NCEPH ALUMNI NEWS

NCEPH ALUMNI NEWS
ISSUE 3
SEPTEMBER 2004
CONTENTS
NCEPH ALUMNUS WINS 2003
MJA / WYETH AWARD
AUSIMMUNE TURNS ONE!
BRINGING BELLY DANCING
TO THE BUSH
The Ausimmune Study will celebrate
one year of recruitment on the 1st
NEW BOOK - INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA
November 2004. The study aims to
& ALCOHOL POLICY
examine:
1. How environmental factors inﬂuence
GRADUATE SNAPSHOT:
immune diseases, and
CHRIS STEVENSON
2. How immune disorders vary by
BEV SIBTHORPE & APHCRI
latitude across Australia.
Participants come from four regions
THAI COHORT STUDY
across Australia: Brisbane, Newcastle,
NEW TELESCOPE FOR THE ANU
Geelong & the Western Districts and
Tasmania.
THE MJA / WYETH AWARD 2003 GOES TO NCEPH ALUMNUS
The MJA/Wyeth Award is awarded to the
Tropical Medicine before enrolling in NCEPH’s
always logistical nightmares, can be conducted
best research article published in the Medical
MAE program. After graduating in 2000, Traven
in Aboriginal communities, if the ownership
Journal of Australia (MJA) each year, as judged
took on the management of the aforementioned
belongs to these communities, and col aborating
by the Editors and Content Review Committee
trial, (the NACCHO Trial) which investigated
partners are Aboriginal organisations such as
of the MJA.
the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating
NACCHO. (Van Der Weyden)
Aboriginal children with otitis media. Otitis media
This year an NCEPH alumnus was the second
In commenting on the research, Dr Michael Lee
is a largely preventable problem, but remains
author on the winning article - “Effectiveness
(Medical Director, Wyeth Australia) noted the
a scourge of Aboriginal children. Among its
of ototopical antibiotics for chronic suppurative
article opens with the following words: “Chronic
potential consequences are hearing problems
otitis media in Aboriginal children: a community-
suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is a disease of
which have social, educational and employment
based, multicentre, double-blind randomised
poverty. It is very common among Australian
implications. The research team looked at
controlled trial”, by Sophie Couzos, Traven
Aboriginal children, with the prevalence
exploring the efﬁcacy of ototopical ciproﬂoxacin
Lea, Reinhold Mueller, Richard Murray and
exceeding World Health Organization’s deﬁnition
compared with traditional topical aminoglycoside
Margaret Culbong, (179:185-190). Prize money
of ‘massive’ public health problem”. What set
antibiotics. They found ciproﬂoxacin was more
of $10,000 is donated by Wyeth Australia as part
this winning research apart was its relevance and
effective & recommended that it be considered as
of its committment to encouraging excellence
timeliness to an area of health with an impact
front-line treatment.
in clinical research.
on many children across the country.
Although the immediate dividend of their
Traven Lea was a member of the ﬁrst cohort of
Traven now manages a national program for
research is the clinical outcome, what is also
Masters of Applied Epidemiology (Indigenous
the National Heart Foundation, developing
important is that their research demonstrates
Health) students. As a mature age student,
strategies to address the cardiovascular health
that randomised controlled trials, which are
he completed a Diploma in Public Health &
of Indigenous Australians.
Article includes excerpts from Van Der
This issue of NCEPH Alumni News has
Weyden MB. MJA/Wyeth Award 2003.
been produced by Olivia Harkin and
MJA 2004; 181:58-. ©Copyright 2004. The
Ros Hales - Information & Promotions,
Medical Journal of Australia - reproduced
National Centre for Epidemiology,
with permission.
The Australian National University
Building 62, Mills Road, ACT 0200.
Pic: AMA President Dr Bill Glasson and Mr
T: +61 2 6125 5627
Traven Lea, accepting the award at the
E: NCEPH_alumni@anu.edu.au
AMA National Conference in Brisbane.
W: http://nceph.anu.edu.au

BRINGING BELLY DANCING TO THE BUSH
”Hi – on a belly dance tour with Libbyah the Queen of the Desert” would be a rather unexpected Out-Of-Ofﬁce email reply,
if it were from anyone other than NCEPH alumna Marisa Gilles. Bringing the joys and health beneﬁts of belly dancing to the
remote reaches of the Western Australian population is her mission, so she recently embarked on belly dancing tour of 15
rural and remote towns in the Mid-West Gascoyne and Pilbara Regions of WA, to promote Enjoy Healthy Eating.
