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Fiona Mensah

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NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Murdoch Children's Research Institute

Dr Fiona Mensah is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Royal Children’s Hospital. Her research interests are in child health inequalities; children’s development in the context of social disadvantage and family adversity; and the relationships with access to health and developmental services. Her work focuses on epidemiological studies of families and children’s development and health including the Longitudinal Studies of Australian Children, the Early Language in Victoria Study and the Maternal Health Study. She also supports clinical trials of early interventions to improve children’s health and development including right@home, a trial of intensive nurse home visiting for vulnerable families beginning in pregnancy. Her previous research has been based in the UK using the Millennium Cohort Study where she studied the relationships between the family environment, parenting behaviours and children’s health and development.

Experience

  • 2010–present
    NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
  • 2009–2010
    Research Fellow, Discipline of Public Health, University of Adelaide
  • 2006–2009
    Research Fellow, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York
  • 2002–2006
    Research Fellow, Department of Health Sciences, University of York

Education

  • 2011 
    Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, PhD
  • 1995 
    London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, MSc
  • 1994 
    Department of Mathematics, University of Leicester, BSc

Publications

  • 2013
    Early puberty and childhood social and behavioral adjustment, Journal of Adolescent Health
  • 2013
    Psychosocial risk factors associated with fathers’ mental health in the postnatal period: results from a population-based study, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
  • 2012
    Father mental health during the early parenting period: results of an Australian population based longitudinal study, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
  • 2012
    Mental Health in Low-to-Moderate Risk Preterm, Low Birth Weight, and Small for Gestational Age Children at 4 to 5 Years: The Role of Early Maternal Parenting, Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
  • 2011
    Poverty, Family Resources and Children’s Early Educational Attainment: The Mediating Role of Parenting, British Educational Research Journal
  • 2011
    Maternal general health and children’s cognitive development and behaviour in the early years: findings from the Millennium Cohort Study, Child: Care, Health and Development
  • 2010
    Partnership trajectories, parent and child well-being, Children of the 21st Century (Editors: Hansen K, Joshi H, Dex C)
  • 2010
    Parents’ mental health and children’s cognitive and social development, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
  • 2010
    Gender differences in educational attainment: influences of the family environment, British Educational Research Journal
  • 2009
    Poverty, Maternal Depression, Family Status and Children’s Cognitive and Behavioural development in Early Childhood: a longitudinal study, Journal of Social Policy
  • 2009
    Maternal indicators in pregnancy and children’s infancy that signal future outcomes for children’s development, behaviour and health: evidence from the Millennium Cohort Study, Report commissioned by The UK National Child and Maternal Health Observatory (ChiMat) and Department of Health
  • 2008
    Childhood deprivation, health and development: associations with adult health in the 1958 and 1970 British prospective birth cohort studies, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health

Grants and Contracts

  • 2013
    Turning points: breaking intergenerational cycles of intimate partner abuse and social adversity
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    NHMRC
  • 2013
    How language develops, what goes wrong, and why it matters: Following the Early Language in Victoria Study to age 13
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    NHMRC
  • 2013
    Patterns, pathways and price of developing disparities in cardiovascular and respiratory health by age 11-12 years: The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    NHMRC
  • 2012
    Centre of Research Excellence in Childhood Language
    Role:
    CI
    Funding Source:
    NHMRC
  • 2012
    Early Career Fellowship: Developing and applying quantitative methods for obtaining new insights into children’s health inequalities from longitudinal cohort studies
    Role:
    CIA
    Funding Source:
    NHMRC

Research Areas

  • Community Child Health (111704)
  • Epidemiology (111706)
  • Health And Community Services (111708)