Professor Jean Calleja-Agius graduated as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Malta in 1999. She further specialised in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, both locally and at University College London Hospital (UCLH). She obtained her Memberships of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, on her first attempt in 2005. From an early stage in her career, Professor Calleja-Agius showed a keen interest in research and teaching on all aspects of anatomy, particularly embryology and reproductive sciences. She was appointed as Assistant Lecturer in 2000, and since then has been teaching medical students, post-graduate trainees and other health professionals. She organised the first Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO) UK in Malta in July 2011 for training obstetricians and midwives. She obtained a distinction in her MSc in Clinical Embryology at the University of Leeds, under the supervision of Prof Helen Picton.

She has numerous peer-reviewed research articles published in international high impact journals. She obtained her PhD (without corrections) at University College London (UCL) in February 2012. The title of her thesis is ‘The Role of Pro- and Anti-inflammatory Cytokines in Early Pregnancy’. Her research involved investigation of the association between systemic and placental cytokines and miscarriages in human pregnancy. Her research supervisors were Professor Eric Jauniaux (UCL) and Dr Shanthi Muttukrishna (UCL/UCC), and the PhD examiners were Prof Lesley Regan from Imperial College (London) and Prof Siobhan Quenby from University of Warwick, who are all world authorities in the field of miscarriages and pregnancy complications. The current research interests of Prof Calleja-Agius are embryology and reproductive medicine, particularly recurrent miscarriages and infertility.