Program Leaders: Professor Julie Byles and Laureate Professor Rob Sanson-Fisher,
The University of Newcastle
Researchers, students and support staff: 332
The research activities of the HMRI Public Health Program are coordinated through the Maddison Collaboration for Public Health, encompassing all public health research taking place in research groups at the University of Newcastle and throughout Hunter New England Local Health District.
The researchers conduct population health research, uniting public health and health services planning, and reducing preventable death or disability by changing the community’s health behaviours.
The Public Health Program enhances capacity for health services and public health research by collaborating with health practitioners, care providers, policy providers, government and nongovernment organisations.
The researchers are focused on projects that are clinically and socially relevant, providing a natural mechanism for the translation of the research outcomes into improvements in policy, care, and better health for the NSW population.
The Public Health Program Capacity Building Group is a key component of the Public Health Program, and is funded through the NSW Health Capacity Building Infrastructure Grants Program. The group provides research training for, and mentoring of, Research Fellows, PhD students and health service clinicians; conducts collaborative research with health service clinicians; and provides a forum for communicating and disseminating research findings.
The Public Health Program Capacity Building Group focuses on four key themes:
- Monitoring health service use and its impacts
- Health service development and evaluation
- Reducing social and behavioural health risks
- Bio-preparedness and reducing communicable disease risks
Researchers within the Public Health Program are also affiliated with the University of Newcastle Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing; and the Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour.
