PhD Successes

Posted 17 October 2013

Congratulations to Patrick Harris and Cathy Kaplun who have recently been awarded their PhDs, Patrick for his work on the Health Impact Assessment and Public Policy and Cathy Kaplun for her studies on transition to school.

Says Cathy “I started at CHETRE working with children and families living in disadvantaged areas on the Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home visiting (MECSH) trial and have since moved on to the ‘Gudaga Goes to School’ study. Both studies and the wonderful support from the researchers and assistants I work with, have broadened my understanding of research and further fuelled my interest in transition to school. The old saying goes ‘when one door closes, another opens’. This reflects the chance meetings and opportunities that have propelled me on my way to my recently completed PhD. I am excited to see what door opens next in my early research career.”

Cathy and Patrick are just two of the fourteen students who have recently completed or are now completing their PhDs. Their projects range from improvements in general practice and quantifying physical activity behaviour in a primary health care setting to men’s access to community health, road safety for rural young males and gestational diabetes in Sri Lankan women.