Professor Mark Oakley Browne - Professor and Clinical Director (Psychiatry)

Professor Mark Oakley Browne is a Graduate of University of Otago Medical School (BSC MBCGB). He undertook and completed a PhD in psychiatric epidemiology and social psychiatry at Christchurch School of Medicine. In 1986 he became a Fellow at the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. Currently he is Director of Clinical Services - Gippsland Psychiatric Services & Professor of Rural Psychiatry - School of Rural Health, at Latrobe Regional Hospital, Traralgon. Professor Oakley Browne’s clinical interests are mood and anxiety disorders and he has undertaken research in community and clinical epidemiology of these disorders.

Academic Qualifications

• BSc, University of Otago 1975
• MB ChB, University of Otago, 1979
• Graduate Diploma in Clinical Epidemiology (Newcastle, 1998)
• PhD, University of Otago, 1993
• FRANZCP, 1987

Honours and Awards

• 1979 - Smith, Kline and French Limited Prize, with Distinction, in Psychological Medicine
• 1986 - Leslie Averill Research Fellowship, by the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation
• 1988 - Researcher Interchange Fellowship by the Christchurch School of Medicine and this was used to visit the research team at the Mood Disorders Unit, Prince Henry Hospital, Sydney, Australia
• 1990 - Glaxo Young Investigators Award for Research in Psychiatry, by the New Zealand Branch Committee of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry

Organisational Affiliations

• Chairman, Auckland Region Psychiatric Registrar Training Committee
• Chairman, HRCNZ Public Health Assessing Committee
• Commentator, ACP Journal Club
• Commentator, Evidence-Based Medicine
• Commentator, Evidence-Based Mental Health Care
• External referee, HRCNZ
• External referee, Lottery Grants Board
• External referee, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
• Medical school appointee, Northern region Ethics Committee of the HFA
• Representative, Steering and Implementation Committee for Guideline Development of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
• Scientific Officer, Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRCNZ) Public Health Assessing Committee

Teaching Commitments

• Mood and Anxiety Disorders at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and for community groups
• Communication skills for undergraduate medical students
• Psychiatric interviewing and assessment skills for both medical undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Evidence-Based Psychiatry for undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Psychiatric Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry for postgraduate students

Research Interests

• Psychiatric epidemiology, particularly the epidemiology of Mood and Anxiety Disorders
• The clinical epidemiology of Mood and Anxiety Disorders with a particular focus on psychosocial factors which may influence the course of disorders and response to treatment
• Evidence-based psychiatry
• Medical informatics in clinical psychiatry
• Systematic reviews and meta-analysis
• Clinical Practice Guideline Development

Research Projects

• A Systematic Review of Randomised Controlled Trials of Treatments for Obsessive-compulsive Disorder, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, M. A. Oakley-Browne.
• The New Zealand Mental Health Survey Pilot Study, funded by Health Funding Authority, M. A. Oakley-Browne, M. Durie, E. Wells, E. Robinson
• Systematic review of OCD, funded by HRCNZ. (97-98) $13,258.00
• Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group, funded by Oakley Mental Health Research Foundation. (97-99) $10,000.00
• Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group, funded by Mental Health Commission. (97-98) $65,489.00
• Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group, funded by AMRF (98-99) $39,885.00
• Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group, funded by HFA (Northern Division) (98-99) $11,780.00
• A systematic review of treatments for problem and compulsive gambling, funded by Compulsive Gambling Society (98-99) $18,350.00
• Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Group, funded by HFA Mental Health Research and Development Committee (99-2000) $62,000.00
• NZ Mental Health Survey Pilot Study, funded by HFA Mental Health Research and Development Committee (99-2000) $451,000.00
• NZ Survey of Mental Health and Well-being, funded by HRCNZ (Awaiting confirmation from Ministry of Health) $500,000 (funding contingent on the Ministry of Health providing funds to cover the full cost of the project. Estimate of full cost approx. $4.3 million)

Selected Publications

Books

• Andrews, G. & Oakley Browne, M. 2000 Management of Mental Disorders (New Zealand edition), World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and Substance Abuse: Sydney, Australia.

