Dr Robyn Lucas

BSc (Auckland), MBChB (Auckland),
MPH&TM (James Cook Uni), PhD (ANU)

Current Position: Fellow

Contact Details: (Building 62, ANU map)
National Centre for Epidemiology and
Population Health
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT, 0200 Australia

T: +61 2 6125 3448
F: +61 2 6125 0740
Email

Research Interests

• Developmental origins of health and disease
• Health effects of ultraviolet radiation
• Environmental effects on immune function

Selected Recent Publications

Lucas RM, Ponsonby A-L. Ultraviolet radiation and health: friend and foe. Med J Aust, 2002; 177(11/12): 594-598. http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/177_11_021202/luc10478_fm.pdf

Ponsonby A-L, Lucas RM, van der Me, I. UVR, Vitamin D And Three Autoimmune Diseases - Multiple Sclerosis, Type 1 Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis. Photochem Photobiol 2005; 81 (6): 1267-1275. http://phot.allenpress.com/pdfserv/10.1562%2F2005-02-15-IR-441

Lucas RM, Repacholi MH, McMichael AJ. Is the current public health message on UV exposure correct? Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2006; 84(6): 485 – 491. (http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/84/6/485.pdf)

Samanek AJ, Croager EJ, Gies P, Milne E, Prince R, McMichael AJ, Lucas RM, Slevin T. Estimates of beneficial and harmful sun exposure times during the year for major Australian population centres. Med J Aust 2006;184(7):338-41. http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/184_07_030406/sam10922_fm.pdf

Lucas RM, Ponsonby A-L. Considering the potential benefits as well as the adverse effects of sun exposure: can all the potential benefits be provided by oral vitamin D supplementation? Prog Mol Biol Biophys 2006 Sep;92(1):140-149.

Lucas RM, Ponsonby A-L, McMichael AJ, van der Mei I, Chapman C, Coulthard A, Dear K, Dwyer T, Kilpatrick TJ, Pender MP, Taylor B, Valery P, Williams D. Observational analytic studies in multiple sclerosis: controlling bias through study design and conduct. The Australian Multicentre Study of Environment and Immune Function. Multiple Sclerosis (in press)

Lucas RM, Ponsonby A-L, Dear K. Mid-life stress is associated with both up- and down-regulation of markers of humoral and cellular immunity. Stress: The Biology of Stress (in press)

van der Mei, IAF, Engelsen O, Pasco JA, McGrath JJ, Eyles DW, Blizzard L, Dwyer T, Jones G, Lucas RM, Ponsonby A-L. The high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency across Australian populations is only partly explained by season and latitude Env Health Perspect, epub ahead of print http://www.ehponline.org/members/2007/9937/9937.pdf

Norval M, Cullen AP, de Gruijl FR, Longstreth J, Takizawa Y, Lucas RM, Noonan, FP, van der Leun JC. The effects on human health from stratospheric ozone depletion and its interactions with climate change. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci., (e pub ahead of print, Jan 25 2007) http://www.rsc.org/ej/PP/2007/b700018a.pdf

Lucas RM, McMichael AJ, Armstrong BK, Smith WT. The Global Burden of Disease due to Ultraviolet Radiation. 2006. World Health Organization, Geneva (available at http://www.who.int/uv/health/solaruvradfull_180706.pdf)