I work mainly on inherited bleeding disorders, which include well-known ones such as haemophilia and lesser-known ones like von Willebrand disease. If there is a bleeding disorder, the bleeding can be very heavy, to the point where it impacts the person’s health. And around the time of birth, if a woman has an unmanaged bleeding disorder, that puts her at risk of heavy bleeding. In Ireland we punch above our weight in diagnosing von Willebrand disease and women with bleeding disorders because of our clinical centre and our research at the Irish Centre for Vascular Biology. Our Low Von Willebrand in Ireland Cohort study, which is funded through the Health Research Board, is now the largest dedicated study of patients with low von Willebrand factor in the world.
