Dr Breanne Hobden completed her Bachelor of Psychology with Honours (Class 1) from the University of Newcastle in 2012. Dr Hobden began working as a full-time research assistant with the Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour at the University of Newcastle in 2013.
During this time, she worked on an array of projects examining health outcomes for people with chronic diseases. In 2015, she began her PhD in mental health. Dr Hobden’s thesis focused on understanding and improving health care services for those with comorbid alcohol misuse and depression.
Dr Hobden was offered a full-time position as Research Academic at the University of Newcastle in July 2017, before obtaining a Colin Dodd’s postdoctoral Fellowship from Australian Rotary Health in November 2018 (commenced 2020 due to career disruption).
Her fellowship research focuses on increasing our understanding of co-occurring mental health and substance use among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She is currently leading work examining data from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, to explore data from over 10,000 individuals aged 15 years and older.
She is also leading an MRFF Early-Mid Career Researcher funded project, which seeks to understand the social determinants of mental health for young people. Dr Hobden has published 44 peer reviewed journal articles, 6 conference abstracts, 1 book chapter and obtained over $4.6M in competitive funding (including funding from NHMRC, National Heart Foundation and MRFF).
