Staff Profile

Career Summary

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 20/09/1996
• Bachelor of Education, University of Newcastle, 18/05/1990
• Graduate Diploma in Health Social Science, University of Newcastle, 02/05/1992

Research

Research keywords

• Alcohol
• Health behaviour
• Health promotion
• Physical activity

Research expertise

I am a Chief Investigator in the Priority Research Centre in Health Behaviour at the University of Newcastle, and an Associate Investigator in the Priority Research Centre in Physical Activity and Nutrition at the University of Newcastle. My PhD, postdoctoral research and Equity Research Fellowship projects all related to the secondary prevention of coronary heart disease. My current NHMRC funded research projects relate to the promotion of physical activity among insufficiently active adults attending general practices in the local area and the reduction of hazardous drinking among hospital outpatients.

Fields of Research

Memberships

Body relevant to professional practice.

• Member - Australian Health Promotion Association Ltd

Awards

Research Award.

Collaboration

I have established collaborations with a number of national and international experts on a range of innovative projects:

• I am collaborating with A/Prof Kyp Kypri (UoN), Prof John B. Saunders (Sydney University), Prof Richard Saitz (Boston University), Prof John Attia (UoN & JHH), A/Prof Adrian Dunlop (Director Drug & Alcohol Services, HNE LHD), Prof Christopher Doran (UoN), Dr Jim McCambridge (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Dr Patrick McElduff (UoN) and Dr Luke Wolfenden (HNE HLD) on a randomised controlled trial designed to test the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of e-SBI for outpatients who screen positive for hazardous drinking. Please see the quote from A/Prof Kypri at the bottom of the page.

• I am collaborating with A/Prof Erica James, Prof Ron Plotnikoff, Dr Ben Ewald and Prof Wendy Brown (UQ) on a trial testing the efficacy of two physical activity counselling strategies on physical activity behaviour over a 12-month period amongst insufficiently active adults attending general practices in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie areas of NSW. I will be leading the secondary analyses to determine whether participants who increase their physical activity: (a) improve their quality of life and (b) make other positive lifestyle changes (for example, quit smoking or eat more fruit and vegetables).

• I am collaborating with Jo Gwynn, Nicole Turner, Prof Ron Plotnikoff, and A/Prof Erica James on a novel project designed to identify the barriers and facilitators of physical activity in rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. In summary, young people will be asked to take photographs that represent the physical activities they enjoy as well as the barriers and facilitators to such activity outside of school and to discuss their photos and provide feedback via focus group discussions.

• I am collaborating with Camille Short, A/Prof Erica James and Professor Ron Plotnikoff on a secondary analysis of the 45 and up data. I am leading the CVD component of this project designed to establish if chronic disease status is associated with prolonged sitting behavior among 45 and up participants and explore the factors associated with prolonged sitting behavior in the three largest chronic disease groups (cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes) in Australia if there is an association.

• I collaborated with A/Prof Shakeshaft, Prof Paul Haber, Prof Kate Conigrave, Dr Dennis Petrie, Dr Alys Havard, Ms Bianca Calabria, Dr Tim Slade, and Professor Christopher Doran on a NHMRC Project Grant application, submitted in the current round. If the application is successful, I will be conducting a study designed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of tailored, postal feedback to GPs in reducing inpatient hospital admissions for alcohol dependence in 2013.

In addition, I am collaborating with Dr Sue Outram and/or Kate Dundas on several teaching and learning projects. We received a Teaching & Learning Project Grant in 2012 to develop an e learning video resource to assist academics to manage challenges which arise when teaching about social disadvantage. We are also evaluating of the use of GlassBoard, a private social network, to determine whether it promotes connectedness between academic staff and students and between peers.

Administrative

Administrative expertise

I coordinate undergraduate courses with large numbers of students in both semesters every year and sit on the associated education and examination committees. In addition to this, I:

• am the Human Research Ethics Peer Review Representative in the School of Medicine and Public Health;
• am a member of the Fellowship's Working Group in the PRC in Health Behaviour (I was the Chair in 2009);
• interview applicants for the BMed program annually.

Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Health promotion
• Public health

Teaching expertise

Between 1998 and 2005, I coordinated and taught postgraduate courses in Quality Improvement in Health Care to distance education postgraduate students via Blackboard, which included an initial substantial revision of one of the courses and updates as required after that time. I currently coordinate and teach courses in health, public health and health promotion to undergraduate students in the School of Education, and to a lesser extent, to students in the School of Health Sciences.