Gita Mishra

Professor Gita Mishra’s main research area is life course epidemiology and women’s health. She joined the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2010 as the first Professor of Life Course Epidemiology at the School of Public Health. She was subsequently awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (2013-2017), a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (2017-2021), and is currently an NHMRC Leadership Fellow (Level 3; 2022-26).

At UQ she is founding Director of the Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre that has 30 academics, professional staff, and PhD students. Within the centre, she leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Women and Non-Communicable Diseases (CRE WaND) and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) a national flagship study since 1996 that has collected data on over 57,000 women in four age cohorts. Since 2012 she has also led and developed the International collaboration for a Life course Approach to reproductive health and Chronic disease Events(InterLACE) that combines data from more than 800,000 women in 27 studies in 12 countries and has become a leading global resource for robust evidence on reproductive events, including pregnancy loss and the risk of non-communicable diseases.

Professor Mishra is internationally recognized for her expertise in epidemiology and women’s health across the life course. This is especially regarding her research on the links between reproductive characteristics, from menarche to menopause, and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Her work from ALSWH and InterLACE have contributed significantly to her career total of over 450 scientific papers, book chapters, and reports to inform government policy. As lead editor, Mishra has recently completed the 2nd edition of A life course approach to women’s health – part of the ground-breaking Life Course Series from Oxford University Press – due for publication in early 2023. As a result of successful grant funding, her current research at AWaGHR includes leading projects on endometriosis, menstrual and pelvic pain, and the healthcare experience of women with multimorbidity.

She is actively engaged in research translation and capacity building. In 2018 Professor Mishra led the evidence review for the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030, and recently she chaired the Future Research session at the 2021 RANZCOGWomen’s Health Summit in Canberra. In 2022 she was co-convenor of the Queensland Women’s Health Forum to support research and policy development in the state. Her research is often featured by national and international media organisations. For example, her team’s recent findings on the links between stillbirth and miscarriage and the risk of stroke led to interviews for Reuters, ABC, and BBC. She has also co-authored eight articles on women’s health for The Conversation that have reached over 130,000 readers.

In addition to mentoring postdoctoral researchers, Professor Mishra currently supervises 9 PhD students, with 21 previously completed. These have typically resulted in five or more papers published alongside each dissertation. Many of her students have then gone on to successful research or scientific careers at world-leading institutions.

In 2017, she was elected as a board member for the European Menopause and Andropause Society; received honorary membership of Sigma International, a global nursing organisation; and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS). In 2022 she received the RANZCOG award for Excellence in Women’s Health.