Caroline H. D. Fall BSc, MBChB, DCH, DRCOG, DM, FRCP, FRCPCH

Caroline Fall studied medicine at the University of Bristol, qualifying in 1978, followed by clinical training in General Medicine, General Practice, and Paediatrics. She joined the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit (then the Environmental Epidemiology Unit) in 1989, to study the Hertfordshire birth cohort, and showed for the first time that low birthweight and infant weight was associated with an increased risk of insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes in adult life. Since 1993, she has been working on the fetal origins of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mainly in Indian populations, building up collaborations in several centers in India.

Caroline works with a team of epidemiologists, nutritionists, and statisticians investigating the fetal origins of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes and the maternal factors influencing fetal growth. Her chief role is to lead a program of research involving 7 centers in India. These studies include 1) the follow-up of children and adults whose size at birth was recorded, 2) prospective cohort studies on the short and long-term effects on the offspring of maternal nutritional status and glucose/insulin metabolism during pregnancy, and more recently, 3) randomized studies of interventions to improve maternal nutrition, starting pre-conceptionally.

Caroline was the moving force and organizing secretary for the First World Congress on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) held in Mumbai, India, in February 2001, and has been a member of the scientific planning committees for subsequent DOHaD Congresses, held in Toronto (2005), Santiago, Chile (2009), Portland, Oregon (2011) and Capetown, S Africa (2013). She was secretary of the International DOHaD Society from 2003-2013 and continues to serve on its governing council and education sub-committee. She was awarded the David Barker Medal, the DOHaD society’s highest award for scientific achievement and leadership, in 2013. In 2019 she was awarded the March of Dimes Agnes Higgins Award for her contributions to maternal/fetal research.