Chronic Disease and Ageing
Leads
Professor Susan Davis AO and Professor Sophia Zoungas
Our team has a broad range of research interests focused on health and healthcare delivery across the lifespan. We explore ways to keep people living long, healthy and productive lives.
Our research portfolio includes diverse research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases often associated with ageing, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, musculoskeletal disease and neuropsychiatric disorders. We conduct projects that utilise genomic technologies and consider their role in societal and ethical contexts. We also undertake research into health issues specific to women, and investigate therapies for prevention and treatment of diseases among the elderly.
We have expertise in clinical medicine, biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical trials, clinical registries, health economics, evidence synthesis, and drug and medical device evaluation.
Some of the randomised controlled trials we have led in primary and tertiary care settings have resulted in ground-breaking changes to practice and policy. We are adept at using mixed methods to inform patient-centred care for people suffering chronic illness. Our health economists and drug and device evaluation specialists provide expertise that enables health services and systems to deliver high-value healthcare.
Many of our Unit Heads have clinical appointments at the Alfred Hospital, Cabrini Hospital or Monash Medical Centre, providing access to unique platforms for hospital-based research and driving translation of results into local healthcare.
Impact
Our recent impact can be seen in the delivery of novel important findings from the ASPREE study in 2018, which were rapidly incorporated into guidelines for the use of aspirin to prevent disease around the world. Researchers from our women’s health team undertook the most comprehensive meta-analysis of testosterone treatment for women ever undertaken, the results of which underpinned the first Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women.
We continue to strive for new knowledge through our ongoing research program, including our flagship STAREE project, the ASPREE-XT project, genomics, women’s health, musculoskeletal epidemiology, cancer and dementia.
