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King’s People

Professor Catherine Williamson

Academics

Professor of Women's Health

Contact details

Biography

Catherine Williamson, FMedSci, is Professor of Women’s Health at Kings College London and Honorary Consultant in Obstetric Medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an NIHR Senior Investigator. Her research focus is on the endocrine signals that influence alterations in bile acid, lipid and glucose homeostasis in normal and pathological gestation. She also studies the maternal and fetal aetiology and outcomes of intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). She has led prospective national cohort studies of rare gestational disorders, including severe ICP, hyperemesis gravidarum, cirrhosis and endocrine tumours in pregnancy.

Professor Williamson also leads and collaborates on clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of established and new treatments for maternal metabolic diseases with the aim of improving outcomes in pregnancies complicated by ICP, GDM and hyperemesis gravidarum.

Latest publications

Fetal cardiac dysfunction in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy is associated with elevated serum bile acid concentrations
Vasavan, T., Deepak, S., Jayawardane, I. A., Lucchini, M., Martin, C., Geenes, V., Yang, J., LÃ¶vgren-Sandblom, A., Seed, P. T., Chambers, J., Stone, S., Kurlak, L., Dixon, P. H., Marschall, H-U., Gorelik, J., Chappell, L., Loughna, P., Thornton, J., Pipkin, F. B., Hayes-Gill, B. & 2 others, Fifer, W. P. & Williamson, C., 1 Dec 2020, In : Journal of Hepatology. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2020.11.038
Prolonged ursodeoxycholic acid administration reduces acute ischaemia-induced arrhythmias in adult rat hearts
Ferraro, E., Pozhidaeva, L., Pitcher, D. S., Mansfield, C., Koh, J. H. B., Williamson, C., Aslanidi, O., Gorelik, J. & Ng, F. S., 1 Dec 2020, In : Scientific Reports. 10, 1, 15284. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-72016-4
Ursodeoxycholic acid enriches intestinal bile salt hydrolase-expressing Bacteroidetes in cholestatic pregnancy
Ovadia, C., Perdones-Montero, A., Fan, H. M., Mullish, B. H., McDonald, J. A. K., Papacleovoulou, G., WahlstrÃ¶m, A., StÃ¥hlman, M., Tsakmaki, A., Clarke, L. C. D., Sklavounos, A., Dixon, P. H., Bewick, G. A., Walters, J. R. F., Marschall, H-U., Marchesi, J. R. & Williamson, C., 1 Dec 2020, In : Scientific Reports. 10, 1, p. 3895 3895. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60821-w
Review article: liver disease in adults with variants in the cholestasis-related genes ABCB11, ABCB4 and ATP8B1
Nayagam, J. S., Williamson, C., Joshi, D. & Thompson, R. J., Dec 2020, In : Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics. 52, 11-12, p. 1628-1639 12 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Review article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16118
Supplementation with a prebiotic (polydextrose) in obese mouse pregnancy improves maternal glucose homeostasis and protects against offspring obesity
Maragkoudaki, X., Naylor, M., Papacleovoulou, G., Stolarczyk, E., Rees, D., Pombo, J. M., Abu-Hayyeh, S., Czajka, A., Howard, J. K., Malik, A. N., Williamson, C., Poston, L. & Taylor, P. D., Dec 2020, In : International Journal of Obesity. 44, 12, p. 2382-2393 12 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-00682-5
Ursodeoxycholic acid in intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy: a secondary analysis of the PITCHES trial
Fleminger, J., Seed, P. T., Smith, A., Juszczak, E., Dixon, P. H., Chambers, J., Dorling, J., Williamson, C., Thornton, J. G. & Chappell, L., 16 Oct 2020, In : BJOG. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16567
Obeticholic acid improves fetal bile acid profile in a mouse model of gestational hypercholanemia
Pataia, V., Mcilvride, S., Papacleovoulou, G., Ovadia, C., Mcdonald, J. A. K., WahlstrÃ¶m, A., Jansen, E., Adorini, L., Shapiro, D., Marchesi, J. R., Marschall, H. & Williamson, C., 1 Aug 2020, In : AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSIOLOGY-GASTROINTESTINAL AND LIVER PHYSIOLOGY. 319, 2, p. G197-G211 Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpgi.00126.2020
Whole-genome sequencing of a sporadic primary immunodeficiency cohort
Primary Immunodeficiency Consortium for the NIHR Bioresource, 2 Jul 2020, In : Nature. 583, 7814, p. 90-95 6 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2265-1
Whole-genome sequencing of patients with rare diseases in a national health system
NIHR BioResource for the 100,000 Genomes Project, 2 Jul 2020, In : Nature. 583, 7814, p. 96-102 7 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2434-2
Pregnancy outcomes in women with primary biliary cholangitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis: a retrospective cohort study
Cauldwell, M., Mackie, F. L., Steer, P. J., Henehghan, M. A., Baalman, J. H., Brennand, J., Johnston, T., Dockree, S., Hedley, C., Jarvis, S., Khan, S., McAuliffe, F. M., Mackillop, L., Penna, L., Smith, B., Trivedi, P., Verma, S., Westbrook, R., Winifield, S. & Williamson, C., 1 Jun 2020, In : BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. 127, 7, p. 876-884 9 p. Research output: Contribution to journal - Article. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0528.16119

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Teaching

Course teacher: Women & Children's Health

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2 August 2019

Treatment for liver disorder in pregnancy ineffective, finds new study

Research led by King’s College London has found that the currently recommended treatment for a…