Dr Helen Kelsall - Researcher Profile

Biography

Helen Kelsall graduated in medicine through Monash University in 1983. She subsequently worked in general medical practice in Melbourne until completing specialist training in public health medicine from 1994-1996 through the work based Victorian Public Health Training Scheme (and its accreditation toward a Master of Health Sciences, La Trobe University) and a Master of Public Health, Monash University. She attained Fellowship of the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine in 1996, and continued to work in the field of public health medicine in the Department of Human Services.

Helen joined the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in April 2000 as a Senior Research Fellow working on the Australian Gulf War Veterans' Health Study. In 2002, she was awarded an NHMRC Public Health Postgraduate Scholarship and has recently completed her PhD on the respiratory and neurological health, symptoms, medical conditions and chronic fatigue syndrome in Australian Gulf War veterans, for which she was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Commendation. In 2005 Helen was awarded an NHMRC Public Health Postdoctoral Fellowship (2006-2009). The first two years of this Fellowship are being undertaken at The Cancer Council Victoria undertaking research in cancer epidemiology, on the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study, and on record linkages, before returning to Monash University.

Helen's principal interests include military and veterans' health, epidemiological research, public health medicine and training, and injury prevention. Helen is a member of the Victorian Regional Committee and is the Victorian representative on the Board of Continuing Professional Development for the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine.

Qualifications

PHD (EPIDEMIOLOGY)

Institution: Monash University

Year awarded: 2005

HEALTH SCIENCES

Institution: La Trobe University

Year awarded: 1999

PUBLIC HEALTH

Institution: Monash University

Year awarded: 1996

MEDICINE AND SURGERY

Institution: Monash University

Year awarded: 1983

Publications

Journal Articles

Surawera, I.L., Hoe, V., Kelsall, H., Urquhart, D.M., Sim, M.R., 2013, Physical and psychosocial factors associated with wrist or hand pain among Australian hospital-based nurses, Injury Prevention [P], vol 19, issue 1, B M J Group, United Kingdom, pp. 13-18.

Hoe, V., Urquhart, D.M., Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., 2012, Ergonomic design and training for preventing work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb and neck in adults (Review), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews [P], vol 8, issue Art. ID: .CD008570, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 1-107.

Abouzeid, M., Kelsall, H., Forbes, A., Sim, M., Creamer, M., 2012, Posttraumatic stress disorder and hypertension in Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, Journal of Psychosomatic Research [P], vol 72, issue 1, Elsevier Inc., United States, pp. 33-38.

Hoe, V., Kelsall, H., Urquhart, D., Sim, M., 2012, Risk factors for musculoskeletal symptoms of the neck or shoulder alone or neck and shoulder among hospital nurses, Occupational And Environmental Medicine [P], vol 69, issue 3, BMJ Group, UK, pp. 198-204.

Coggon, D.N., Ntani, G., Palmer, K.T., Felli, V.E., Harari, R., Barrero, L.H., Felknor, S.A., Gimeno, D., Cattrell, A., Serra, C., Bonzini, M., Solidaki, E., Merisalu, E., Habib, R., Sadeghian, F., Kadir, M., Warnakulasuriya, S.S.P., Matsudaira, K., Nyantumbu, B., Sim, M.R., Harcombe, H., Cox, K., Marziale, M.H., Sarquis, L.M., Harari, F., Freire, R., Harari, N., Monroy, M.V., Quintana, L.A., Rojas, M., Salazar Vega, E.J., Harriss, E.C., Vargas-Prada, S., Martinez, J.M., Delclos, G., Benavides, F.G., Carugno, M., Ferrario, M.M., Pesatori, A.C., Chatzi, L., Bitsios, P., Kogevinas, M., Oha, K., Sirk, T., Sadeghian, A., Peiris-John, R., Sathiakumar, N., Wickremasinghe, R., Yoshimura, N., Kielkowski, D., Kelsall, H., Hoe, V.C.W., Urquhart, D.M., Derett, S., McBride, D., Gray, A., 2012, The CUPID (cultural and psychosocial influences on disability) study: methods of data collection and characteristics of study sample, PLoS ONE [P], vol 7, issue 7, Public Library of Science, United States, pp. 1-22.

