Prof. Robert Adams

Professor Robert Adams, MBBS, FRACP, FRCP (London), MD is a specialist respiratory and general physician with extensive experience in public health, clinical epidemiology and health services research. He completed post-doctoral training at the Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and is currently appointed as Professor in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University.

Prof Adams has extensive experience with large population based cohort studies. He is Principal Investigator of The North West Adelaide Health Study (NWAHS) and co-led the process of harmonisation with the Florey Adelaide Male Ageing Study (FAMAS), such that there are now over 2000 men aged over 35 being followed in the Male Androgen, Inflammation, Lifestyle, Environment and Stress (MAILES) study with a further 2000 women in the cohort. He was responsible for the conduct of sleep studies in almost 850 men in the MAILES cohort, one of the largest studies worldwide of sleep health in the community.

He has designed and successfully implemented trials in the diagnosis and management of asthma, health service improvement and initiated cohort studies in mental health patients. He has been CI on NHMRC and ARC projects that examine health ageing in relation to obesity, and spatial epidemiology of metabolic health.

He has authored 185 peer-reviewed publications in journals and books, including top ranked journals in clinical endocrinology (Diabetes Care), allergy (Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology), sleep (Sleep), respiratory medicine (Lancet Respiratory Medicine; American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine), and general medicine (Lancet).

Prof Adams has also contributed to health system safety research and practice. He led the TeamSTEPPS teamwork training program at SA Health and is a member of the board of the Australian Patient Safety Foundation. He was the Inaugural Chair of the SA Health Literacy Alliance. He is a member of the Translational Methods Sub-committee of the newly formed South Australian Advanced Health and Research Translation Centre, one of the four recognised nationally by the NHMRC.

Prof Adams is a founding member of Cumberland.au, a multidisciplinary group including clinicians, mathematicians, statisticians, computer scientists and others, that aims to apply systems thinking, design thinking, mathematical modelling (including the use of simulation), and operations research to achieve lasting transformative reform in healthcare.

https://researchnow.flinders.edu.au/en/persons/robert-adams-2