Miranda Van Hooff - Military and First Responders

Dr Miranda Van Hoof previews her talk on "Working with Military and First Responders in Research and Clinical Practice" from the Society for Mental Health Research conference in Hobart.Dr Van Hooff is the Director of Military and Emergency Services Health Australia and an experienced research scientist specialising in the mental health impacts of bushfires, adverse childhood adversity and occupational trauma. Completing her Bachelor of Arts (Hons Psych) in 1998 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine at The University of Adelaide in 2010 for her research examining the adult mental and physical health outcomes of childhood exposure to the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires. Since 1999 she has held various academic appointments at the University of Adelaide under the direction of International PTSD Specialist Professor Alexander McFarlane and was formally the Director of Research at the University of Adelaide Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. Dr Van Hooff has authored 57 journal articles, 1 book chapter and 31 commissioned reports for the Australian Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service. Over the course of her career, she has conducted several large-scale longitudinal studies of childhood survivors of the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires, children hospitalised for a significant burn injury, children exposed to the neurotoxic effects of lead in childhood and adults exposed to the 2006 Black Tuesday Bushfires on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Since 2009, her research has focused on the mental health and wellbeing of current and ex-serving Australian military and emergency service personnel, as the lead researcher on three landmark studies: Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, The Military Health Outcomes Programme and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service Health and Wellbeing Study. These studies were the first in Australia to ascertain the prevalence of ICD-10 Mental Disorder in current and ex-serving ADF members and South Australian Firefighters and have been strong drivers of change in relation to policy and service provision. Over the last 10 years, Dr Van Hooff has received over $10M in competitive and commonwealth grant funding, with most of this funding invested in research designed to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of current and former Australian servicemen, servicewomen, and their families. Currently she is a chief investigator on two studies examining the health and wellbeing of emergency service personnel following the 2019/2020 bushfires. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.