Improving The Identification, Management And Outcome Of People With Depression And Other Chronic Diseases
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$476,728.00
Summary
My research is designed to reduce depression and help people with chronic disease have a better quality of life. I will work with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities to improve how depression is identified, prevented and treated. I will work with the general community who have major depression, depression that is difficult to treat and people with depression and chronic disease to improve their outcomes. I will also aim to improve the recovery of people who have had a stroke.
My work focuses on the prevention of vascular disease. A major aim of mine is to improve outcome after stroke. We can test this by assessing whether individualised management plans provided to people with stroke will improve risk factors. Proper risk factor management reduces the risk of stroke recurrence. I also aim to reduce the burden of vascular disease in disadvantaged settings by finding out what risk factors are important in the development of these diseases in people living in poverty.
I am an epidemiologist investigating: 1) the frequency, pathogenesis, risk factors and impacts of common age-related eye disease, particularly focused on the four leading causes of blindness: age-related macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy; 2) the potential for screening and clinical diagnostic value of retinal imaging and retinal vascular signs as predictors of major systemic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
A Case Control Study Of Hypertension In The Setting Of Poverty, Overcrowding And Infection.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$603,331.00
Summary
It is unclear why chronic diseases are emerging in regions of significant disadvantage, i.e. where people are not overweight, are physically active and relatively young. We aim to identify factors responsible for the development of high blood pressure in a region where there is overcrowding, poverty, and infection. Low cost strategies to modify risk and educate the community can then be developed to prevent the emergence of these diseases.
An Investigation Of The Role Of Gene-environment Interactions And Epigenetics In Depression: Nature Combined With Nurture.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$337,602.00
Summary
Depression is one of the biggest public health problems, yet the causes remain largely unknown. This study aims to determine how environmental factors can combine with particular genes to increases an individual’s risk of depression. Environmental factors can also cause modifications to genes which can affect an individual’s health. This study will thus also examine whether women with post-natal depression and their children have different gene modifications than those without depression.
Young Adult Social Transitions - Course Of Mental And Behavioural Disorders:The Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$560,750.00
Summary
The paths young people follow into adulthood have changed markedly in the past three decades. Traditionally the adoption of a role as marital partner, parent and fulltime employee in the late teens and early twenties was accompanied by a diminution or 'maturing out' of health risk behaviours and emotional problems arising in adolescence. The social transitions into adulthood are now both delayed and in many instances changed with higher rates of cohabitation, extended teriary educational partici ....The paths young people follow into adulthood have changed markedly in the past three decades. Traditionally the adoption of a role as marital partner, parent and fulltime employee in the late teens and early twenties was accompanied by a diminution or 'maturing out' of health risk behaviours and emotional problems arising in adolescence. The social transitions into adulthood are now both delayed and in many instances changed with higher rates of cohabitation, extended teriary educational participation and part-time employment. The effect of these social changes on health risk behaviours, behavioural and mental disorders is uncertain. This proposal will undertake a further follow-up in the late twenties of a group of just under 2000 young Victorians, already studied from the age of 14 years through to the age of 24 years. This study will assess the persistence of behavioural problems such as smoking and nicotine dependence, excessive alcohol consumption and dependence, cannabis dependence, illicit drug use, risk sexual behaviour, depression and anxiety disorders. The extent to which these may be associated with successful negotiation of transitions in education, employment, relationships, parenthood and establishing an independent home will be evaluated. Alternative explanations including the severity of dependence syndrome, personality, social background and genetic risk factors will also be explored.Read moreRead less