Book Chapters

• Oakley-Browne, M. A. 1995 ‘Anxiety and Depression’ in Mood Disorders, eds P. R. Joyce, S. E. Romans, P. M. Ellis, T. S. Silverstone, The Department of Psychological Medicine, The Christchurch School of Medicine, University of Otago: Christchurch.
• Oakley-Browne, M. A. 1995 ‘The costs of anxiety’ in Baillière’s Clinical Psychiatry: Hypnotics and Anxiolytics, eds D.J. Nutt & W.B. Mendelson, Baillière Tindall: London.
• Oakley-Browne, M. A. 1999 ‘Economic Aspects Of Panic Disorder’ Chapter 4 in Panic Disorder, eds D. Nutt, J.C. Ballenger, J.P. Lepine, Martin Dunitz: London.

Journal Articles

• Oakley-Browne, M.A., Joyce, P.R., Wells, J.E., Bushnell, J.A., & Hornblow, A.R. 1995 ‘Adverse parenting and other childhood experience as risk factors for depression in women aged 18 to 44 years’, Journal of Affective Disorders, 34: 13-23.
• Oakley-Browne, M.A., Joyce, P.R., Wells, J.E., Bushnell, J.A., & Hornblow, A.R. 1995 ‘Childhood risk factors for major depression in women aged 18 to 44 years’, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 29: 437-448.
• Wells, J.E., Bushnell, J.A., & Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1995 ‘Using latent class analysis to investigate alcohol diagnosis’, International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 5: 205-212.
• Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1996 ‘Commentary on: Antidepressant drugs relieve symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder’, Evidence-Based Medicine, 1: 82.
• Oakley-Browne, M. A. 1996 ‘Anxiety disorders: an epidemiological perspective’, New Zealand Journal of Psychology.
• Bushnell, J.A., Wells, J.E., Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1996 ‘Impulsivity in disordered eating, affective disorder and substance use disorder’, British Journal of Psychiatry, 169: 329-333.
• Sullivan, P.F., Wells, J.E., Joyce, P.R., Bushnell, J.A., Mulder, R.T., Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1996 ‘Family history of depression in clinic and community samples’, Journal of Affective Disorders, 40:159-168.
• Mulder, R.T., Joyce, P.R., Sullivan, P.F., Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1996 ‘Intimate bonds in depression’ Journal of Affective Disorders, 40:175-178.
• Farquhar, C., MacMahon, S., Arroll, B., Hatcher, S., Oakley-Browne, M., Wilson, D., Herbison, P., Silagy, C. 1996 ‘The Cochrane Collaboration: New Zealand gets involved’, The New Zealand Medical Journal , 109:433-434.
• Weissman, M.M., Bland, R.C., Canino, G.J., Faravelli, C., Greenwald, S., Hwu, H.G., Joyce, P.R., Karam, E.G., Lee, C.K. Lellouch, J., Lepine, J.P., Newman, S.C., Oakley-Browne, M. A., Rubio-Stipec, M., Wells, J.E., Wickramaratne, P.J., Wittchen, H.U., and Yeh, E.K.. 1997 ‘The cross-national epidemiology of panic disorder’, Archives of General Psychiatry, 54(4):305-9.
• Oakley-Browne, M. A. 1997 ‘Commentary on: Fuoxetine plus pindolol was more effective than fluoxetine alone in depression’, ACP Journal Club, 127:66.
• Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1998 ‘Commentary on: Alprazolam had short term anxiolytic effectiveness but increased physiological activation’, Evidence-Based Mental Health Care, 2: 47.
• Gale, C.K., Oakley-Browne, M.A. 1999-2001 ‘Generalised Anxiety’, BMJ Clinical Evidence, Issue 2-6: 743-753.
• Gale, C.K.; Oakley-Browne, M.A. 2000 ‘Generalised Anxiety’ BMJ, 321(7276): 1204-1207.
• Oakley-Browne, M.A.; Mobberly, P.A.; Adams, P.E. 2000 ‘Interventions for Pathological Gambling’, The Cochrane Library, Issue 2
• Khin, N. & Oakley-Browne, M. 2000 ‘Introduction to Evidence-Based Psychiatry The Cochrane Collaboration: preparing, maintaining and disseminating systematic reviews of the effects of health care’, Japanese Journal of Clinical Psychiatry [Rinsho Seishin Igaku], 29: 789-795.
• Oakley-Browne, M.A. 2001 ‘EBM in Practice: Psychiatry (Editorial)’, The Australian Medical Journal, 174: 403-404
• Boyce, P.; Oakley-Browne, M.A.; Hatcher, S. 2001 ‘The Problem of deliberate Self-Harm’, Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 14: 107-111
• Kumar, S. & Oakley Browne, M. 2001 ‘Panic Disorder’, BMJ Clinical Evidence, 6: 763-768.