Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of ARC COE for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse
ARC COE for Children and Families Over the Lifecourse
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Mehedi is a public health researcher with strong expertise in quantitative data analytics. He has over eight years of professional experience in developing and developed countries. He has built a distinguished career in public health research, focusing on critical areas such as reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH), nutrition, non-communicable diseases, mental health, sleep health, social determinants of health and health inequalities.
Mehedi completed his PhD from the University of Queensland in 2022. In his doctoral thesis titled “Future direction of maternal and child health in low- and middle-income countries”, he utilized data of over 4.3 million participants extracted from 284 national surveys conducted in 75 low- and middle-income countries to understand the future projections of maternal and child health-related indicators and gaps in progress, with geographical variations across countries. His doctoral research resulted six publications in reputed international journals and provided valuable insights for global and country leaders in their pursuit of achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals.
Mehedi has a charming engagement with research community. He has reviewed manuscripts for eight international journals and published 45 peer-reviewed articles, many of which appear in high-impact journals. His work has gained media attention, with coverage of more than 15 research stories.
In addition to his research and professional activities, Mehedi is an active member of several professional international collaborative groups, including Global Burden of Diseases, the American Society for Nutrition, the International Health Economics Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, and Health Systems Global, where he collaborates with fellow experts and stays at the forefront of developments in his field.
Mehedi is a Global Change Scholar (2018 cohort) of the University of Queensland and a recipient of several prestigious scholarships and awards. He recently honoured with a national award in the Pregnancy Monitoring Innovation Challenge 2022 funded by the Aspire to Innovate (a2i), Bangladesh, recognizing his innovative contributions to maternal and neonatal health.
Mehedi’s current research focuses on unveiling environmental exposures in pregnancy and risk in adverse birth outcomes in Queensland, Australia.
Centre Director of Parenting and Family Support Centre
Parenting and Family Support Centre
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Senior Lecturer
School of Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Available for supervision
Media expert
Dr Marjolein Kammers is a research psychologist, with a background spanning both fundamental cognitive neuroscience and clinical translational research. She is also an AHPRA-registered psychologist and actively works with clients in clinical practice.
Her research spans four distinct research lines, applying both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Her PhD and postdoctoral research (completed in part at UCL in London) was in the field of cognitive neuroscience: understanding the interactions between neural body representations and pain. Using a range of bodily illusions, such as the now well-known Rubber Hand Illusion, she investigated how bodily experiences interact with basic sensory processing and physiological responses.
More recently, she led the clinical translation project M-HELP: Mental Health and Early Loss of Pregnancy. This project aimed to improve the mental health care provided to women and partners who experience early pregnancy loss (i.e. miscarriage). The project developed and delivered Australia's first evidence-based, empirically-tested intervention program, and Dr Kammers went on to show that it significantly improves both the mental health outcomes of bereaved parents as well as the confidence and competence of healthcare providers.
In a third research line, she works together with the UQ Parenting and Family Support Centre to investigate parent identity -- the way in which someone identifies with their parenting role and/or defines themselves as a parent, including how important this role is to them, and how it influences their values and beliefs.
In her final research line, Dr Kammers investigates ways to support individuals and families with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD and ASD. Combining her clinical experience as a registered psychologist with her research background, she investigates how best to provide post-diagnosis support.