Dr. Georgia Kafer earned her Ph.D. in Physiology from The University of Queensland (UQ) (2011) studying epigenetic patterning during preimplantation development. After a short stint as an associate lecturer at UQ in the field of reproductive sciences, Georgia embarked her post-doctoral training with a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellowship at Kyoto University (2012-2017). Georgia relocated back to Australia in 2017 and joined the Children’s Medical Research Institute in Sydney as a research fellow. In 2021 Georgia began her independent research career, establishing the Fetal and Reproductive Health Lab which includes the first stem cell culture facilities at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her cumulative research experience spans several fields including fetal and reproductive health, stem cell biology, cancer and epigenetics. Georgia’s active research now includes basic science projects using pluripotent stem cells to model human placental tissues, and public health projects studying the incidence and preventability of poor birth outcomes for children born in the Western Pacific.