Beauchamp, A., Tonkin, A., Kelsall, H., Sundararajan, V., English, D., Sundaresan, L., Wolfe, R., Turrell, G., Giles, G., Peeters, A., 2011, Validation of de-identified record linkage to ascertain hospital admissions in a cohort study, BMC Medical Research Methodology [P], vol 11, issue Art. No: 42, BioMed Central Ltd, United Kingdom, pp. 1-8.

Hoe, V., Kelsall, H., Urquhart, D., Sim, M., 2010, Ergonomic design and training for preventing work-related musculoskeletal disorders of the upper limb and neck in adults (Protocol), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews [P], vol 9, issue CD008570, John Wiley & Sons, United Kingdom, pp. 1-10.

McKenzie, D., Creamer, M., Kelsall, H., Forbes, A., Blackman, J., Sim, M., McFarlane, A., 2010, Temporal relationships between Gulf War deployment and subsequent psychological disorders in Royal Australian Navy Gulf War veterans., Social Psychiatry And Psychiatric Epidemiology [P], vol 45, issue 9, Dr. Dietrich Steinkopff Verlag, Germany, pp. 843-852.

Bolton, D.M., Severi, G., Millar, J., Kelsall, H., Davidson, A., Smith, C., Bagnato, M., Pedersen, J., Giles, G., Syme, R.R., 2009, A whole of population-based series of radical prostatectomy in Victoria, 1995 to 2000, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health..., vol 33, issue 6, Public Health Assoc Australia Inc, Australia, pp. 527-533.

Kelsall, H., McKenzie, D.P., Sim, M.R., Leder, K.S., Forbes, A.B., Dwyer, T., 2009, Physical, psychological, and functional comorbidities of multisymptom illness in Australian male veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, American Journal Of Epidemiology [P], vol 170, issue 8, Oxford University Press, USA, pp. 1048-1056.

Kelsall, H., Baglietto, L., Muller, D., Haydon, A.M., English, D., Giles, G., 2009, The effect of socioeconomic status on survival from colorectal cancer in the Melbourne Collaborative Cohort study, Social Science and Medicine [P], vol 68, issue 2, Pergamon, UK, pp. 290-297.

Carboon, I., Creamer, M.C., Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., McFarlane, A., Kelsall, H., 2009, The relationship between deployment and turnover in Australian Navy personnel, Military Psychology [P], vol 21, issue 2, Routledge, USA, pp. 233-240.

Kelsall, H., McKenzie, D.P., Sim, M.R., Leder, K.S., Ross, J., Forbes, A.B., Ikin, J.F., 2008, Comparison of self-reported and recorded vaccinations and health effects in Australian Gulf War veterans, Vaccine, vol 26, issue 33, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 4290-4297.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., Ikin, J.F., Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., Glass, D.C., Ittak, P., 2007, Reproductive health of male Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, BMC Public Health, vol 7, issue 147, BioMed Central Ltd, London UK, pp. 79-84.

Sim, M.R., Kelsall, H., 2006, Gulf War illness: a view from Australia, Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol 361, issue 1468, The Royal Society, UK, pp. 619-626.

McKenzie, D.P., McFarlane, A., Creamer, M.C., Ikin, J.F., Forbes, A.B., Kelsall, H., Clarke, D.M., Glass, D.C., Ittak, P., Sim, M.R., 2006, Hazardous or harmful alcohol use in Royal Australian Navy veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: Identification of high risk subgroups, Addictive Behaviors, vol 31, issue 9, Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, Kidlington UK, pp. 1683-1694.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., McKenzie, D.P., Forbes, A.B., Leder, K.S., Glass, D.C., Ikin, J.F., McFarlane, A., 2006, Medically evaluated psychological and physical health of Australian Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue, Journal of Psychosomatic Research, vol 60, issue 6, Elsevier, Inc., The Netherland, pp. 575-584.

