Keynote and invited presentations

• Rosemary Korda was invited to present at the “Integrated Data and HSR Symposium: Demonstrating the value of enduring integrated data assets in HSR” at the Health Services Research Australia New Zealand (HRSAANZ) Conference in Auckland on Dec 6.
• Rosemary Korda was invited to present at the Centre for Mental Health Research/Research School of Population Health HEALTH ECONOMICS ROUNDTABLE on Out-of-Pocket expenditure on healthcare in Australia (Dec 13)

Awards

• Kamalini Lokuge has been awarded the Royal Australasian College of Physicians International Medal 2020. She will be receiving her medal on 3 May 2020.
• Jenny Welsh was awarded an RSPH Excellence in Population Health Research Award to work on a project to generate estimates of CVD incidence in Australia.

Implementation, Engagement and Outreach

• Emily Banks has been participating in a number of meetings and workshops regarding the Department of Health National Preventive Health Strategy. This is a capstone strategy which aims to implement a 10 year plan that will build on other strategic work including the Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions, the National Obesity Strategy and the National Tobacco Strategy.
• Rosemary Korda arranged and attended the following meetings with Department of Health

o                    Dec 10 – to discuss possible ANU placements  (incl internships) with the Department of Health Technology Assessment.

o                    Dec 17 – (with Hsei di Law, Emily Lancsar and Katie Beckwith) to discuss our MADIP data out-of-pocket costs project with Analytics, Transformation and Engagement Section, Health Economics and Research Division; Medical Specialist Services Section, Medical Benefits Division; and Out-of-Pockets Transparency Section, Medical Benefits Division. 

o                    Dec 18 – (with Emily Banks, Ellie Paige and Katie Beckwith) to discuss our MADIP data secondary CVD prevention project with Analytics, Transformation and Engagement Section, Health Economics and Research Division and Chronic Disease Policy Section, Population Health and Sport Division.

·       Rosemary Korda participated in Australian Government Prosthesis List Advisory Committee(PLAC) meeting as Expert Member of Committee on Dec 12.

·        Rosemary Korda and Emily Banks (along with others from ANU) attended the official signing of ANU-Department of Health MOU. (More info here: https://rsph.anu.edu.au/news-events/news/new-partnership-power-better-health-australians).

·        Rosemary Korda, Katie Thurber, Hsei di Law, Tamara Riley and Ginny Sargent participated in Workshop on the Housing ad Childhood Development Project with the National Indigenous Australians Agency.

• Results from first paper to come out of the NHMRC Partnership Project ‘Whole-of-population linked data project’ on education inequalities in mortality was presented at a Department of Heath Forum on Informing Policy Through Improved Data Linkage on Dec 6 (presented by Nicholas Biddle from ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods , who is a  CI on the study).

Media Releases/interest

• Emily Banks is the deputy chair of the NHMRC Alcohol Working Group who at the end of last year released the new draft alcohol guidelines for public consultation. Emily participated in a number of media briefings across print, online and radio and had a total reach of more than 14 million

New staff

• The EPP Group welcomes Laura Ford and Sinan Brown. Laura will be working alongside Miranda Harris and Melonie Martin on the e-cigarette project and Sinan will be working alongside Ellie Paige on a variety of CVD projects.

Papers accepted/published:

• Butler, D., Agostino, J., Paige, E., Korda, R., Wade, V., Douglas, K., Banks, E. Sociodemographic characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health checks", Public Health Research & Practice. Accepted 3 February 2020.
• Agostino J, Wong D, Paige E, Wade V, Connell C, Davey M, Peiris D, Fitzsimmons D, Burgess P, Mahoney R, Lonsdale E, Fernando P, Malamoo L, Brown A, Eades S, Jennings G, Lovett R, Banks E. Cardiovascular disease risk assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults aged under 35 years: a consensus statement from ACDPA, RACGP, CARPA and NACCHO. Medical Journal of Australia. Accepted 16 Jan 2020.
• McNamara BJ, Jones J, Shepherd CCJ, Gubhaju L, Joshy G, McAullay D, Preen DB, Jorm L, Eades SJ. Identifying young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in linked administrative data: A comparison of methods. International Journal of Population Data Science. Accepted 14 Dec 2019.

Progress on research projects

• Emily Banks, Ellie Paige, Jason Agostino, Grace Joshy and Rosemary Korda are currently working on a Cardiovascular Disease MRFF application.
• Person Centred Outcomes in Cancer Project: Emily Banks, Grace Joshy, Joanne Thandrayen and Katie Beckwith attended the investigator meeting on 13th Dec 2019.  

Jenny Welsh, Hsei di Law and Danielle Butler met with ABS colleagues to discuss weighting strategies using data from the Multi-Agency Data Integration Project (MADIP).