Dr Kristen Hynes is a Research Fellow at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research. Her research interest is iodine nutrition, particularly the impact of mild iodine deficiency in the Tasmanian population and its adverse impacts during pregnancy and childhood and subsequent effects on educational attainment. It is her goal that research on iodine deficiency lead to the complete elimination of this preventable condition and its associated adverse outcomes in the Tasmanian population.

Biography

Kristen's field of expertise is the epidemiology of iodine nutrition and deficiency, particularly its adverse impacts during gestation and childhood. She is interested in the long-term consequences of mild iodine deficiency on the neurodevelopment of the foetus and the subsequent long-term detrimental effects on educational attainment.

She has worked at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research since 1996; starting as a research assistant working in the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Population Based Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Programmes. She has extensive experience in the conduct of community-based research projects, having developed, managed and reported on a wide-range of studies from a number of different health themes, including cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal conditions and environmental health.

With respect to iodine research she was the project designer and coordinator of the 1998-9 and 2000-01 Iodine Status of Tasmanian Primary School Children surveys; she authored the project reports for the Department of Health and Human Services and a peer-reviewed paper on the findings. She also coordinated the 2000-01 Iodine Family Study in collaboration with Royal Hobart Hospital endocrinologist Professor John Burgess, co-authoring a paper.

Iodine research in Tasmania undertaken by Kristen and her colleagues over the past 15 years has made significant contributions to the field both nationally and internationally and has resulted in changes to public health policy and outcomes. This includes contributions leading to state (2001) and national (2009) programs of bread iodisation which have resulted in a positive change in the iodine status of the Tasmanian population.

Her current work continues the association with Professors Burgess and Hay, investigating further the relationship between mild gestational iodine deficiency and subsequent poorer educational attainment in childhood. She is also collaborating with Ms Judy Seal and Associate Professor Karen Charlton, nutritionists from the Tasmanian State Department of Health and Human Services and the University of Wollongong respectively, to investigate iodine nutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding Tasmanian women.

Career summary

Qualifications

• PhD, University of Tasmania, Australia, 1999
• Graduate Diploma (Clinical Epidemiology), University of Newcastle, Australia, 2009

Administrative expertise

Kristen has extensive expertise in the management of large projects, having designed and coordinated more than 20 large epidemiological studies at the Institute, encompassing the fields of cardiovascular disease, musculoskeletal health, kidney health and public health and primary care.