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence and NHMRC Early Career Fellowship.

Research interests: Immune system adaptations during pregnancy, respiratory virus infections (influenza, rhinovirus), asthma management in pregnancy, and cellular exhaustion mechanisms. Key discoveries include identifying immune checkpoint suppression in pregnant women with influenza and developing therapies to restore antiviral immunity.

Grants: Total funding of $2.5M+ including a 2025 NHMRC grant for maternal iron studies and a 2016 NHMRC grant targeting pregnancy immune mechanisms. Supervised 1 PhD student (2020).