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Background
David Thomas has worked as a doctor for three Aboriginal community controlled health services: Danila Dilba, Central Australian Aboriginal Congress and Nganampa Health Council. He has taught public health and researched Aboriginal health at Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin and Alice Springs. Aboriginal Studies Press published his first book Reading doctors’ writing: Race, politics and power in Indigenous health research 1870-1969 in April 2004.
Research interests
David has worked on analysing some large quantitative datasets to answer policy-relevant research questions about Indigenous health. He examinined long-term trends in Indigenous mortality from non-communicable diseases in the Northern Territory; how Indigenous people use Emergency Departments; and the differences between smokers, ex-smokers and non-smokers in the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey. This work is funded by a NHMRC Capacity Building Grant to the University of Melbourne and Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.
Supervision
David is supervising or has supervised PhD and Masters students and trainees in the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine program. Recent and current supervised student projects include:
- An investigation of adherence with secondary prevention of rheumatic heart disease in a small Aboriginal town
- An examination of the policy processes in Aboriginal health
- An examination of screening for depression in an Aboriginal community controlled health service
- A project to improve chronic disease management in an Aboriginal community controlled health service
Teaching
- Unit Coordinator of Introduction to Public Health unit for MPH students, Menzies School of Health Research, Northern Territory University, in 2003 and 2004.
Research publications (2002 – present)
Kelaher M, Dunt DR, Anderson IP & Thomas DP. 2005. Comparison of the uptake of health assessment items for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians: Implications for policy. Australia and New Zealand Health Policy. 2(21):1-23.
Thomas D. What Professor Cleland did in his holidays: Collecting expeditions to Central Australia as Indigenous research, 1925-39. Health and History 2002; 4 -(2): 57-79.
Thomas D. The cultivation of whiteness: Science, health and racial destiny [book review]. Chiron 2003; 5: 58.
Thomas DP. Reading doctors’ writing: Race, politics and power in Indigenous health research, 1870-1969. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2004.
Thomas DP. The upsurge of interest in Indigenous health in the 1950s and 1960s: Barry Christophers’ letters to the MJA editor about Indigenous health. Med J Aust 2004; 180: 521-523.
Research support (2002 – present)
2003 Named team investigator. ‘Building capacity in Indigenous health research’. National Health and Medical Research Council Capacity Building Grant in Population Health Research to Menzies School of Health Research and University of Melbourne. $2.448m. 2003-08. In progress.
2003 Supervisor of principal investigator. ‘The sharp end of the needle: Towards a better model for the delivery of secondary prevention for rheumatic heart disease.’ Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing Regional Health Service Program to Menzies School of Health Research. April-September 2003. $16,720. Completed.
Professional activities
Professional committees (2002- present)
Convenor Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health special interest group, Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) (2/05 -…)
Member National Council PHAA (11/90-11/92, 4/94-8/95, 9/97-10/99, 2/05 -…)
Member Top End Regional Indigenous Health Planning Committee (TERIHPC)(1/02-6/02)
Chair Primary Health Care Working Group of TERIHPC (2/02-6/02)
Conference presentations (2002- present)
Thomas D. What Professor Cleland did in his holidays: History and Indigenous health research. ‘Health and Society: An Australian Indigenous Context‘ seminar series. Australian Institute for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 25 August 2003 (transcript of seminars to be published later by Aboriginal Studies Press, already electronically published and available at http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/rsrch/smnrs/health-socpapers/thomas.pdf).
Thomas D. More than just the fish: an overview of the history of how Australian health researchers wrote about Indigenous people before 1970. Race and culture in health research seminar, Menzies School of Health Research, 20-21 May 2003.
Thomas D. Understanding the past and the present of Indigenous health research, Annual Scientific Meeting, NT Committee of the Royal Australian College of Physicians, Darwin, 15/11/02 (modified version of paper below).
Thomas D. Understanding the past and the present of Indigenous health research, 34 th Public Health Association of Australia Annual Conference, ‘Mobilising public health’, Adelaide, 2/10/02.
Thomas D. What Professor Cleland did in his holidays: Collecting expeditions to Central Australia as Indigenous health research, 1925-39. Royal Darwin Hospital & Menzies School of Health Research Grand Rounds, Darwin, 4/7/02.
Thomas D. Blood and race: The resilience of racial thinking in Aboriginal blood group research in the 1920s. Menzies School of Health Research Health Services and Research Seminar, Darwin, 1/7/02.
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