Research in women’s reproductive and sexual health
Cynthia Margaret FarquharCNZM (born 12 August 1956) is the Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland. Within the Cochrane Collaboration, she is the Co-ordinating Editor of Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility. Farquhar has over 200 published papers, with a focus on women's reproductive and sexual health.
Farquhar completed a Bachelor of Human Biology (UA) in 1979 and a Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Auckland in 1982. The following year she completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Obstetrics and Medical Gynaecology (UA), and Part 1 Member at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. In 1986 Farquhar completed Part 2 Member Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. In 1991 she became a Fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and completed her doctoral thesis on the management of chronic pelvic pain in women.[1] In 1998 Farquhar became a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists when they amalgamated. In 1992 she completed Doctor of Medicine (UA), followed in 1998 by a Certificate in Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility (Sub-specialization) at the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. In 2003 Farquhar became a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and gained a Masters in Public Health (1st UA).
Farquhar is the Co-ordinating Editor of Cochrane Gynaecology and Fertility,[2] which she established in 1996 and is one of 52 Review Groups of Cochrane.[2] The aim of the group is to produce high quality systematic reviews of menstrual disorders and subfertility, including premenstrual syndrome, menorrhagia, menopause, cycling disorders and pelvic pain, which are published on the Cochrane Library.[3] The group is funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Health as well as external funding grant organisations.
Her roles within Cochrane have been extensive and include being a member of the steering group (the governance body for Cochrane) from 1996 to 1998, of which she was the co-chair; she has been a member of the Cochrane Library Oversight Committee from 2010 to 2013; chair of the Funding Arbitration Committee since 2013; and was a member of the Co-ordinating Editors Executive since 2005.
Farquhar is also the co-director of the New Zealand Cochrane Branch of the Australasian Cochrane Centre,[4] which promotes the use of the Cochrane Library and provides training to New Zealand review authors. The Branch successfully negotiated a national licence in 2006 and in 2013 New Zealand had the highest number of Cochrane first authors per head of population in the world.
In addition to this, Farquhar is the mentoring Co-ordinating Editor of Cochrane Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) at the National University of Colombia in Bogota, Colombia. This review group is the first one in Cochrane to be based in a low- or middle-income country and has been successful in capacity building.
As of September 2018, Farquhar is the Senior Editor of the Cochrane Long Term Conditions and Ageing 1 Network.[5]
The Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee (PMMRC)[6] was established in 2005. Farquhar was the inaugural chairperson until 2013 and was involved in establishing the processes for national data collection across 21 district health boards for all perinatal and maternal deaths. Groups which report to the PMMRC include the Maternal Mortality Working Group, the Neonatal Encephalopathy Working Group and the Australasian Maternity Outcomes Surveillance Survey (AMOSS) Working Group who working jointly to collect morbidity data.[6]
Farquhar holds the contract for the national co-ordinator services for the PMMRC to collect data and produce annual reports. Prior to the establishment of this database New Zealand did not report reliable maternal or perinatal mortality data, but now have data from 2006 to 2013. The impact of the PMMRC and related databases has led to new funding recommendations by the Ministry of Health.[7][8][9]
From 2001 to 2004 Farquhar was the Clinical Director of Gynaecology at National Women's Hospital, in Auckland. She also works for Fertility Plus and in the Gynaecology Department of National Women's Health in Auckland and her sub-specialty interests include chronic pelvic pain, endometriosis, gynaecological endocrinology and infertility, menopause, heavy menstrual bleeding, management of polycystic ovarian syndrome and laparoscopic surgery.
2011 – Awarded Jim Petrie Travelling Professorship in Evidence Based Medicine, University of Aberdeen
2013 – Anne BM Anderson award from the Cochrane Collaboration for “promotion of women as leaders and contributors to the Cochrane leadership”. 21st Cochrane Colloquium, Quebec City, Canada.