Creamer, M.C., Carboon, I., Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., McFarlane, A., Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., 2006, Psychiatric disorder and separation from military service: a 10-year retrospective study, American Journal of Psychiatry, vol 163, issue 4, American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., USA, pp. 733-734.

Glass, D.C., Sim, M.R., Kelsall, H., Ikin, J.F., McKenzie, D.P., Forbes, A.B., Ittak, P., 2006, What was different about exposures reported by male Australian Gulf War veterans for the 1991 Persian Gulf War, compared with exposures reported for other deployments?, Military Medicine, vol 171, issue 7, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, USA, pp. 632-638.

Kelsall, H., Macdonell, R., Sim, M.R., Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., Glass, D.C., Ikin, J., Ittak, P., 2005, Neurological status of Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and the effect of medical and chemical exposures, International Journal of Epidemiology, vol 34, issue 4, Oxford University Press, UK, pp. 810-819.

Ikin, J.F., McKenzie, D.P., Creamer, M.C., McFarlane, A.C., Kelsall, H.L., Glass, D.C., Forbes, A.B., Horsley, K.W.A., Harrex, W.K., Sim, M.R., 2005, War zone stress without direct combat: the Australian naval experience of the Gulf War, Journal of Traumatic Stress, vol 18, issue 3, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., USA, pp. 193-204.

McKenzie, D.P., Ikin, J.F., McFarlane, A.C., Creamer, M.C., Kelsall, H., Glass, D.C., Ittak, P., Sim, M.R., Forbes, A.B., 2004, Psychological health of Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: an assessment using the SF-12, GHQ-12 and PCL-S, Psychological Medicine, vol 34, issue 8, Cambridge University Press, UK, pp. 1419-1430.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., Glass, D.C., Ikin, J.F., Ittak, P., Abramson, M.J., 2004, Respiratory health status of Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War and the effects of exposure to oil fire smoke and dust storms, Thorax, vol 59, BMJ Publishing Group, UK, pp. 897-903.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., Forbes, A.B., Glass, D.C., McKenzie, D.P., Ikin, J.F., Abramson, M.J., Blizzard, L., Ittak, P., 2004, Symptoms and medical conditions in Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: relation to immunisations and other Gulf War exposures, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol 61, issue 12, BMJ Publishing Group, UK, pp. 1006-1013.

Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., Mackinnon, A.J., Kelsall, H., McFarlane, A.C., Ikin, J.F., Glass, D.C., Sim, M.R., 2004, The health of Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: factor analysis of self-reported symptoms, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol 61, issue 12, BMJ Publishing Group, London UK, pp. 1014-1020.

Ikin, J.F., Sim, M.R., Creamer, M.C., Forbes, A.B., McKenzie, D.P., Kelsall, H., Glass, D.C., McFarlane, A.C., Abramson, M.J., Ittak, P., Dwyer, T., Blizzard, L., Delaney, K.R., Horsley, K.W., Harrex, W.K., Schwarz, H., 2004, War-related psychological stressors and risk of psychological disorders in Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, British Journal of Psychiatry, vol 185, Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK, pp. 116-126.

Kelsall, H.L., Sim, M.R., 2001, Skin irritation in users of brominated pools, International Journal of Environmental Health Research, vol 11, Taylor & Francis Ltd, USA, pp. 29-40.

Kelsall, H.L., Finch, C.F., 1999, Preventing alipine skiing injuries - how effective are the countermeasures ?, International Journal for Consumer and Product Safety, vol 6(2), Aeolus Press, Lisse Netherland, pp. 61-78.

Finch, C.F., Kelsall, H.L., 1999, Preventing snowboarding injuries - what is the evidence, International Journal for Consumer & Product Safety, vol 6(3), Aeolus Press, Lisse Netherland, pp. 117-126.

