Linked records can save children's lives

Professor Fiona Stanley AC, who will give the 2008 Florey Annual Lecture at the University of Adelaide.
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Tuesday, 16 September 2008

Former Australian of the Year and champion of children's health Professor Fiona Stanley AC will give this year's annual Florey Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Thursday 18 September.

Sponsored by the Florey Medical Research Foundation, this free public lecture will discuss the power of linking different studies and health records to deliver significant benefits for children's health.

Professor Stanley is the Founding Director of the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Chair of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, and Professor in the School of Paediatrics and Child Health at the University of Western Australia.

Professor Stanley has spent her career researching the causes of major childhood illnesses, such as birth defects. For her research on behalf of Australia's children, she was named Australian of the Year in 2003, and in 2006 she was made a UNICEF Australia Ambassador for Early Childhood Development.

For the 2008 Florey Annual Lecture, Professor Stanley will present findings from a number of WA research studies on children's health outcomes to illustrate the power of linked population data in delivering significant public health benefits.

"Given the importance of monitoring child health and development, rather than just death, in modern society, additional linkages to other outcomes (Early Development Index, education, welfare, crime etc.) are now available in WA. This enables us to investigate early pathways to many outcomes, to increase our chances of developing effective prevention and then to evaluate intervention strategies," Professor Stanley says.

"We have used such data now to study the impact of both prescribed and illicit drugs (in pregnancy and childhood), patterns of perinatal care, assisted reproduction, folate and alcohol," she says.

WHAT: 2008 Florey Annual Lecture: "Novel Record Linkages to Improve Child Health" by Professor Fiona Stanley AC
WHERE: Florey Lecture Theatre, Medical School North, Frome Road, University of Adelaide
WHEN: 5.30pm Thursday 18 September
COST: Free - all welcome

For more information, members of the public can contact Judy Turner on (08) 8303 5211 or Stella Richards on (08) 8303 5274.

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