Early infant feeding and health outcomes in later life - a birth outcome study

Primary Supervisor: Dr Amit Arora (opens in a new window)

The Healthy Smiles Healthy Kids Project is high quality, multi-centre, birth cohort study in Greater Western Sydney, with an aim to address socio-economic inequality in health among children. Over 1000 mother-infant dyads in the former Sydney South West Area Health Service were recruited to this NHMRC-funded study in 2010 and have been followed up at regular intervals since then.

The project has a wealth of life-course data on socio-demographics, bio-medical factors, infant feeding, diet, health service use, geo-spatial modelling (how the area you live in affects your health), environmental exposure, physical activity, sedentary behaviour, quality of life, health literacy, and health outcomes.

This project will utilise the data on early childhood feeding practices and assess its impact on health outcomes in children at age 3-4 years and 7-9 years. However, the scope of the project will be determined in consultation with the supervisory panel and is subject to research interest of the potential student given the wide scope of the data.

The doctoral candidate, under the primary supervision of Dr Amit Arora, will learn relevant skills in longitudinal research. This project will be carried out on the Campbelltown campus of Western Sydney University, however, the candidate will maintain partnerships with partners, a range of stakeholders including research participants, University of Sydney, University of Technology Sydney, University of New South Wales, University of Adelaide, Curtin University, Sydney Local Health District, and South Western Sydney Local Health District.

Basic expertise and experience is required in one or more of the following areas: nursing, epidemiology, public health, biostatistics, paediatrics, medicine, health sciences. Candidates with an interest on maternal and child health will be considered in particular.