Conference Proceedings

Hoe, V., Kelsall, H., Urquhart, D., Sim, M., 2011, A prospective study of work ability and multisite musculoskeletal pain among hospital-based nurses, Occupational And Environmental Medicine [P], BMJ Publishing Group, England, p. 67.

McKenzie, D.P., McFarlane, A.C., Creamer, M.C., Ikin, J.F., Forbes, A.B., Kelsall, H., Clarke, D.M., Glass, D.C., Ittak, P., Sim, M.R., 2006, Hazardous or harmful alcohol use in Royal Australian Navy veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: identification of high risk subgroups, Australian Epidemiologist, 18 September 2006 to 19 September 2006, Australian Epidemiological Association, Melbourne Vic Australia, p. 67.

Kelsall, H., Ross, J.A., Sim, M.R., 2006, Immunisation for defence force protection: current controversies, Australian Military Medicine, 18 October 2006 to 22 October 2006, Australian Military Medicine Association, Hobart Tas Australia, pp. 53-54.

Kelsall, H., Ikin, J.F., McKenzie, D.P., Glass, D.C., Forbes, A.B., Sim, M.R., 2006, The effect of other deployments in assessing the health of Australian Gulf War Veterans, Australian Military Medicine, 18 October 2006 to 22 October 2006, Australian Military Medicine Association, Hobart Tas Australia, pp. 21-22.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., McKenzie, D.P., Forbes, A.B., Leder, K.S., Glass, D.C., Ikin, J., McFarlane, A., 2005, Medical evaluation of the physical and psychological health of Australian Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue, 2005 AMMA (Australian Military Medical Association) Conference Proceedings, 14-16 October 2005, AMMA, Launceston Australia, p. 16.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., McKenzie, D.P., Forbes, A.B., Leder, K.S., Glass, D.C., Ikin, J., McFarlane, A., 2005, Medically evaluated chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome in Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War, Australasian Epidemiologist, 5-7 October 2005, Australasian Epidemiology Association, NSW Australia, p. 51.

Kelsall, H., Sim, M.R., Forbes, A.B., Glass, D.C., McKenzie, D.P., Blackman, J.F., Abramson, M.J., Blizzard, L., Ittak, P., 2003, Symptoms and medical conditions in Australian veterans of the 1991 Gulf War: relationship to immunisations and other gulf war exposures, Australasian Epidemiologist, 22 September 2003 to 23 September 2003, Australian Epidemiological Association, Melbourne Australia, p. 28.

Glass, D.C., McKenzie, D.P., Forbes, A.B., Kelsall, H., Blackman, J.F., Ittak, P., Sim, M.R., 2003, What was different about exposures during the 1991 Gulf War compared to other deployments?, Australian Epidemiologist, 22 September to 23 September 2003, Australian Epidemiological Association, Melbourne Australia, p. 54.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

HEALTH SERVICE UTILISATION AND COMORBIDITY AMONG AUSTRALIAN WAR VETERANS.

Supervisors:

Sim, M (Main), Forbes, A (Associate), Kelsall, H (Associate).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Learning to link - Determining the effectiveness of networking between health program..

Supervisors:

Kelsall, H (Main).

Program of Study:

(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).

Thesis Title:

Longitudinal investigation of psychological outcomes and correlates in Australian Gulf War Veterans.

Supervisors:

Kelsall, H (Main), Clarke, D (Associate), Sim, M (Associate).

Completed Supervision

Student:

Esler, D.

Program of Study:

Assessing the Suitability of a Depression Screening Tool for Use with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with Ischaemic Heart Disease. 2005.

Supervisors:

Kelsall, H (Main).

Student:

Hoe, V.

Program of Study:

Work related musculoskeletal disorders of the neck and upper limb. (PHD) 2011.

Supervisors:

Sim, M (Main), Kelsall, H (Associate), Urquhart, D (Associate).

Student:

Sharwood, L.

Program of Study:

The Influence of Gender on Injury Severity in Motor Vehicle Crashes in the Australian Vehicle Fleet. 2007.

Supervisors:

Kelsall, H (Main).