The Libbyah Queen of the Desert Belly Dancing
tour was instigated by Liz Unwin (aka Libbyah) who
performed throughout the entire ﬁve and a half
week tour and was joined on various sections by
other dancers, including Marisa (aka Mehira) for
three and a half weeks. Over 600 people attended
belly dancing performances and nearly 700
children and 300 women experienced bel y dancing
workshops. The tour was partially funded by
Healthway, and attracted other sponsorship from
the Cancer Council, Country Arts, the Gascoyne
Development Commission, the Gascoyne Public
Health Unit, the Combined Universities Centre for
Rural Health and several shires and organisations in
towns dotted along the tour path. The tour visited
Dongara, Northamption, Shark Bay, Carnarvon,
Marisa is the goddess on the left
Exmouth, Tom Price, Newman, Meekatharra,
Wiluna, Cue, Mt Magnet, Mullewa, Burringurrah (a remote Aboriginal community), Kalbarri and Coral Bay, culminating in
a free community performance at the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery on 17th July. In each town they held a performance,
a children’s class, a women’s workshop and a haﬂa (a Middle Eastern dance party).
Marisa was not alone in her creative adventure.
As well as Liz Unwin, the tour included two
dancers from Geraldton and a performer from
Perth. All the dancers were at the ﬁnale and
were joined by some of the dancers from the
Geraldton-based ‘Sirens of Samarkand’ troupe,
as well as new converts from Meekatharra and
others who travelled all the way from Perth
for the occasion. Liz originally got the idea of
taking belly dancing to the bush from the ﬁlm
Priscilla Queen of the Desert. She explains that,
“gradually my dream has gathered momentum
and attracted other belly dancers who want
to share their passion and talent for Middle
Eastern dancing with women in rural and remote
Marisa is pictured here in full belly action, second from the left.
communities.” Marisa concurs, and adds that
“the tour has demonstrated to me the power of belly dancing in connecting women of all ages, cultures, shapes and sizes.”
Marisa took up belly dancing when she was doing her MAE with NCEPH in 1996, and highly recommends it!
“Belly dancing has many beneﬁts besides the obvious social and exercise aspects. It also increases conﬁdence, self-esteem,
balance and coordination. It’s a very health pastime.” For the last six years Marisa has worked in the country, ﬁrst in Carnarvon
and now in Geraldton, and has many contacts in rural areas. In both towns she started up highly popular belly dance classes
and established a performance troupe – the ‘Gascoyne River Godesses’ in Carnarvon and the ‘Sirens of Samarkand’ in
Geraldton. The Libbyah Queen of the Desert tour was simply a natural progression for her. “Although this is the end of the
ﬁrst Libbyah Queen of the Desert Belly Dancing Tour it is also the beginning of a network of rural belly dancers,” she said.
“We have lots of ideas for future belly dancing projects in rural areas.”
Marisa is a senior lecturer at Combined Universities Centre for Rural Health (CUCHR) in Geraldton, WA and was Director of
the Gascoyne Public and Community Health Unit from 1998 until October 2002. She completed her medical degree in 1983
in the UK and in 1987 she came to Australia to do a Masters in Public Health. On her return from a two year appointment
in the Solomon Islands, her trip home to the UK included a 3 month stop over in Alice Springs, where she fell in love with
the Australian desert and decided to make Australia her home. Her love for Aboriginal Health and culture stems from this
time and she has been involved with Aboriginal Health ever since.
2

ANU ALUMNI NETWORK
INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA & ALCOHOL POLICY
Meeting Difference with Indifference
Would you like to be part of the
wider ANU Alumni Network?
NCEPH alumna Maggie Brady has recently
We invite you to join the new
published her book ‘Indigenous Australia
Electronic Service, a convenient way
and Alcohol Policy: Meeting Difference with
to receive alumni information and
Indifference’. The book is based on her PhD thesis
ANU news.
‘Difference and Indiffence’, which was supervised
by Bev Sibthorpe, awarded in 2000, and for which
To subscribe please email
she won the JC Crawford prize.
alumni@anu.edu.au with a request
Maggie is a social anthropologist with a focus
for subcription, your full name,
on Indigenous health and substance misuse.
postal address and preferred email
She has undertaken research in remote and
address.
rural Australia for Indigenous organisations,
government departments and universities. Her
For more information visit
publications include the award-winning ‘The Grog
www.anu.edu.au/mac/alumni.
