Menzies Life Course Program project manager, Dr Belinda Davison was awarded her PhD from Charles Darwin University earlier this month with her thesis, Chronic stress exposure and emotional wellbeing in Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous young adults.
The Life Course Program aims to examine the effect of early life events on later health and disease through two longitudinal studies: the Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study (ABC Study), the longest-running and largest study of Aboriginal people in Australia, with 686 participants all born between 1987 and 1990 at Royal Darwin Hospital; and the non-Indigenous Top End Cohort Study (TEC).
Belinda’s PhD will strengthen the research capabilities of the current follow-up of these studies, with the new markers of stress exposure in correlation with emotional and physical wellbeing forming an important element of the study.
“Wave-5 sees us revisiting participants who are now aged 28-33 years. However, due to COVID-19, we are currently in a hiatus but hope to be able to return to remote areas in the coming months,” Belinda said.
“Through the measurement of stress hormones in hair and fingernails, we are able to assess chronic stress exposure level. This information, in conjunction with questionnaires, can assist in identifying participants exposed to high levels of stress which can place them at increased risk of emotional distress.”
A registered nurse, originally from Hobart, Belinda has lived and worked in the Northern Territory for 23 years.
In 2006, Belinda joined Menzies and was part of the successful Wave-3 data collection for ABC, and towards the end of that wave was managing and coordinating the full project. She subsequently coordinated the recruitment of the age-matched TEC study, which commenced in 2007.
Between ABC and TEC follow-ups, Belinda has project managed a number of other projects, including the Our Lives Project, examining sexual health and education in adolescents and the Preterm Kidney Study, examining kidney function in preterm infants, while also undertaking her Graduate Diploma of Public Health, Master of Public Health, PhD and juggling a busy family life.
“The supportive environment at Menzies has provided me with the unique opportunity to be able to complete my studies while simultaneously working as part of an amazing research team, who is privileged to travel to and be welcomed in over 40 urban and remote communities across the Top End,” Belinda said.
Interested in studying with Menzies? We currently have a number of research opportunities available.