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Population Health Research and Evaluation

The Population Health Research and Evaluation Hub leads and delivers high-quality research and evaluation to inform the development and implementation of effective population health programs for Sydney Local Health District and NSW.

Since 2020, the team has collectively published 40 high-quality peer reviewed articles including JAMA Pediatrics; Pediatric Obesity; BMJ and Journal Medical Internet Research. We have attracted more than $6 million in Category 1 project funding (for example Medical Research Future Fund; National Health and Medical Research Council grants schemes; and local district funding schemes). Our team leads and collaborates with world-renowned researches in health promotion, obesity prevention and the first 2000 days of life. 

Major Grants

Funder Scheme Funder Ref Project Title Funding Period
Department of Health (Federal Government) MRFF – Preventive and Public Health Research APP1200789

Developing and evaluating an interactive web-based Healthy Beginnings program for preventing obesity in the first years of life.

 2020–24
Department of Health (Commonwealth Government)  National Nutrition Grant   Connecting the Dots for Healthy Beginnings in Early Childhood – A National Approach. 2020–24
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence Grants APP2006999 Centre of Research Excellence in the Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood-Translate (EPOCH-translate). 2022–26
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) NHMRC Partnership Grants APP1169823 A partnership approach linking two randomised controlled trials for optimising early obesity prevention programs for children under 3 years. 2020–23
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) NHMRC Partnership Grants   Parenting Improving health and service-use outcomes through health literacy training for new parents: an effectiveness-implementation hybrid trial. 2021–24
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) NHMRC Ideas Grants APP2011342 Economic Modelling for Childhood Obesity. 2022–24
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) NHMRC Ideas Grants APP1186363 TOPCHILD (Transforming Obesity Prevention for CHILDren): Looking into the black box of interventions. 2020–23
Cancer Institute NSW Innovations in Cancer Control 2020/INN1186 Breast Cancer Concierge Program for Arabic, Cantonese, Italian, Korean, Mandarin and Vietnamese speaking patients. 2020–22
Sydney Local Health District Sydney Institute for Women, Children and their families, Seed funding   Taking health literacy and cultural context into consideration in developing a web-based Healthy Beginnings program for CALD communities. 2022–23
Sydney Local Health District Pitch Funding   Co-designing and co-facilitating online early childhood nutrition workshops for culturally and linguistically diverse families. 2022–24

Research Papers and Publications

Healthy Beginnings Research

Healthy Beginnings is the flagship research program of Population Health Research and Evaluation Hub. Over the past 15 years, in partnership with the University of Sydney and other Local Health Districts, we have developed, implemented and evaluated a suit of Healthy Beginnings programs aiming to improve healthy growth in the first 2000 days of life.

This staged early childhood health promotion program delivered by Child and Family Health Nurses, has helped over 2000 families in NSW to form healthy lifestyles from birth. The home-visiting Healthy Beginnings was the world first early prevention project to show its effectiveness in preventing early onset childhood obesity, reported in the BMJ. It is now listed on the United States Department of Health and Human Services website as an evidence-based model in early childhood.

Continuously funded by National Health And Medical Research Council, NSW Health Translational Research Grants Scheme (TRGS), The Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) and Federal Government’s Health Department, Healthy Beginnings has been adapted into a telehealth model and also culturally adapted for Arabic and Chinese speaking communities.

Currently, an interactive web-based Healthy Beginnings program is being developed. Healthy beginnings is also being imbedded into Karitane, one of Australia’s largest parenting service programs. For more information about Healthy Beginnings, go to healthybeginnings.net.au

In Sydney Local Health District, we acknowledge that we are living and working on Gadigal, Wangal and Bediagal land, part of the EORA Nation. We pay our respect to all elders past, present and emerging. Our vision is to have the healthiest Aboriginal community in Australia.

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