Director, Research
Northern Rivers UDRH

61 Uralba Street
Lismore NSW 2480

Phone: +61 2 6620 2601
Fax: +61 2 6620 7270

deborah.schofield@ncahs.health.nsw.gov.au
http://www.health.usyd.edu.au/heconomics/

Research Interests

Assoc Professor Deborah Schofield currently leads a work program focusing on:

modelling ageing and retirement and their relationships with health and the labour force; modelling of demographic change and the health workforce; long term forecasting of health services and expenditure; and a cohort study of rural health clinicians.

Her current major research projects include:

The economic impacts of illness:
- Leads a $717K grant undertaken with NATSEM examining labour force participation and income tax and savings lost due to early retirement, funded by the ARC and Pfizer Australia; and
- A $1.8m grant on understanding the impact of social, economic and geographic disadvantage on the health of Australians in mid - later life where she leads the economic engagement theme, funded by the NHMRC.

Ageing and retirement of the medical workforce
- Co-leads the Australian contingent for the International Medical Workforce Collaborative - Leads the health workforce research stream for a $1.5 m Research and Development Capacity Building Infrastructure Grant funded by NSW Health

Areas of postgraduate student supervision

Health Workforce
Health and its impact on the labour market and wider economy
Ageing and long term immpacts on the health system

Publications

Projects

Understanding the impact of social, economic and geographic disadvantage on the health of Australians in mid - later life: what are the opportunities for prevention?

Bauman A, Redman S, Bailey S, Bambrick H, Banks E, Beard J, Broom D, Byles J, Clark J, Harris M, Jalaludin B, Jorm L, McMichael A, Nutbeam D, Rodgers B, Schofield D, Woodruff R, Woodward M.

Social, economic and environmental factors play a key role in the health of all Australians. As the Australian population ages, there is an urgent need to understand how people can remain healthy and independent for as long as possible. This research will examine the ways in which social, economic and environmental factors contribute to the health of Australians in mid to later life. It will help identify ways in which policy and preventive programs can contribute to improving health in mid to later life particularly among disadvantaged Australians. We will explore in detail social, economic and environmental factors in 100,000 people aged 45 and over; this will be the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in Australia. We will examine the relationship between these social, economic factors, and lifestyle factors such as smoking, physical activity, environmental and obesity. We will look at how these factors contribute to health and health service use. Because of the large numbers of people participating in the study, we will be able to investigate for the first time, the ways in which these factors affect each other and their importance in different subgroups in the population. This will enable us to identify where programs and policies should be directed to most rapidly improve the health of disadvantaged Australians.

NHMRC Program Grant: ($1.8m 2007-11)