Prof Ruffin is the head of the Department of Medicine at the Central Northern Adelaide Health Service, which comprises both The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Lyell McEwin Hospital. He is an internationally recognised expert in respiratory medicine and is involved in many research projects. Some of his interests include the effects of air quality on asthma, the impact of smoking in the household on children with asthma, and the role of zinc in normal and inflamed airways. Added to this are his clinical duties at the North Western Adelaide Health Service.

Prof Ruffin will advise on updated treatment of asthma and chronic lung disease as a result of the information gained by the North West Adelaide Health Study.

Assoc Prof Anne Taylor

Assoc Prof Taylor is the Manager of the Population Research and Outcomes Studies Unit in the Department of Health.  She is an epidemiologist and holds a PhD.  Anne has managed many large-scale population studies over the last decade and has been at the cutting edge of research, establishing the efficacy of different approaches to population studies, especially telephone survey methodologies. 

She has a well-developed interest in the population perspective of chronic disease monitoring and surveillance, and represents the state on national committees addressing the need for standardised and comparable approaches to data collection.  Assoc Prof Taylor oversees much of the management of the North West Adelaide Health Study that is conducted in the Population Research and Outcomes Studies Unit.

Dr Pat Phillips

Dr Phillips is the Director of the Diabetes Centre and Endocrinology at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital. He has for many years been at the forefront of diabetes research and treatment. His recognition of the importance of gathering population information on diabetes has lead to the setting up of the North West Adelaide Health Study. Dr Phillips is keen to monitor the high rate of undiagnosed diabetes in the population. He warns that there are perhaps as many people with diabetes of which they are not aware as there are people diagnosed with diabetes.

The North West Adelaide Health Study will provide information to help Dr Phillips promote the recognition of undiagnosed diabetes in the community, as well as improve the management of people who are already diagnosed with diabetes.

Assoc Prof David Wilson

Assoc Prof Wilson is a senior epidemiologist and research scientist with the Health Observatory and The University of Adelaide Department of Medicine. He has an international reputation in the field of public health, and often advises professionals in the United States and elsewhere on the monitoring of public health in Australia. He has keenly followed changes in chronic diseases in the South Australian population over many years. He was instrumental in establishing the Health Omnibus Survey, which has been held every year since 1991. This is a survey of health conditions and health-related behaviour of adult South Australians. The information gathered provides a picture of how diseases such as diabetes and asthma increase or decrease over time.

Assoc Prof Wilson will analyse the results of the North West Adelaide Health Study to determine to what degree these chronic diseases go unnoticed in the population, and how their treatment can be better managed.

Prof Julianne Cheek

Prof Cheek is currently the Director of the Centre for Research into Sustainable Health Care at the Division of Health Sciences at the University of South Australia. She has extensive experience as an educator, particularly in the field of nursing, and has conducted considerable research into issues of nursing care. Prof Cheek's involvement in the North West Adelaide Health Study includes the investigation of what having a chronic disease means to a person. The data collected from personal interviews with patients with chronic disease will help plan management strategies for the future. The aim is to make the medical management of chronic disease suit the needs of patients for good quality of life.

Co-Investigators and Collaborators

Other investigators connected with the study and involved in designing, administering, analysing and reporting on the North West Adelaide Health Study and the associated sub-studies include:

Ms Janet Grant – Senior Epidemiologist & Study Co-ordinator (SA Population Health Intergenerational Research [SAPHIRe] & NWAH Study), Population Research and Outcome Studies Unit, SA Health

Ms Sandy Pickering – Clinic Co-ordinator, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Health Service