University of Queensland, School of Population Health

The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, has established itself as one of the region’s leading centers for public health research and teaching. 

The University of Queensland (UQ) and IHME have collaborated on a wide variety of projects. Currently, several different projects are taking precedence – one on the burden of disease, another on budgeting tools, and a third building upon previous collaboration regarding verbal autopsy methods and instruments.

The School of Population Health has created a center of excellence in burden of disease research. The Centre for Burden of Disease and Cost-Effectiveness hosts research, leads high quality burden of disease and cost effectiveness projects, and offers training on all aspects of burden of disease methodology. Key researchers serve on the core team for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) 2010 Study, led by IHME. Beginning in 2007, UQ has guided systematic reviews of a range of conditions, contributed to the development of improved methods and tools used in analyses, and will participate in the review of final estimates of burden for all conditions.

In addition, in 2011 IHME and UQ began collaborating to enhance tools for budgeting and resource allocation in health. UQ convened a meeting for tool validation and refinement, bringing together interested parties to discuss and compare various budgeting and resource allocation tools and to review key assumptions and structure of the tools. IHME and UQ will design the new tools to be used by policymakers in-country.

UQ researchers played a key role in the Population Health Metrics Research Consortium (PHMRC) project at IHME, conducted from 2007 to 2011. The research team at UQ focused most on verbal autopsy instrument and methods development, mortality methods development, and helping to coordinate two research sites where primary data collection took place – Bohol, Philippines, and Andhra Pradesh, India. As a result of this work, two additional projects emerged.

First, with IHME and the journal Population Health Metrics, UQ co-hosted the Global Congress on Verbal Autopsy: State of the Science, at which cutting edge methods and advancements in instrument design and implementation were discussed. The event was attended by representatives from more than 30 countries. Second, UQ and IHME together are engaged in continued experimentation with and analysis of verbal autopsy data collected through a project funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

Second, with IHME, The Lancet, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health, the University of Queensland School of Population Health co-hosted the conference Global Health Metrics and Evaluation: Controversies, Innovation, Accountability in March 2011. The conference highlighted innovative methods, the latest debates in measurement, and the translation of data into effective policy for improved population health.

Individual collaborators:

• Alan Lopez (GBD and PHMRC)
• Ian Riley (PHMRC)
• Theo Vos (GBD)
• Eliana Jimenez Soto (ABCE)