Dr Hannah Stevens is a consultant haematologist and a PhD student (Atherothrombosis and Vascular Biology laboratory and Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University). Hannah’s PhD research focuses on new ways to predict for risk of developing venous blood clots.

Venous blood clots, including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, are commonly diagnosed and affect 1–2 people in every 1000. The cornerstone of treatment for venous blood clots is anticoagulation (blood thinning medication), but this treatment can be associated with adverse events such as bleeding. Many patients remain on long-term anticoagulation to prevent recurrent blood clots, but all patients must be assessed to ensure that the benefits of anticoagulation are not outweighed by the potential risks of bleeding. Hannah is interested in developing new ways to predict which patients are at highest risk of developing recurrent blood clots to help inform choices about ongoing anticoagulation use.

Hannah has used large datasets to determine the association between inherited genetic variants and developing venous blood clots. In addition, Hannah has utilised the state-of-the-art technologies within the Metabolomics laboratory at the Baker Institute to determine the relationship between lipid species (fats) and venous blood clots. Hannah has been awarded 3 PhD scholarships and has presented her research at international and national conferences. She has 13 first-author publications and has received over 350 citations to date. In addition to her position at the Baker Institute, Hannah has clinical appointments at the Alfred Hospital and Monash Health.