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Gabriele Bammer (Australia) is Senior Fellow, National
Center for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian
National University. She holds a Ph.D. in Behavioral Pharmacology
from the University of Sydney and received her formal training
in biochemistry, psychology, geography and pharmacology.
She has held positions in neurochemistry, zoology, behavioral
biology, human sciences, social sciences and, for the last
12 years, in public health. Currently, her principal interest
is in systematizing the theory and methods of collaboration
across disciplines and between researchers and non-research
groups in order to address complex health, social and environmental
problems.
Dr. Bammer started her research career in the neurosciences
working on animal models of learning and memory, alcoholism,
aggression and vision. About 20 years ago, she moved to
the human empirical research that underpins her current
work. She is involved in two areas: illicit drug use and
occupational health, particularly work-related neck and
upper limb disorders (also known as repetitive strain injuries
or cumulative trauma disorders).
In the area of work-related neck and upper limb disorders,
Dr. Bammer has been involved in marrying epidemiological
and sociological techniques, examining the prevalence and
causes of the disorder and its social construction. She
is currently involved in a twenty-year follow-up investigation
of her original study group of office workers. In the area
of illicit drugs, she previously worked with 14 disciplines
and seven key interest groups to investigate the feasibility
of prescribing heroin to treat heroin dependence. After
a recommended trial was not implemented, she became involved
in clinical trials of other new pharmacological treatments
for heroin dependence and in studying drug-using families.
Dr. Bammer has received numerous grants for her research
and served as a consultant on substance abuse for WHO, New
South Wales Health Department, the National Drug and Alcohol
Research Centre, and others.
Selected Publications:
· Bammer, G. (2001) Methods of scoping a public health
issue. To be published in Pencheon, D.; Melzer, D.; Guest,
C.; Gray, M. (eds) Oxford Handbook of Public Health,
Oxford University Press.
· Bammer, G.; Dobler-Mikola, A.; Fleming, PM.; Strang,
J.; Uchtenhagen, A. (1999) The heroin prescribing debate
- integrating science and politics. Science 284 (May
21), 1277-1278.
· Bammer, G. (1997) Multidisciplinary policy research
- an Australian experience. Prometheus, 15, 27-39.
· Bammer, G. (1997) The ACT heroin trial: intellectual,
practical and political challenges. The 1996 Leonard Ball
Oration. Drug and Alcohol Review, 16, 287-296.
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Integrative Applied Research in Public Health: Theory
and Methods
This project aims to further the systematic development
of theory and methods for integrative applied research.
The central emphasis is on concepts and methods for strengthening
collaborations between academic disciplines, as well as
between researchers and key non-research groups, namely
policy makers, business, practitioners and community groups.
This provides a framework for integrative multi-disciplinary
and multi-sectoral approaches to complex public health issues.
Such an integrative approach is essential for effective
responses to major challenges, such as inequality and poverty,
globalization, changing lifestyles, the impact of new technologies,
global and national environmental changes and to governance,
accountability and regulatory changes.
The key elements of the integrative multi-disciplinary
and multi-sectoral approach include:
· systems thinking theory and methods to determine
the boundaries of the issue, as well as components and interactions,
and relevant participants
· principled negotiation theory and methods to establish
agreed approaches to the issue, including the clarification
of mental models, values and interests, as well as establishing
trust and respect.
The research can contribute to the New Century Scholars
theme "Challenges of Health in a Borderless World"
by:
· providing a theoretical and methodological framework
for the overall collaboration;
· providing tools for addressing specific topics
such as inequality and poverty, globalization and the demographic
transition, particularly tools for scoping these topics,
identifying key components, linkages and participants and
identifying mental models, values, interests and so on;
· identifying key issues in success, failure, change
and innovation in global health governance; the roles and
responsibilities of the players, particularly governments,
civil society and NGOs, international agencies and the private
sector; new approaches to health leadership.
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Senior
Fellow
