Dr Tracey A. Mills

Senior Lecturer

Tracey is an academic midwife, who has conducted research to improve outcomes and experiences for women and families during childbearing for over 15 years.

Prior to joining LSTM in 2020, to further develop her global health interests, she was a Senior Lecturer in Midwifery at The University of Manchester. She developed and led applied health research in the care of women and families experiencing complicated childbirth, including pre -eclampsia, fetal growth restriction, maternal obesity and advanced maternal age and stillbirth. She taught undergraduate and postgraduate students and has supervised several PhD and masters’ students to completion, she is fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Tracey is a registered midwife and qualified nurse, she completed a PhD in Medicine and a Masters’ in Health Care Ethics and Law at The University of Manchester.

Prior to her academic appointment, Tracey was a clinical midwife, practising as a labour ward co-ordinator in a tertiary NHS maternity unit in central Manchester. 

Research

Current research is focused on developing improved care pathways to end preventable perinatal death and improving support for parents and families experiencing death of their baby before, during or soon after birth globally, including UK, and high burden areas in Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Tracey leads the improving bereavement care workstream for the NIHR Global Health Group on Stillbirth Prevention and Management in Sub Saharan Africa. With partners from the Lugina Africa Midwives Research Network (LAMRN), principally in Kenya and Uganda, the team is exploring parents’, families’ and community experiences and needs, developing and testing interventions to improve support and reduce adverse psychological, health and social outcomes. She is also conducting parallel qualitative work, exploring parents’ and health workers’ experiences after stillbirth or neonatal death in Pakistan with Pakistan Institute of Living and Learning.

Tracey is also principal investigator for Better Maternity Care Pathways after Stillbirth or Neonatal Death, an NIHR RFPB funded study exploring the feasibility of an intervention to improve care in pregnancy after stillbirth or neonatal death in two North West maternity Units.

Other relevant associations

Registered Midwife, Member of the Royal College of Midwives,
RCOG Stillbirth and Maternal Medicine Clinical Studies Groups
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Selected publications

  • Mills TA, Ayebare E, Mukhwana R, Mweteise J, Nabisere A, Nendela A, Ndungu P, Okello M, Omoni G, Wakasiaka S, Wood R, Lavender T. (2020) Parents' experiences of care and support after stillbirth in rural and urban maternity facilities: a qualitative study in Kenya and Uganda. BJOG. Jul 13. doi: 10.1111/1471-0528.16413. Epub ahead of print.

    Bakhbakhi, D. Siassakos, D, Lynch, M, Timlin, L, Storey, C, Burden, C, Luyt, K, Lee-Davey, C, Sheppard, L, Redshaw, M, Scott, J, Titherly, C, Evans, K, Molloy, M , Mills T, Kingdon, C, Sleap V, Kenndy, N, Bevan, C, Coombs, T, Kurinczuk, J, Remmers, A, Erwich, JJ, Gold, K (2020) PARENTS 2 Study: Consensus Report for parental engagement in the perinatal mortality review process. Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynaecology 54, 2:215-224

    Shakespeare C, Merriel A, Bakhbakhi D, Baneszova R, Barnard K, Lynch M, Storey C, Blencowe H, Boyle F, Flenady V, Gold K, Horey D, Mills T, Siassakos D. (2019) Parents' and healthcare professionals' experiences of care after stillbirth in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-summary. BJOG. 2019 Jan;126(1):12-21.

    Wojcieszek AM, Boyle FM, Belizán JM, Cassidy J, Cassidy P, Erwich J, Farrales L, Gross MM, Heazell A, Leisher SH, Mills TA, Murphy M, Pettersson K, Ravaldi C, Ruidiaz J, Siassakos D, Silver RM, Storey C, Vannacci A, Middleton P, Ellwood D, Flenady V. (2016) Care in subsequent pregnancies following stillbirth: an international survey of parents. BJOG. 2018 125 (193-201)

    Lean SC, Heazell AEP, Dilworth MR, Mills TA, Jones RL. Placental Dysfunction Underlies Increased Risk of Fetal Growth Restriction and Stillbirth in Advanced Maternal Age Women. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 29;7(1):9677.

    Mills TA, Ricklesford C, Heazell AE, Cooke A, Lavender T. (2016) Marvellous to mediocre: findings of national survey of UK practice and provision of care in pregnancies after stillbirth or neonatal death. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. May 6; 16:101

    Lavender T, Logan J, Lavender R, Mills TA. (2015) “Nature makes you blind to the risks”: An exploration of womens' views surrounding decisions on the timing of childbearing in contemporary society. Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Oct;6(3):157-63

    Mills TA, Greenwood SL, Devlin G, Shweikh Y, Robinson M, Cowley E, Hayward CE, Cottrell EC, Tropea T, Brereton MF, Dalby-Brown W, Wareing M. (2015) Activation of KV7 channels stimulates vasodilatation of human placental chorionic plate arteries. Placenta;36(6):638-44.

    Ditchfield A, Desforges M, Mills TA, Glazier JD, Wareing M, Mynett K, Sibley CP, Greenwood SL (2015) Maternal obesity is associated with a reduction in placental taurine transporter activity Int J Obes 39(4):557-64.

    Mills TA, Lavender R, Lavender T (2015). ‘Forty is the new twenty’: An analysis of British Media portrayals of older mothers. Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare 6(2):88-94

    Mills TA, Ricklesford C, Cooke A, Whitworth MC, Heazell AEP, Lavender T (2014) Parents’ experiences of pregnancy following stillbirth or neonatal death: A metasynthesis BJOG Jul;121(8):943-50

    Hayward CE, Cowley EJ, Mills TA, Sibley CP, Wareing M (2014) Maternal obesity impairs specific regulatory pathways in human myometrial arteries. Biology of Reproduction Mar 27;90(3):65.

    Kenny, LC, Lavender T, McNamee R, O'Neill S, Mills TA, Khashan AS (2013) Advanced Maternal Age and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome: Evidence from a Large Contemporary Cohort PLoS One 8(2):e56583.

    Higgins L, Mills TA, Greenwood SL, Cowley EJ, Sibley CP, Jones RL.(2013) Maternal obesity and its effect on placental cell turnover. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med;26(8):783-8

    Hayward, CE, Higgins L, Cowley, EJ, Greenwood, SL Mills, TA, Sibley, CP, Wareing M (2013) Chorionic plate arterial function is altered in maternal obesity Placenta.34:281-287