Annette Jane Dobson (born 4 September 1945) is a Professor of

Biostatistics Biostatistics (also known as biometry) are the development and application of statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experime ...

in the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

's Australian Women and Girl's Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre in the School of Public Health. Dobson was Director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health from 1995 to 2013. She is a highly cited publication author, a book author, and has received an Australia Day award.

Qualification

Dobson earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree from the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

in 1966. Moving on to

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairn ...

, she completed a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in 1970 and a PhD (

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

) in 1974. She was recognised as an Accredited Statistician in 1998 by the

Statistical Society of Australia The Statistical Society of Australia (SSA) is the main professional organization for statisticians and related professionals in Australia. It was founded in 1962 to support and unify the work of Australian state statistical societies that were a ...

, and received a Graduate Certificate of Management in 2001 from the

University of New England (Australia) The University of New England (UNE) is a public university in Australia with approximately 22,500 higher education students. Its original and main campus is located in the city of Armidale in northern central New South Wales. UNE was the first ...

Research interests

Her research interests lie in the fields of biostatistics,

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

longitudinal studies A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over short or long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of obs ...

, and

social determinants of health The social determinants of health (SDOH) are the economic and social conditions that influence individual and group differences in health status. They are the health promoting factors found in one's living and working conditions (such as the d ...

. In biostatistics, she is specifically interested in

generalized linear model In statistics, a generalized linear model (GLM) is a flexible generalization of ordinary linear regression. The GLM generalizes linear regression by allowing the linear model to be related to the response variable via a ''link function'' and b ...

ing,

clinical biostatistics Medical statistics deals with applications of statistics to medicine and the health sciences, including epidemiology, public health, forensic medicine, and clinical research. Medical statistics has been a recognized branch of statistics in the ...

, and statistical methods in

. Dobson's topics in epidemiology include

tobacco control Tobacco control is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes. Since most cigarettes and cigars and hookahs contain/use to ...

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

and health care service use.

Positions

Dobson is the founding Director of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH) and was director of the Centre for Longitudinal and Life Course Research from 2012 - 2021. She was the inaugural chair of the

BCA Master of BiostatisticsThe BCA (Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia)is a collaboration of six Australian universities offering a national (and international) program of postgraduate courses in Biostatistics. The universities are * The University of Adelaide * Macqu ...

at its inception in 2000.

Awards

Dobson was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010 for her service to

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

and biostatistics as a research and academic, particularly through the collection and analysis of data relating to cardiovascular disease and women's and veterans' health, which provided a basis for public health interventions and policies to reduce

disease burden Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Both o ...

in the population. Dobson won the Sidney Sax medal in 2003, the pre-eminent prize awarded by the Public Health Association of Australia. Dobson received the 2012 Moyal Medal for her contributions to statistics and in 2015 she was elected Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences The Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences is an academy to promote health and medical sciences in Australia. It was established in June 2014. It cites "The Academy will serve the three purposes identified as of high priority in the 20 ...

(FAHMS). She is also an elected member of the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

An introduction to GLM

She wrote the book ''An introduction to

s''.

Most highly cited publications

*Kuulasmaa K, Tunstall-Pedoe H, Dobson A, Fortmann S, Sans S, Tolonen H, Evans A, Ferrario M, Tuomilehto J. Estimation of contribution of changes in classic risk factors to trends in coronary-event rates across the WHO MONICA Project populations. *Brown WJ, Bryson L, Byles JE, Dobson AJ, Lee C, Mishra G, Schofield M. Women's Health Australia: Recruitment for a national longitudinal cohort study.Women and Health. 1998;28(1):2340.

References

External links

Annette Dobson page at Queensland University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Annette 1945 births Living people Members of the Order of Australia Academic staff of the University of Queensland Women statisticians Australian statisticians Elected Members of the International Statistical Institute Fellows of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences 20th-century Australian mathematicians 21st-century Australian mathematicians Australian women mathematicians 20th-century women mathematicians 21st-century women mathematicians 20th-century Australian women scientists