SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND TROPICAL MEDICINE
The Australian Institute of Tropical Architecture
The principal research interests and activities are:
Architectural design for the tropics.
Energy efficient house design for the tropics.
The effect of energy efficiency factors on the building industry.
Urban design in the humid tropics.
Culturally appropriate urban design combining traditional and modern lifestyles for PNG.
Comparative study of traditional domestic Thai architecture.
Environmentally sustainable design for the wet tropics.
Environmentally responsible architecture for the tropics.
Medium density housing in the tropics.
Low cost housing for regional developing countries.
Cultural differences and their effect on the design of leisure resorts.
Indoor passive cooling for the humid tropics.
Stratified partial cooling of naturally ventilated buildings in the humid tropics.
Natural ventilation effectiveness index for indoor thermal comfort in humid tropics.
Natural ventilation potential for high rise buildings in the tropics.
Wind tunnel studies of natural ventilation in tropical buildings.
Modular health centres for remote areas.
Factors influencing human health in tropical buildings.
UVR protection of people in shaded settings.
Tropical sky luminance studies.
Thermal performance of roofs in the humid tropics.
Insulation and ventilation of roof/ceiling space in the tropics.
Thermal insulation of concrete masonry.
Infrared thermal imaging studies.
Low cost appropriate conservation methods for heritage buildings in low income tropical countries.
Post disaster resettlement of indigenous populations.
Javanese cosmology and its influence on Javanese architecture.
Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Research interests are in health and medicine in the tropics with particular interest in public health, especially in tropical Australia and its near neighbours. The present research interests are as follows.
Indigenous Health
Attitudes and knowledge of health problems.Indigenous health workforce development and education.
Implementation and evaluation of computerised health information systems in indigenous communities.
Inequalities in health between indigenous and Caucasian Australians.
Promoting immunisation among Indigenous Australians.
Effective strategies for the diagnosis, management and control of scabies in indigenous communities.
Control of diabetes.
Breast cancer in indigenous women.
Maternal health.
Men’s health.
Training and workforce roles of primary health care workers.
Indigenous health training for the health professions.
Technology application to health worker roles.
Public health
Screening and surveillance informatics.Evaluation and quality improvement in ambulatory care.
Nutrition knowledge of adolescents and post-partum women.
Nutritional education of adolescents.
Body image and food and weight related behaviour of adolescents.
Nutritional aspects of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in indigenous communities.
Changes in CVD risk factors of patients following coronary artery bypass graft surgery and angioplasty.
Occupational health and safety.
Public health workforce development.
Public health training in the health professions.
Injury epidemiology (identification of risk groups, development of intervention strategies, implementation of the ‘safe community’ approach).
Multidisciplinary treatment of chronic spinal pain syndromes.
Evaluation of new laboratory markers for acute coronary syndromes.
Neonatal medicine (intensive care, feeding regimens, NEC, phototherapy).
Perinatal dysphoria (intervention strategies, comparison of measurement instruments).
Current research projects of the Skin Cancer Research Group include:
Monitoring ambient solar UV radiation.
Modelling solar UV radiation and modelling incidence rates of skin cancer.
Personal sun exposure studies in students.
Shade audits.
Prevalence and incidence of melanocytic nevi (moles) in cohorts of children.
Incidence of skin cancer in Queensland.
Intervention studies in young children to prevent nevi.
A multidisciplinary longitudinal study of health and economic development in two contrasting Papua New Guinea communities since 1982.
Needs, assessment and intervention studies in susceptible men to prevent further skin cancer.
Studies of the role of General Practitioners in early detection and management of skin cancer.
Tropical Medicine
Prevention and treatment of filariasis.Immunological aspects of filariasis and malaria.
Vector control programs for filariasis, dengue and malaria.
Strongyloides in Vietnam veterans.
Risk factors and control strategies for scabies.
Strategies to control head lice.
Pyrethroid resistance in head lice, scabies mites and Aedes aegypti.
Epidemiology of Lyssavirus.
Epidemiology of Salmonellosis.
Zoonotic hookworm infection in the tropics.
Zoonotic diseases in dogs.
Travel medicine.
Health in the South Pacific.
Rural and Remote Health Care
Workforce development.Public health training for the rural and remote workforce.
Information systems in rural and remote health care.
Management of rural and remote multi-purpose health services.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapy workforce issues in North Queensland.
Appropriate therapy service delivery models for indigenous Australian communities.
Paediatrics within indigenous populations.
Therapy and technologies for children with disabilities.
Assessment techniques for technology prescription for people with severe disabilities.
Delivery of accessible tertiary education to those with disabilities.