Medical Research

What are your research interests?

Early life nutrition: I am interested in how nutrition in pregnancy and infancy can have long lasting effects on the health of mothers and babies, and what we can do to help families adopt healthy behaviours.

Disease prevention later in life: We are testing whether a common vaccine for adults could reduce the chances of having a heart attack or stroke in a large randomised controlled trial.

Health services research: We are actively looking for ways to improve the delivery of healthcare in hospitals by reducing the burden from unnecessary tests and procedures.

Why did you get into research?

One of the key things I learned during my undergraduate degree was just how much we don’t know within health and medicine. I love trying to solve difficult problems and piecing together different sources of information with the goal of improving health. For me, nutrition is the priority, since food provides the building blocks we need to grow and function every day.

What would be the ultimate goal for your research?

A Nobel Prize… Because this would mean that I had objectively made a new and outstanding contribution to our understanding of human health, which is something I want to work towards each and every day throughout my career. I have a strong commitment to high quality research and am actively engaged in the process of learning, with the vision of helping others.

Brief Profile

Dr Alexis Hure is a Senior Lecturer and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Public Health. She completed her Bachelor Degree in Nutrition and Dietetic with first class Honours at the University of Newcastle, and continued on to obtain her PhD in maternal-child nutrition (awarded in 2009). In 2010, Dr Hure achieved her Advanced Practitioner status from the Dietitians Association of Australia.

Dr Hure has demonstrated an increasing trajectory in both the quality and quantity of her research outputs. She has been a Chief Investigator on numerous grant applications totalling more than $2.1 million. Her contributions to the scientific literature have been recognised through her publications in books and journals which are highly cited, plus invitations to peer review, and by joining the Editorial Board for an International Public Health Nutrition Journal.

Positive mentoring with new graduate dietitians and supervision of research higher degree candidates is important to Dr Hure. She is also regularly involved in providing talks and training to clinicians, including GPs, midwives and dietitians.

Future Focus

Giving children in Australia and around the world the best start to life through optimal nutrition and early life exposures … then maintaining good health throughout the lifespan!

Specialised/Technical Skills

• Anthropometry
• Data linkage
• Longitudinal studies
• Nutrition and Dietetics

Affiliations

• HMRI Public Health Program 
• Priority Research Centre for Generational Health and Ageing