Dr Ellen Menkhorst was awarded her PhD in 2007 in marsupial reproductive physiology at the University of Melbourne, before transitioning to human research at Prince Henry’s Institute under the guidance of Professor Evdokia Dimitriadis. Now a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne/Royal Women’s Hospital, Elle is passionate about the importance of the intrauterine environment for a healthy pregnancy and lifelong health of the mother and child. Elle has demonstrated a substantial and sustained contribution to early pregnancy research, with a specific focus on fetal-maternal interactions during placental formation and the defects in decidualization and placentation associated with pregnancy disorders including infertility, recurrent pregnancy loss and preeclampsia. Funded by the NHMRC, Elle’s active research uses a multi-omics approach (combining bulk and spatial transcriptomics and proteomics) to illuminate the placental dysfunction underlying preeclampsia.