We research the causes of baby loss

Our vision is a future where the UK is the safest place in the world to give birth and excellent pregnancy care is available for all. We fund pioneering research to find causes and treatments for pregnancy complications to prevent baby loss and improve maternity care across the UK.

As the largest charity funding research into pregnancy and baby loss in the UK, Tommy's funds 5 pioneering research centres across the country. We believe that research will help us to find answers and prevent the devastation families face after losing a baby. 

Why do we believe research is important? 

Although 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage, stillbirth or premature birth, the majority of parents never find out why it has happened. In most cases healthcare professionals simply do not know why a pregnancy loss or preterm birth has happened. 

Pregnancy loss, in contrast to most other medical conditions, suffers from widespread public opinion that a miscarriage or a stillbirth is ‘one of those things’ and that the baby ‘wasn’t meant to be’. This fatalistic attitude contributes to a failure to bring about change and improvements in reproductive health and pregnancy care.

We believe that pregnancy complications and baby loss are neither inevitable nor acceptable. Our research proves that we can find answers and prevent babies from dying before, during and after birth.  

"There is this myth out there that every miscarriage that occurs is because there’s some profound problem with the pregnancy, that there’s nothing that can be done. Our research is focused on unpicking that myth." - Professor Arri Coomarasamy, Clinical Director at Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research

Learn more about our research centres

    Map of Tommy's research centres

    Our innovative research model  

    At Tommy’s, we’re very proud of our innovative research model. We fund pioneering research centres across the country, each with their own specialist areas of research. 

    • Tommy’s Manchester Research Centre focuses on stillbirth and the role of the placenta 
    • Tommy’s Edinburgh Research Centre specialises ground-breaking research methods such as data driven innovation in order to learn more about pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes and maternal obesity
    • Tommy’s London Research Centre is nationally renowned for its research into premature birth, hypertension and metabolic disorders in pregnancy
    • Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research is the only dedicated research centre in the UK, and the largest in Europe

    Each of our research centres are linked with specialist clinics. Tommy's clinics allow us to translate our cutting-edge research into cutting-edge care, and help us connect to women eligible to take part in our clinical trials.

    More about Tommy’s clinics

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    "We have no words to explain how much it meant to us to receive care from Tommy’s Rainbow Clinic. The team instantly put our minds at rest about so many things. I can’t believe every family who has been through loss doesn’t get that support because, my word, it’s so needed." - Anne and Eddie, read their full story here

    Putting research into practice 

    We are committed to ensuring our research findings our successfully implemented into clinical care in a safe and efficient way. The team at our newest centre, Tommy’s National Centre for Maternity Improvement, are developing an online tool which aims to prevent up to 600 stillbirths and 12,000 premature births every year.

    The tool will provide personalised advice and care recommendations according to your individual risk of preterm birth and pregnancy complications that can lead to stillbirth. This includes problems with the baby’s placenta, which can manifest as pre-eclampsia and fetal growth restriction.

    The focus of our research

    Find out more about the 4 key areas that Tommy's researchers specialise in:

    • Miscarriage research 
    • Stillbirth research 
    • Premature birth research 
    • Pregnancy research

    More about our research centres