Fiona Denison

Fiona Charlotte Denison^[1] (1970 – 9 January 2022) was a Scottish doctor and academic. She was the Professor and Honorary Consultant in Maternal and Fetal Medicine at the University of Edinburgh,^[2] founder of Birthing Solutions Ltd, and creator of the Birth Mirror.^[3]

Life and career

Denison was born in Morningside, Edinburgh, Midlothian, in 1970.^[4] She was a consultant obstetrician and reader in Maternal and Fetal Health at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Reproductive Health.^[5] She was a principal investigator for The Edinburgh Tommy's Centre for Maternal and Fetal Health, a research centre focusing on maternal obesity which sits within the MRC Centre for Reproductive Health.^[6]

In 2011, Denison was awarded a research grant from Action Medical Research for £96,450 to investigate new imaging techniques to predict pregnancy complications.^[7]

Denison died in Edinburgh on 9 January 2022, at the age of 51.^[8][9][10] She died by suicide after contracting COVID-19 for the second time, which deteriorated her health.^[11]

Awards and honours

In 2017, Denison won a number of awards for her Birth Mirror, an adjustable, waterproof mirror to assist midwives in water births:

• The Converge Challenge KickStart Digital Entrepreneur Award.^[12][13]
• Shortlisted as a semi-finalist in the Scottish EDGE11 WildCard Award finalist,^[5][6][14] awarded £10,000.^[15]
• The Medicity DEVELOP prize for customer discovery.^[6]
• The Medicity DEVELOP Engage Invest Exploit Prize.^[6]
• The Medicity DEVELOP runner-up Prize.^[6]

Denison was a finalist in the 2013 NHS Lothian Health Hero awards, nominated by one of her patients for Denison's concern for patient wellbeing.^[16]