INRICH Member Profile Card
Fiona Mensah
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
My current role is a biostatistician and postdoctoral fellow in the Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia. My PhD from the University of York, UK, examined the relationships between child development and the family environment using the Millennium Cohort Study. I have previously worked in UK universities in community health epidemiology.
Type of member: Regular
Telephone: +61 (0) 39345 4741
Email Address: fiona.mensah@mcri.edu.au
Mailing Address: Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Road, Parkville, Victoria 3052, Australia
Collaborative Projects
I am currently working with Professor Nick Spencer and Dr Susan Woolfenden on proposals for studies of inequity in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children.
Current research interests
I support three Australian cohort studies of child and family health, the Early Language in Victoria Study, the Maternal Health Study, and the Physical Health and Biomarkers Module of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. I also support a number of trials of early interventions to improve child and family health including the right@home trial of intensive nurse home visiting. In each of these studies my research has a focus on health inequity, pathways to health and equity in health care access.
Research priorities
Pathways and mechanisms: Cumulative and additive social risk exposures (e.g. transient v. persistent poverty). Social into the biological and epigenetic. Intergenerational influences. | Methodological issues: Which indicators? for example, perception of health vs. objective measures of health (these may be more reliable in studying mechanisms).
Selected publications
Kiernan, K. E., & Mensah, F. K. (2011). Poverty, family resources and children’s early educational attainment: the mediating role of parenting. British Educational Research Journal, 37(2), 317-336. doi:10.1080/01411921003596911
Mensah, F. K., & Kiernan, K. E. (2010). Gender differences in educational attainment: influences of the family environment. British Educational Research Journal, 36(2), 239-260. doi:10.1080/01411920902802198