McCowan holds a PhD from the University of Auckland for her 1999 thesis titled "Doppler studies in small for gestational age pregnancies and the influence of perinatal variables on postnatal outcomes".[2] Her research focuses in high risk pregnancy especially preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction,[3][4][5] with recent high-profile work on maternal sleeping positions[6][7][8] alcohol,[9] and obesity as risk factors.[10][11][12] One of McCowan's notable doctoral students is Joyce Cowan.[13]
Sadler, Lynn, Audrey Saftlas, Wenquan Wang, Melissa Exeter, John Whittaker, and Lesley McCowan. "Treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and risk of preterm delivery." JAMA 291, no. 17 (2004): 2100โ2106.
North, Robyn A., Lesley ME McCowan, Gustaaf A. Dekker, Lucilla Poston, Eliza HY Chan, Alistair W. Stewart, Michael A. Black et al. "Clinical risk prediction for pre-eclampsia in nulliparous women: development of model in international prospective cohort." BMJ 342 (2011): d1875.
Keelan, Jeffrey A., Keith W. Marvin, Timothy A. Sato, Matthew Coleman, Lesley ME McCowan, and Murray D. Mitchell. "Cytokine abundance in placental tissues: evidence of inflammatory activation in gestational membranes with term and preterm parturition." American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 181, no. 6 (1999): 1530โ1536.
McCowan, Lesley ME, Gustaaf A. Dekker, Eliza Chan, Alistair Stewart, Lucy C. Chappell, Misty Hunter, Rona Moss-Morris, and Robyn A. North. "Spontaneous preterm birth and small for gestational age infants in women who stop smoking early in pregnancy: prospective cohort study." BMJ 338 (2009): b1081.
Kenny, Louise C., David I. Broadhurst, Warwick Dunn, Marie Brown, Robyn A. North, Lesley McCowan, Claire Roberts, Garth JS Cooper, Douglas B. Kell, and Philip N. Baker. "Robust early pregnancy prediction of later preeclampsia using metabolomic biomarkers." Hypertension 56, no. 4 (2010): 741โ749.