Menzies researcher, Dr Abel Dadi, has been named the winner of the 2022 Scopus Australia and New Zealand Researcher Award for Excellence in Outstanding Early-Career Research.
Dr Dadi is a public health and social epidemiologist and biostatistician. He received the award for publishing high calibre and highly cited research papers on population health, maternal mental health and child health outcomes. His work has had a global impact, supporting policy makers and health organisations to design maternal mental health guidelines and screening processes.
“As a researcher I feel I am an advocate for public health, helping to highlight key opportunities for improvement to policy makers and service providers,” said Dr Dadi.
“For example, one of my publications systematically analysed maternal depression and birth outcomes at the global level. This was cited by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to call up development of prevention and treatment guidelines focused on the consequences of maternal depression.
“It’s very rewarding to see your work have this kind of impact, and in turn support the health of the population.”
Since beginning his research career 8 years ago, Dr Dadi has published more than 60 papers which have been cited more than 18,000 times. His publications address health issues in Ethiopia, Africa and internationally. Dr Dadi is now a Charles Darwin University Outstanding Future Researcher within Menzies Centre for Child Development and Education. Dr Dadi said he wants to build on the recognition from the Award through his work in the Northern Territory.
“I’m currently reviewing Northern Territory data to identify links between prior maternal mental health history with pregnancy and birth complications and child health outcomes,” said Dr Dadi.
“This research aims to help strengthen policies on mental health screening and prevention measures prior to and during pregnancy.
“This award spurs my motivation to continue to uncover and elevate important health issues within the community.”
Scopus is a database that includes more than 30,000 online journals. It awards this prestigious recognition to an early career researcher based on their publications and citations, whose dedicated work contributes to the progress of humanity.