Book’. Dr Brady has been advisor to the World
Health Organization and has worked on AusAID-
GOOD NEWS IN BRIEF...
sponsored community development projects in
South Africa.
Anne Gardner, NCEPH Alumna from
Her book was launched in late August at the Coop Bookshop and “gives a
both the MPH and PhD courses, is
unique perspective on approaches to problem drinking among Aboriginal people,
moving to Melbourne in late
and the role cultural difference has played. It ﬁnds that in the 1980’s there
October to take up a newly-created
was an innovative and lively international debate about addictions, yet these
clinically-focussed position
understandings - and potential solutions - did not ﬁnd their way into Aboriginal
as Associate Professor, a joint
programs. Provocatively, the book ﬁnds that this hesitation meant various
appointment between Deakin
governments did not intervene to stem the devastating impact of alcohol on
University (Burwood) and Cabrini
Aboriginal communities. It asks what impact this had on broader health policy
Hospital (Malvern).
and the ways we think about cultural difference, health and drinking.
The book examines the ways in which Aboriginal health was deﬁned and
Currently Anne works as Assistant
treatment strategies developed since the 1970s and the role of bodies such as the
Director of Nursing at the Research
World Health Organization in this. It traces national and international changes
Centre for Nursing Practice,
in alcohol policy, considering ways in which divergent views of alcoholism and
The Canberra Hospital and
abstinence developed and the immediate impact this had on treatment options
University of Canberra.
for Indigenous people.
By moving between the world of ﬁeldwork with Aboriginal people throughout
Australia and the world of public health research, Maggie Brady has produced
a landmark study.” (UNSW Press Release)
SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS
Dr Maggie Brady now works as a fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic
When you become a member of the
Policy Research at the ANU. More information on the book is available at
www.unswpress.com.au/isbn/0868405353.htm
NCEPH Alumni network you can
request to receive:
a) regular emails regarding
SO WHAT’S THE GESTATION PERIOD FOR
jobs, conferences and other
2 BABIES AND A PhD THESIS ?
information of interest, as well
as this bi-annual newsletter,
b) just the two newsletters a
Six years all together (four years ‘on
year, or
course’) according to Rosalie Woodruff.
c) none of the above.
Rosalie ﬁnished her MPH with NCEPH in
April 1998 and began her PhD in June
If option c) is still too much
that year. In May 1999 she gave birth to
for your liking and you would
her ﬁrst daughter Mae. She submitted
like us to remove you from our
her PhD thesis in May 2004 and then
database
gave birth to her second daughter, Tilda,
TO UNSUBSCRIBE...
two weeks afterwards.
just send an email to
Not bad huh? We think she qualiﬁes as a
nceph_alumni@anu.edu.au
real trooper, and an inspiration to other
requesting to be removed from
women with academic interests ...
our database and we will be
Rosalie pictured right, accompanied by her last
happy to oblige.
six years’ proud achievements: Mae (standing),
Tilda (sitting) and her PhD (resting).

GRADUATE SNAP-SHOT: CHRIS STEVENSON
This will be a regular column in the Alumni Newsletter featuring a
different graduate each issue.
Chris Stevenson was ﬁrst off the mark in replying to Ros’ email request
for a volunteer for this issue. If you would like to be included in future
issues, please email Ros or Olivia on NCEPH_alumni@anu.edu.au.
Your name: Chris Stevenson
Year(s) graduated and degree(s) gained from NCEPH: PhD 2001
Current Occupation:
Senior Project Manager, Cancer Screening Project,
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Career highlight:
My PhD was in bowel cancer screening and shortly after I ﬁnished
it, my Institute was asked to provide advice to the Australian
Government Department of Health and Ageing on their pilot study
of bowel cancer screening. I was given this job and since then I
have been involved in all stages of planning, implementing and
evaluating the pilot. If the Government decides to go ahead with a national bowel screening
program, I will also be involved in its planning and implementation. I don’t know if many PhD
graduates get to apply their doctoral studies in such a direct way, but I feel very privileged to
have been able to do so—and it’s also been a lot of fun!!!
What motivates you in your work?
I’m a strong believer in grounding Australian health policy in the best evidence, particularly
in Australian, rather than overseas, data.
