About DEPM
The Monash University Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine is located within the new Alfred Hospital Medical Research Precinct (AMREP). This precinct brings together several leading medical research institutes and departments within one of Australia's most prestigious and advanced hospitals.
AMREP is located close to central Melbourne, adjacent to the commercial and financial centre, St Kilda Road. It is also close to other well known Melbourne landmarks including the shopping precinct of South Yarra, Toorak and Chapel Street.
The department has broad expertise in applied clinical and public health research. Its core skills of epidemiology, biostatistics and data management support extensive research programs aimed at reducing suffering, preventing illness and improving quality of life. The department's research program takes place in settings ranging from remote communities and workplaces to intensive care units.
Special skills in handling large data sets have led to the department's involvement in large-scale clinical trials, disease and procedure registries, drug and device surveillance and the monitoring of large occupational cohorts. Many of these have a high profile and require highest levels of ethical conduct and quality control.
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DEPM plays a prominent role in public health medicine in Australia. The core skills of the department relate to epidemiology (the study of the distribution, risk factors and causes of disease) and its application to problems in clinical medicine and public health.
A number of trends in public health and health care funding have led to an increased demand for these specialist skills:
- emphasis on applied clinical research to provide evidence of effectiveness of medical interventions
- a rapid increase in provision of health related data driven by the need for financial accountability and quality assurance
- growing emphasis and financial incentives for prevention of illness
- increased emphasis on measuring the quality of health care
- increased concern about legal liability which requires identification of long term hazards of medical interventions
 DEPM is unique among corresponding departments in other medical schools by virtue of its close links to one of Melbourne's major hospitals. This provides the opportunity to develop substantial collaborative research projects with hospital departments. Many of our senior staff hold medical appointments at the Alfred Hospital and other major metropolitan hospitals, and are directly involved in patient care.
The individual research projects reflect the specialist training of the senior academic staff, and include the areas of:
- cardiovascular medicine
- clinical pharmacology
- toxicology
- respiratory medicine
- occupational health
- environmental health
- biostatistical methods in epidemiology
- infectious diseases
- rheumatology
- health services delivery
- evidence based medicine
- health economics
- preventive medicine
- health promotion
- health risk assessment
- quality assessment and outcomes in healthcare
- health policy development
Financial support for research is drawn from a variety of State and Federal Government bodies, private companies and charitable organisations primarily in the form of competitive grants. DEPM ranks among the most successful Monash University departments in attracting external research funding. We also undertake contract research and consultancies for a wide range of industry bodies and government departments, and are partners in the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centre Program.
We have an extensive teaching program which includes undergraduate medical and biomedical science degrees, the Master of Public Health, a range of Diplomas, and several short courses.
We also provide high quality PhD research training to graduates from a broad spectrum of medical and non-medical backgrounds. Epidemiology (together with Biostatistics) is the key scientific discipline underlying some of the most important and rapidly developing areas in medicine, and our PhD graduates are equipped with core skills which form the basis for a successful future career in a range of fields.
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