The Hot Topic for 2016 is Intergenerational Issues: complexities that should not be ignored
AAG was honoured to have Professor Julie Byles as the 2016 GPTF
Professor Julie Byles B Med PhD FAAHMS is Director of the Research Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing – a Priority Research Centre at the University of Newcastle that includes the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for International Longitudinal Studies on Gender, Ageing and Health. As a clinical epidemiologist, Professor Byles interests are in risk determination, health assessment, other health care evaluation, and measurement of health outcomes. As a Gerontologist and Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology, Professor Byles’ research interests in ageing include the role of health services, preventive activities, and treatments in maintaining quality of life for older people, and in determining physical, psychological and social factors associated with optimal physical and mental health of men and women as they age. Her work has included health assessment, medications used by older people, sleep disturbance, health effects of alcohol, nutrition screening and interventions, health and retirement, and prevention of falls in residential care.
Professor Byles is director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health at the University of Newcastle. Her main interest is in the oldest cohort, which involved 14,342 women who were aged 70 to 75 years at baseline in 1996. She is also closely involved with the NSW 45 and Up Study, a longitudinal study involving over 266,000 men and women across New South Wales, as a member of the Scientific Steering Committee, and as a co-investigator on an NHMRC funded project to follow-up the first 100,000 participants to determine social, environmental and economic factors and their relationships with health and ageing.
Professor Byles is Past President of the Australian Association of Gerontology, and Secretary of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (Asia/Oceania). She contributes to government and non-government programs relating to ageing research, policy, and health care for older persons.
Since completion of her PhD in 1994 she has successfully applied for over $30 million dollars in external research grants including the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH). Out of these projects she has authored over 180 publications in peer reviewed refereed journals as well as numerous book chapters, official reports to government and other agencies. She has also delivered around 200 conference presentations, and numerous interactive conference workshops.