Media Release
November 17 2008
NHMRC Fellowship to lead population health research at UniSA
One
of the University of South Australia’s newest professorial appointments,
John Lynch, has just been awarded a
National Health and Medical Research
Council Senior Principal Research Fellowship.
The Fellowship will provide almost $770,000 in funding over the next five years for the development of an advanced research hub in population health.
An internationally recognised scholar, Professor Lynch says he was drawn to return to South Australia after a 20-year research career overseas because of a powerful alignment of factors set to build the state’s profile as a unique location for population health research. He joined the Population Health Cluster in UniSA’s Division of Health in May this year.
“South Australia has the right factors in place to create an incredibly valuable environment for population health research as it moves beyond being the science of observation to becoming intervention-focused and more powerful in solving health problems across lifetimes,” Prof Lynch said.
Prof Lynch’s research centres on building better evidence for population health improvement. One of his particular interests is in the importance of early life interventions for improved population health.
“One of the key research questions we must ask is how a good start in life helps to ensure better social, emotional, educational, workforce and health outcomes in later life?” he said.
“As research in this field changes, the opportunity to work in an environment with strong government support and excellent levels of collaboration across the health sector and research community is increasingly rare.
“SA has innovative service delivery in early childhood and health promotion, a depth and breadth of local academic expertise, and a climate of goodwill and collaboration across sectors and individuals that presents a wonderful opportunity to create an evidence-based population laboratory for health improvement.”
Professor Lynch believes South Australia will evolve as one of a handful of places in the world where health researchers can develop scientifically innovative population health research platforms.
“We will be focussed on the development and evaluation of effective interventions, and integrating that research evidence into the way health services are informed and delivered. The ultimate goal will be to make a direct link between population health research and real improvement in the health of South Australians and other populations around the world,” Prof Lynch said.
Short Biography
Professor John Lynch PhD, MPH, MEd, Dr. Med Sci (Hon)
John
Lynch is Research Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health in the
School of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia.
He received his PhD in epidemiology from the
University of California at Berkeley
and has spent 20 years working and researching in North America.
Prior to joining UniSA he was at
University of Michigan’s
Department of Epidemiology and Canada Research Chair in the
Department of
Epidemiology at McGill University.
An internationally recognised scholar in epidemiology and population
health, he has wide-ranging research collaborations in Brazil, Britain,
Canada, Denmark, Korea, Sweden and the US.
He has received research funding from the US National Institutes of
Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation, and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
He has served on international and national advisory and review boards
including the WHO, European Science Foundation, NIH, Wellcome Trust, the
UK Medical Research Council and the NHMRC. His research interests
include early life determinants of health, lifecourse processes
regulating health behaviours, population health monitoring and improving
the public health research-policy nexus.
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Seed NewsvineMedia contact
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Michèle Nardelli office (08) 8302 0966 mobile 0418 823 673
email michele.nardelli@unisa.edu.au