Most outstanding memory of NCEPH:
My most outstanding memory of NCEPH was the strong support offered to students by
everyone at the Centre. I particularly valued the opportunities for inter-disciplinary contacts
and a view of health issues which came from a variety of perspectives.
Would you like to volunteer to be our next Graduate Snap Shot or maybe our
Graduate Proﬁle? Or perhaps you would just like to tell us about something
interesting that has happened to you...
We’d love to hear your stories! - in whatever format you ﬁnd most suitable.
They can be as formal or informal as you wish.
They can be work-related or not - it’s up to you!
Comments or suggestions on what you would like to read about in this newsletter
are most welcome. Just send an email to NCEPH_alumni@anu.edu.au
4

CHANGING HORSES, BUT NOT THE STABLE!

Bev ﬁrst came to NCEPH about twelve
Her ﬁnal two big opportunities with
years ago, when she joined us brieﬂy to
NCEPH were as Acting Deputy Director
analyse some qualitative data for the
under Gabriele Bammer’s Acting
Heroin Trial feasibility study.
Director in the interim between Bob
She then went to work in the General
retiring and Tony taking the reigns, and
Practice Branch in the Commonwealth
continuing Associate Director with the
Health Department, which led to
‘internal affairs’ portfolio.
her getting involved in all sorts of
Bev reckons that she feels like a ‘pig
work to do with GPs and Divisions of
in mud’ in her new role with APHCRI.
General Practice. This involvement laid
She comments that “it feels to me
the ground work for much of what
like coming home, intellectually. It
followed.
brings together disparate threads of
Bev was only at the Department for six
my professional life that began when
months when she was asked to come
I enrolled in nursing training in New
Dr Beverly Sibthorpe - the new
back to NCEPH to coordinate the bid
Zealand in 1968 at the tender age
Deputy Director of APHCRI
for the Australian Longitudinal Study
of 17. I’m working with a great little
of Women’s health.
group in an area that I know quite
Bev Sibthorpe, our esteemed Associate
a lot about. . I’m happiest when I’m
Director, has had a long and varied life
After this, Bob Douglas threw a series
thinking national/strategic and that
with NCEPH ...
of big opportunities her way in rapid
succession. The ﬁrst was establishing
is APHCRI’s brief. What’s more, my
until she recently took up the position
and coordinating an MAE in General
new ofﬁce is only a few metres away
of Deputy Director at the Australian
Practice, then the MAE in Indigenous
from the old one, so I haven’t had
Primary Health Care Research Institute
Health. Next came the evaluation of
to leave the people-part of NCEPH
(APHCRI). Fortunately, the APHCRI
the ACT Coordinated Care Trial - a most
at all. I couldn’t really ask for more,
ofﬁces are housed in the new wing
politically fraught experience which
I reckon.“
of the NCEPH building, so she may be
she recounts ...
And we couldn’t have asked for a more
saddling up on a new ‘horse’, but the
compassionate, intelligent, lovely
‘stable’ hasn’t moved too far.
“took 5 years out of my life and 20
years off my life expectancy.”
Associate Director Bev, so thanks to
you!
The Australian Primary Health Care
- Vary in location, identity and
Research Institute (APHCRI) is housed
duration depending on the projects
in NCEPH Building 62 at the ANU.
and programs funded by the Institute
The mission of APHCRI is to ...
- Conduct research according to
“Provide national leadership in
the protocol or plan submitted for
improving the quality & effectiveness
funding and approved by the RAB
of primary health care through the
- Liaise and interact with the APHCRI
conduct of high quality priority-
hub as required for the monitoring of
driven research and the support
research projects and programs
and promotion of best practice.
- Develop and implement
It focuses on important sectoral
dissemination strategies for APHCRI-
questions relating to the organisation,
sponsored research projects and
ﬁnancing, delivery and performance
programs.
of primary health care, including its
Professor Nicholas Glasgow
interaction with public health and the
APHCRI Director,
APHCRI’s ‘hub’ and ‘spokes’
secondary and tertiary health care
APHCRI operates as a “hub and spoke”
sectors.”
model.
The 3 goals of APHCRI are to:
The HUB is based at the ANU and
1. Strengthen the knowledge base of
comprises the Director, together with
primary health care by conducting
other academic and administrative
and supporting research,
staff. The ANU is responsible for
2. Facilitate the uptake of research
governance of the Institute, with
evidence in primary health care policy
the Director reporting to the Vice
and practice,
Chancellor.
