CSTEROIDTrial

25/03/2026

On Tuesday, 24th March we were excited to hold our annual C*STEROID and PRECeDe Investigators meeting. It was great to have the opportunity to connect with our trial team members across New Zealand and Australia - both online and in person!

During the meeting, we provided a progress update on the C*STEROID trial, including an update on recruitment numbers and active sites, as well as discussing the longer-term impacts of the trial.

We also recognised the hard work of everyone involved in the trial, including our C*Stars, who have been doing an amazing job of helping us to achieve our recruitment target of 2548 babies!

And finally, we shared some operational updates on upcoming events, including a reminder about our DMC date of 27 May (please complete all data entry and data queries by April 6th) and changes to the emergency unblinding procedure that will be coming into effect in New Zealand by July 2026, and Australia by January 2027. If you missed the presentation and would like to find out more, please get in touch with us!

01/03/2026

Congratulations Dr Emma Ellis for being our January C*STAR of the month! Thanks for your great efforts in supporting the C*STEROID Trial!

Emma works as a fetal medicine specialist at National Women’s Health, Auckland, and also provides private obstetric care at Auckland Obstetric Centre (AOC).

“With my academic background I am a big supporter of clinical trials and research. We know that women who join research have better outcomes so I always encourage participation. I always speak to women about the CSTEROID Trial and the opportunity to join.”

23/12/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!🎁

To our participants – thank you for your trust, commitment, and invaluable contribution to advancing medical research. Your involvement makes a real difference in improving health outcomes for babies.

To our research staff – your dedication, expertise, and hard work throughout the year have been instrumental in driving progress and ensuring the highest standards in our studies.

Together, you have helped us achieve meaningful milestones for C*STEROID, and we couldn’t have done it without you.

Wishing you and your loved ones a joyful Christmas, a safe holiday season, and a New Year filled with health, happiness, and success.

With appreciation,
The C*STEROID Management Team

10/12/2025

Congratulations to Kate Cohen for being our C*STAR of the month!⭐

Kate is a midwife working in a clinic at Barwon Health, Australia.
This is what she kindly shared with us:

"I love working with our C*STEROID team and assisting with recruiting women. I am happy to be involved with anything that makes positive changes to our practices and the babies we care for. I am looking forward to seeing the outcomes from this trial. "

27/08/2025

Congratulations to Billy Callinan-Sands for being our August C*STAR of the month! 🌠

Billy is a midwife from John Hunter Hospital, NSW, Australia, who has shared:

“Working in a high-risk midwifery group practice model, I am able to build a very good rapport with my patients. Most of the women are very interested in participating in the study if it helps improve health outcomes for mums and babies.”

01/08/2025

Congratulations to the Midwives at North Shore Hospital (Te Whatu Ora Waitematā) for our July C*STAR of the month!

Here is what the team shared about their experience with the C*STEROID trial:

“Thank you so much for recognising us. We have been really happy to support the C*STEROID trial and are proud of what we’ve achieved together. We are pleased to be able to help birthing mothers contribute to an internationally important research study that will improve outcomes for future māmā and pepi.”

21/07/2025

We have fantastic news to start the week—the C*STEROID Trial has now officially recruited over 1,500 babies! 🎊🥳

This is an exciting milestone to reach, and we couldn’t be more proud of such a massive team effort! Every single one of you has played a part in making this happen—your commitment, enthusiasm, and teamwork continue to amaze us. ✨

With 30 sites now active across Australia and New Zealand, and more on the way, the trial is going from strength to strength with monthly figures on a strong upward trend.

Here’s to the next chapter—2000 is just around the corner… 😄

14/07/2025

Congratulations to Ayumi Salim at St George Hospital for being our June C*STAR of the month! 🌟🎉

Ayumi is a midwife working in antenatal clinic at St George Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

Here is what she shared about her experience with the C*STEROID trial:

"I really like engaging in conversation with women eligible to be recruited into the trial and promoting it amongst the antenatal clinic.”

23/06/2025

Congratulations to Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s at Sunshine Hospital for recruiting over 100 babies to the C*STEROID trial! 🩵

Please read about their recent achievement here:

In a remarkable achievement, Joan Kirner Women’s and Children’s at Sunshine Hospital has become the first Australian hospital to recruit 100 people for a medical research trial helping newborn babies breathe. As part of the C*STEROID Trial, researchers are exploring whether administering cortico...

17/04/2025

Congratulations to the Midwives at Te Puna Wairua for being our C*STAR of the month!🌠

Te Puna Wairua is an Iwi-led maternity hub in Porirua, Wellington, New Zealand.

Midwives at Te Puna Wairua often help by giving the second dose of study drug to our C*STEROID participants and letting us use their rooms for study visits so that wāhine don’t need to travel into town and allow them to participate in the trial.

We’re truly grateful for this vital support from the local community in Porirua.

Here is what they shared about their experience working on this research:

“Thank you so much for this honor! At Te Puna Wairua - Hapu Mama Hub, we had the privilege of facilitating the C*STEROID trial: allowing wāhine to participate in clinical trials within their local community without the need for extra visits to Wellington. We are eager to see the results of this research and to determine whether administering antenatal steroids closer to term before a planned C-section is the right approach.”

13/03/2025

Dear All C*STEROID Investigators,

Please remember to join our investigators meeting next Tuesday, 18 March, at the PSANZ Annual Congress 2025.

We look forward to seeing you in Brisbane!😊