The Neuroepidemiology Unit (NEU) of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne was formed in 2015, building on the international profile in MS prevention of its founder Professor George Jelinek.
The Neuroepidemiology Unit (NEU) of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne was formed in 2015, building on the international profile in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) prevention of its founder, Professor George Jelinek. Dr. Sandra Neate is now the Principal Research Fellow and Head of the Neuroepidemiology Unit.
The NEU has developed novel methods of accessing unique data from large communities of people with MS. It leads research into the potential for lifestyle-based preventive medicine approaches for MS. The NEU’s research has led to over 60 publications in leading medical journals reporting outcomes related to lifestyle risk factors in MS.
The NEU conducts a number of studies related to primary and secondary prevention of MS. These include the longitudinal HOLISM Study (Health Outcomes and Lifestyle In a Sample of people with MS) and the STOP MS study (Studying Outcomes of People attending MS programs).
The NEU has also designed and conducted a randomised controlled trial examining the effectiveness of a web-based educational course delivering evidence-based recommendations for lifestyle-related secondary and tertiary preventive measures. Randomised controlled trials of lifestyle interventions are rare within the medical literature and this represents a major development in MS research. Importantly, qualitative studies of the experiences of people with MS who have undertaken the course have also been conducted. The NEU is also collaborating with researchers in the UK from Oxford Brookes University, Swansea University and Imperial College London to investigate the influence of diet quality on health outcomes in people with MS utilising data from the UK MS register.
The NEU is a multidisciplinary team with medical doctors, neuroscientists, psychologists, epidemiologists and public health researchers.
Read about the Neuroepidemiology Unit (NEU) team at The University of Melbourne which includes medical doctors, psychologists, biostatisticians, and public health researchers.