Professor Robyn McDermott

Robyn McDermott is the Foundation Director of the State-wide Data Linkage Unit, SA/NT Datalink. This is a joint venture between the three South Australian universities, relevant South Australian government departments and the NT Government. The collaboration is hosted by UniSA. Robyn is also a Professor of Public Health in the Sansom Institute for Health Research.

Robyn joined UniSA in August 2004 as Pro Vice Chancellor and Vice President in the Division of Health Sciences and held this role for five years before taking up her current appointment in September 2009.

Robyn has worked as a primary care clinician in rural New South Wales, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland as well as managing refugee health care and public health programs from 1988 to 1992 in China, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. She has worked with Indigenous communities in central and northern Australia to understand the causes and consequences of rapid changes in living conditions and nutrition on health status, and how to intervene to improve health outcomes.

As a medical epidemiologist and public health physician in north Queensland from 1995 to 2004, she built capacity in community-level health information systems for rural Indigenous services. She also initiated the Chronic Disease Strategy and enhanced primary care programs adopted by Queensland Health in 2002.

• Robyn has co-ordinated and taught Masters level courses in Epidemiology and Health Economics while in the Northern Territory, and a new masters course in chronic disease and public health at James Cook University, as well as contributing to undergraduate teaching on the new JCU Medical Course.

In South Australia, Robyn serves on the Adelaide Festival of Ideas Advisory Committee, the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Health Policy Editorial Board, The Freemason's Foundation for Men's Health Scientific Advisory Committee, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Advisory Countil, the State Government Health Performance Council, the Statewide Clinical Cardiology Research Network, and the State Government's Scientific Advisory Committee for OPAL, the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle initiative.

In the Northern Territory she serves as a member of the Academic Standing Committee at the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.

She also served as Chair of the Peer Review Panel C for the 2009 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research and Practitioner Fellowship applications, and as a panel member for Panel C for the 2008 National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research and Practitioner Fellowship applications.

MBBS University of Sydney 1978, FAFPHM The Royal Australasian College of Physicians 1990,MPH Harvard University 1993, PhD University of Sydney 2002.

• Robyn's research interests include the epidemiology of chronic disease and health transition, and how primary health care can improve outcomes in resource-poor settings. Her work on improving diabetes care systems in remote far north Queensland resulted in major changes to policy and practice, and was recognised by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) as one of the “best 10” projects in 2006.
• More recently her focus has been the effective translation of research evidence into clinical and public health practice, with attention to systems issues including funding models, policy environment, information systems, workforce development and quality improvement in primary care settings.
• Although coming late to the formal research world, she has earned more than $6million in NHMRC research grant funding as lead investigator and more than $8million as co-investigator. One of these is a Capacity Building Grant that involves training 5 indigenous PhD students currently enrolled at UniSA. These students are undertaking high level research in population health in Indigenous communities in South Australia and far north Queensland.
• She has published in peer-reviewed Australian and international journals, including inter alia, the Medical Journal of Australia, British Medical Journal, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Health Policy, Diabetes Care, Diabetologia, Social Science and Medicine.