Professor Robyn McDermott
Pro Vice Chancellor, Division of Health Sciences
Robyn McDermott brings experience as a clinician, public health doctor, health services manager and medical epidemiologist to a range of projects she currently leads as CI(A), including;
- The North Queensland Indigenous Adult Health Cohort Study (NHMRC funded $1.4M) which looks at sexual health, health behaviours, chronic disease risk assessment, obesity, diabetes, the metabolic syndrome, hepatic and renal function, hospitalisations, deaths and other endpoints, in more than 2,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults prospectively over 6 years;
- The South Australian Population Health Intergenerational Research study (SAPHIRe, which also includes the WISH study) which links and extends 3 existing South Australian cohort studies into new waves and the next generation, looking at obesity and the social and environmental exposures for metabolic risk and respiratory function in more than 5,000 adults and 1,200 children in South Australia (PSRF, $1.5M);
- A population health capacity building grant (NHMRC, $2.4M) which seeks to build capacity among a cohort of Indigenous health professionals for high level research in population health in Indigenous communities. This project is training 6 Indigenous PhD students, and utilising some of the above studies in that work.
In addition she is a chief investigator on several other projects including;
- NHMRC/ARC Program Grant, Ageing Well Ageing Productively, 2006-2011, No. 401832 ($2 million). Gilbert A, Roughead E, McDermott R, Esterman A, Ryan P.
- ARC Linkage Project Grant No. LP0776269. Developing New Methods for Building Health Policy Capacity in Australia. Lin V, Oldenberg B, Hall W, McDermott R, Eagar K, Fleming M, Legge D, O’Neill DL, Filby D, Wilson A, Thompson I. 2007-10. ($689,112).
These projects investigate the evidence base for current practice in important areas of chronic disease management and health policy.
The focus of much of her research is translating evidence into practice, and sustaining successful innovation in health care and population health practice. She works across disciplines and jurisdictions in the health and other sectors.