Public Health Seminar Series

The School of Population Health Seminar Series offers an opportunity for staff, students and others with an interest in public health research to learn more about the research and related activity of the School. Seminars are held most Wednesdays between 12pm and 1pm and are available online through Microsoft Teams. If you would like more information about the Seminar Series, or if you have suggestions regarding speakers and or topics (including your own) please contact Professor Robyn Richmond. Upcoming seminars may be found at Events.

Watch seminar videos

When work impacts mental health. What can fire fighters teach us about how to support healthcare workers during COVID?

Sam Harvey is the Chief Psychiatrist at the Black Dog Institute and an Associate Professor at UNSW

Mental ill health is now the leading cause of long-term sickness absence and incapacity amongst Australian workers. Since 2012, UNSW and the Black Dog Institute have led Australia’s largest program of research focused on understanding the links between work and mental health. Much of this research has focused on first responders, particularly fire fighters, with an increasing amount of work developing and testing mental health interventions for this group. At present there is concern about how COVID-19 will impact the mental health of healthcare workers. (Presented: 18 November, 2020) READ MORE

Research on trauma and injury in NSW: current practices and future directions

A/Prof Michael Dinh, Clinical Director, NSW ITIM and Dr Pooria Sarrami, Research Fellow, NSW ITIM

Trauma remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Australians younger than forty years of age. There are around 4000 patients with moderate to severe injuries recorded in the New South Wales (NSW) trauma registry each year. In this presentation the current priorities in trauma research, methods commonly used and future directions of trauma research will be discussed. Also, a short introduction will be given to the injury severity scoring system that is widely used in trauma research. (Presented: 14 October, 2020) READ MORE

Large scale observational research using routinely collected electronic health records

Dr Jitendra Jonnagaddala, Research Fellow, School of Population Health, UNSW Medicine

In this seminar Dr Jitendra Jonnagaddala will discuss findings from several studies carried out using the harmonized linked data from the electronic practice-based research network (ePBRN) data repository. ePBRN is a large primary care data repository of over 1 million unique patients linked with hospital admissions and community health center data. Dr Jonnagaddala will also discuss the challenges and limitations associated with observational research using EHRs in primary care. (Presented: 11 November, 2020) READ MORE

Can the law improve Australia’s diet?

Dr Alexandra Jones, Research Fellow, The George Institute for Global Health, UNSW Medicine

In this seminar, Ali will share lessons from her PhD at the intersection of law and public health. Taking front-of-pack nutrition labelling as a primary policy focus, she will present findings of her work monitoring and evaluating public health regulations, and make recommendations for governments and policymakers developing, implementing and evaluating robust regulatory strategies to promote healthier diets. (Presented: 4 November, 2020) READ MORE

Decolonising Global Health

Speakers: Seye Abimbola, Dr Augustine Asante, A/Prof Faye McMillan, Lyn Morgain, Prof Sabina Faiz Rashid; Chaired by: Prof Rebecca Ivers

Does Global Health still mimic our colonial past? Are we perpetuating historical biases and disparities in the field? Is the transfer of knowledge, skill and funding in Global Health unfairly unidirectional? How can we dismantle skewed power structures to make Global Health truly local? (Presented: 29 October, 2020)

Why do populations from lower income countries have higher blood pressure?

Professor Alta Schutte, Principal Lead, Cardiac, Vascular and Metabolic Medicine Theme, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney

Working more than two decades in Africa, and seeing on a daily basis in population-based studies large volumes of people with very high blood pressure, I have started on a pathway to understand this phenomenon and to do something about it. (Presented: 21 October, 2020) READ MORE

Why injury? My journey through research, policy and implementation

Professor Rebecca Ivers, Head, School of Population Health, UNSW Medicine

Prof Rebecca Ivers, recognised internationally for her expertise in injury prevention and trauma care, has expertise in design and conduct of large observational studies and randomised trials. Her work has substantially improved understanding relating to the burden of and risk factors for injury in many countries and informed policies for improving safety and injury globally. (Presented: 23 September, 2020) READ MORE

The natural trajectory from landscape architecture to urban health political science university

Professor Evelyne de Leeuw, Director, Centre for Health Equity Training Research and Evaluation (CHETRE), Director, Healthy Urban Environments (HUE) Collaboratory, UNSW Sydney

Evelyne de Leeuw joined CHETRE in September, 2015, and is based at the interface of health research, policy and practice at UNSW Sydney, the South Western Sydney Local Health District/Population Health, and the Ingham Institute. She has been active in the international Healthy Cities movement and has a reputation in building public health curricula in tertiary education around the world. (Presented: 9 September, 2020) READ MORE

Person-centered approaches to developing measures to counter child injury

Associate Professor Julie Brown, Head Injury Program the George Institute for Global Health Sydney, Co- Director Transurban Road Safety Centre NeuRA, Associate Professor School of Medical Science UNSW Sydney

The World Health Organisation (WHO) calls injury ‘a major killer’ of children. It is the 5th leading cause of childhood death worldwide, and 7th leading cause of disability. Over the last few decades there has been much progress in finding effective ways to prevent many of the different types of injury sustained by children, however a number of gaps in tangible solutions to minimising common types of injury remain. (Presented: 2 September, 2020) READ MORE

COVID-19: The ultimate public health challenge

What have we learned about COVID-19, and what lies ahead?

The COVID-19 pandemic has put health experts on the frontlines of politics. As we continue to navigate our way through the crisis, how we implement science and public health advice in the real world is absolutely critical. Tough decisions are being made every day about how to manage the very real risks we face and how to keep the public informed about what is happening.

Hear from some of the country's leading health experts as they discuss what we've learnt from the pandemic, and what is still to come. READ MORE

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