3. Enhance research capacity in
The SPOKES are the priority-driven
primary health care through strategic
projects and programs of work funded
partnerships with other relevant
by APCHRI. It is envisaged that spokes
national and international groups.
will:

OPENING OF THE THAI HEALTH-RISK TRANSITION OFFICE IN THAILAND
The Thai Health-Risk Transition
RIGHT : Thai Health Risk
is a national cohort study being
Investigators from - STOU,
conducted in Thailand by a
National Economic and Social
collaborative research partnership
Development Board, Ministry
led by NCEPH and Sukhothai
of Public Health and the ANU.
Thammathirat Open University
(STOU) in Thailand.
BELOW: Professor Pratya
On July 29th this year the ofﬁce at
Vesarach. President of STOU,
STOU was ofﬁcially opened by the
cuts the ribbon to open the
President of STOU, in the presence
ofﬁce - July 29, 2004.
of VIP guests, with the ANU and
NCEPH represented by Professor
Adrian Sleigh.
The study, funded by the Wel come
Trust and the National Health
and Medical Research Council,
addresses a major issue for
Thai students at STOU - an accessible
population health in our region
group likely to experience change in
and will develop new research
material circumstances. STOU students
capacity in Thai and Australian
are not affluent but are upwardly
universities. It will involve a total
mobile, live all over the country, and
of 13 investigators from two Thai
take about seven years to complete
and two Australian universities
their degrees.
heart disease and injuries, are of great
and the Thai government. Two
concern. This large study is a unique
In summary, the Thai Cohort Study
Australian and 3 Thai PhD Scholars
opportunity for collaborative public
will map the changing health-risks
are currently being recruited.
health research.
and focus on upstream processes
Thailand’s dynamic economic
and proximal risk factors, on secular
The study has a retrospective and
development has been accompanied
health trends and the potential for
prospective approach and uses an array
by great changes in cultural, social,
interventions. Economic, cultural,
of methods, including observation of
environmental and other forces
social, behavioural and environmental
a large national cohort. First we will
that shape population health in
changes shifting the overall risk of
note the Thai context by studying the
ways that are poorly understood.
the Thai population will be studied,
social, economic, risk factor and health
Socioeconomic development
to inform preventive programs, boost
changes in the whole population
in Thailand is already causing
regional research capacity and create
over the last 50 years using existing
profound changes in population
a regional partnership.
historical socio-economic and health
health - some are positive, but
data. Then we will follow a large
http://nceph.anu.edu.au/Thai_
others such as emerging diabetes,
cohort of approximately 100,000
Cohort_Study/index.php
NEW TELESCOPE TO MAP THE SOUTHERN SKY FOR THE FIRST TIME
A new hi-tech telescope called the SkyMapper is to be built by ANU in order to produce
the ﬁrst comprehensive digital map of the Southern Sky. The fully automated $11 million
telescope will map the sky faster than any other telescope in the world, implementing
a unique design devised jointly by the research team at the University’s Mt Stromlo
Observatory and Queanbeyan company, Electro Optic Systems Pty Ltd.
ANU has commissioned Electro Optic Systems to build the 1.3 metre SkyMapper, while
staff at Mt Stromlo will build a 320 million pixel digital camera to capture a wealth of
digital from the distant Universe. The fully automated SkyMapper will be controlled from
Mt Stromlo, but sited at the ANU Siding Springs Observatory near Coonabarabran in
northern New South Wales.
The three year Souther Sky Survey which is scheduled to commence in late 2006 will
generate a dataset that will be a worldwide legacy in astronomy for decades to come. The
survey will be used to assist astronomers around the world to: identify the most distant
objects in the Universe - quasars believed to have been formed when the Universe was 3%
of its current age; spot nearby asteriods which could potentially collide with Earth; discover
new planets like Pluto in the outer Solar System; identify the temperature, composition,
size and location of more than one billion objects in the Southern Sky; and pinpoint the
ﬁrst stars to have formed in our galaxy.
Article sourced from ANU press release http://info.anu.edu.au/mac/Media/Media_Releases/_
An impression of how SkyMapper would 2004/September/_140904skymapper.asp.
look at Siding Springs Observatory, against
a telescope image of the Southern Sky. For more information, see http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/skymapper/
Photo: Professor Brian Schmidt.
6