Prof. Julie Byles

Biography

Director of the Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing - a Priority Research Centre at the University of Newcastle, and co-Director of the Hunter Medical Research Institute Public Health Capacity Building Group.

Professor Byles is also co-director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health; her main interest is in the oldest cohort, which involves around 10,000 women who were aged 70 to 75 years at baseline in 1996. She is also closely involved with the NSW 45 and Up Study, a longitudinal study involving over 266,000 men and women across New South Wales, as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee, and as a co-investigator on an NHMRC funded project to follow-up the first 100,000 participants to determine social, environmental and economic factors and their relationships with health and ageing. She was the lead investigator on the Department of Veterans Affairs' Preventive Care Trial a ten-centre randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of health assessments for older Australian veterans and war widows, and she was a member of the research team for the Study of Health Outcomes in Aircraft Maintenance Personnel (SHOAMP).

Professor Byles is a lead investigator on two large collaborative NHMRC grants to combine data from several Australian longitudinal studies of ageing. She contributes to government and non-government programs relating to ageing research and health care for older persons (eg. Membership of NHMRC Working Party on Ageing Research, Membership of Planning reference Group for 2020: A vision for Aged Care in Australia, Membership of the Continence Management Advisory Committee and Community Aged Care Continence Research Project Steering Committee, and membership of the Australian Association of Gerontology National Council and NSW Executive). Her work in ageing research was highlighted by the Australian Academy of Science, when she was nominated to speak at their forum Australias Science Future on the potential for an Older Healthier Australia, and by the Australian Epidemiology Association when she was invited to deliver the 2005 Ian Prior Oration on Longitudinal Studies of Ageing: Past, Present, and Future.

Professor Byles was a recipient of a Public Health Research and Development Committee Doctoral Training Scholarship. Since completion of her PhD in 1994 she has successfully applied for over $30 million dollars in external research grants including the Australian Longitudinal Study on Womens Health (ALSWH). Out of these projects she has authored over 140 publications in peer reviewed refereed journals as well as numerous book chapters, official reports to government and other agencies. She has also delivered over 150 conference presentations, and numerous interactive conference workshops.

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Newcastle, 1994
• Bachelor of Medicine, University of Newcastle, 1985

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Research

Research keywords

• Ageing
• Gender
• Health Services
• Longitudinal Studies
• Preventative Medicine

Research expertise

As a clinical epidemiologist, Professor Byles has interests and expertise in risk determination, assessment, screening and diagnostic tests, other health care evaluation, and measurement of health outcomes. As a Gerontologist, Professor Byles research interests in ageing include the role of health services, preventive activities, and treatments in maintaining quality of life for older people, and in determining physical, psychological and social factors associated with optimal physical and mental health of men and women as they age. Her recent work has focussed on health assessment, medications used by older people, sleep disturbance, health effects of alcohol for older women, nutrition screening and interventions, and prevention of falls in residential care.

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
110300	Clinical Sciences	60
111700	Public Health And Health Services	30
010499	Statistics Not Elsewhere Classified	10

Centres and Groups

Centre

• Hunter Medical Research Institute
• PRC - Priority Research Centre for Gender, Health & Ageing

Group

• Hunter Medical Research Institute - Public Health

Memberships

Committee/Associations (relevant to research).

• member - ARC/NHMRC Network on Ageing Well
• Member - Australian Association of Gerontology
• Fellow - Australian Association of Gerontology
• member - Australian Association of Gerontology - Hunter Chapter Executive
• member - Australian Association of Gerontology - National Council
• member - Australian Association of Gerontology - State Council
• member - Australian Epidemiology Association
• Member - Australian Epidemiology Association, Scientific Committee, 2005 Conference
• Chair (2006) Chair (2007) Member (2004) - Australian Gerontology Association/ NSW Rural Conference Scientific Committee
• Member - Hunter Medical Research Institute Research Council
• Member and Theme Leader, 45 and Up Study Scientific Committee - Sax Institute

Editorial Board.

• member - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health
• member - International Journal of Behavioural Medicine

NHMRC Committee

• member (2004, 2006) Deputy Chair (2005) - National Health and Medical Research Council

Appointments

member Sydney Meyer 2020 Vision for Aged Care Expert Reference Committee (Australia)	01/01/2002 - 01/03/2003
Member, Review Team, University of Melbourne Australian Medical Council (Australia)	01/02/2002
Member DOHA Continence Management Advisory Committee and Implementation Sub-committee (Australia)	01/01/2004
Member, Review Team, University of Otago Australian Medical Council (Australia)	01/02/2004
Fellow Food Standard of Australia and New Zealand (Australia)	01/10/2004
Member, Institute Advisory Board Hunter TAFE (Australia)	01/01/2005 - 01/10/2006
Honorary Member and Expert Consultant International Research Centre for Healthy Ageing (Australia)	01/11/2005
Member, International Advisory Council International Research Centre for Healthy Ageing (Australia)	01/12/2006

Invitations

Health of Older People Oxford Textbook of Public Health, United Kingdom (Commissioned Author)	2007
Dick Gibson Oration Australian Association of Gerontology, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2003
Evidence-based Medicine Australian Society for Geriatric Medicine, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2001
Health Promotion for Older People International Gerontology Association, Canada (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2001
Human Reproductive Health Through The Ages University of Adelaide, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Ian Prior Oration Australian Epidemiology Association, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2005
Inaugural International Conference on Disease Mongering University of Newcastle, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2006
Inaugural International Conference on Longevity International Centre for Research on Healthy Ageing and Longevity, Australia (Conference Presentation - non published.)	2004

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Administrative

Administrative expertise

Holds position of Centre Director. Previously Director of Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Previously Assistant Dean for Research and Research Training

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Teaching

Teaching keywords

• Epidemiology
• Health Promotion
• Population Health
• Research Methods
• ageing

Teaching expertise

Professor Byles also has excellent experience in training researchers at doctoral level. Under her supervision, four PhD students have achieved scholarships from the National Health and Medical Research Council, 17 students have completed research higher degrees at PhD level and six students have completed Masters level. - 5 PhD candidates are currently collecting data, or writing their treatise. Her excellence in postgraduate teaching was recognised by the Newcastle University Student Association's Supervisor of the Year Award in 1998.