Program Head, Population Health
BEc
Areas of research knowledge: Indigenous life course outcomes, child and adolescent mental health, economics of disadvantage, program evaluation, public health, survey design
Francis is currently Program Head – Population Health, where he oversees population health themed research at Telethon Kids Institute, including Research Teams such as Biostatistics, Child Epidemiology, and Developmental Pathways and Social Policy. Alongside Professors Stephen Zubrick and Cate Taylor, Mr Mitrou is also Co-Head of the Human Capability Team at Telethon Kids Institute where he also has a Senior Research Fellow role in the ARC Life Course Centre.
Francis has followed a non-traditional research career path, coming to academia via a 14-year career in the Commonwealth Public Service which intersected with high level consulting work to the academic sector via his employer. He is an economist initially trained at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in the 1990s on a range of economic and social survey vehicles before entering research full-time in the early 2000s via an ABS consultancy to Telethon Kids Institute. He has many years’ experience in the design, conduct and management of large scale population surveys of adults, children and Indigenous people. He has expertise in the use of linked administrative data for research, Indigenous health and wellbeing, and economic evaluation, with a focus on child and adolescent mental health, social disadvantage and life course trajectories.
Francis has close involvement in the national discussion around use of Commonwealth data for research and policy across the human services and sits on the design committees of several national surveys of health and social wellbeing run by ABS. Francis leads the ARC Life Course Centre’s Data for Policy program which engages Commonwealth human services and data agencies in research activity. Francis is also a member of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s “Closing the Gap” technical advisory group which is focused on eliminating Indigenous disadvantage. His research goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of disadvantaged children and families through the application of a life course approach to human capability research, whereby targeted, evidence-based population intervention can help prevent entrenchment of costly disadvantage.
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Projects
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Publications
May 2020
Pets Are Associated with Fewer Peer Problems and Emotional Symptoms, and Better Prosocial Behavior: Findings from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
Pets may protect children from developing social-emotional problems and should be taken into account when assessing child development and school readiness
Published research Human Capability Child Physical Activity, Health and DevelopmentJuly 2019The Contribution of Geogenic Particulate Matter to Lung Disease in Indigenous Children
The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between dust levels and health in Indigenous children in Western Australia
Published research Aboriginal Health & Wellbeing Human Capability Airway Epithelial Research Bacterial Respiratory Infectious Disease GroupMarch 2018Educational inequality across three generations in Australia
Using a dataset of Australian children, we have the opportunity to not only investigate the transfer of educational resources across 3 generations in Australia.
Published research Human CapabilityFebruary 2018The Diverse Risk Profiles of Persistently Absent Primary Students: Implications for Attendance Policies in Australia
Understanding variations in risk profiles among persistently non-attending children will inform the development of absence interventions.
Published research Human Capability School AttendanceAugust 2017Parents’ interest in their child's education and children's outcomes in adolescence and adulthood: Does gender matter?
We found no evidence of gender-specific effects for the outcomes of academic achievement, educational expectations or educational attainment in adulthood.
Published research Human CapabilityMarch 2017Associations between school absence and academic achievement: Do socioeconomics matter?
School attendance should therefore be a priority for all schools, and not just those with high rates of absence or low average achievement.
Published research Aboriginal Mental Health & Wellbeing Human Capability Youth Mental HealthJune 2015Ethnic differences in the quality of the interview process and implications for survey analysis
Comparable survey data on Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians are highly sought after by policymakers to inform policies aimed at closing ethnic...
Published research Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityJanuary 2015Is headspace making a difference to young people’s lives?
This report presents the evaluation findings of headspace, a service to improve the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of young people
Published research Human CapabilityJuly 2014Risk factors for low receptive vocabulary abilities in the preschool and early school years in the longitudinal study of Australian children
Receptive vocabulary development is a component of the human language system that emerges in the first year of life and is characterised by onward expansion...
Published research Language Development Human CapabilityFebruary 2014Gaps in Indigenous disadvantage not closing: A census cohort study of social determinants of health in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand from 1981-2006
Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are all developed nations that are home to Indigenous populations which have historically faced poorer outcomes than their...
Published research Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityJanuary 2014Evidence for the use of an algorithm in resolving inconsistent and missing Indigenous status in administrative data collections
We found that algorithms reduced the amount of missing data and improved within‑individual consistency.
Published research Aboriginal Health & Wellbeing Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityNovember 2013A three generation study of the mental health relationships between grandparents, parents and children
It is well known that children of parents with mental illness are at greater risk of mental illness themselves.
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilitySeptember 2013Food sources of saturated fat and the association with mortality: A meta-analysis
There is an ongoing need for improvement in assessment tools and methods that investigate food sources of saturated fat and mortality to inform dietary...
Published research Nutrition Human CapabilitySeptember 2013Factors for Children's Receptive Vocabulary Development from Four to Eight Years in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
Variation in receptive vocabulary ability is associated with variation in children's school achievement, and low receptive vocabulary ability is a risk...
Published research Early Childhood Development Language Development Human CapabilityJuly 2013Trends in sugar supply and consumption in Australia: is there an Australian Paradox?
High consumption of refined carbohydrate, in particular sugar, has been identified as a possible contributory factor in greater risk of excess weight gain.
Published research Nutrition Human CapabilityMay 2013Smoking, mental illness and socioeconomic disadvantage: Analysis of the Australian National survey of mental health and Wellbeing
There are strong socioeconomic and psychosocial gradients in both current smoking and smoking cessation.
Published research Human CapabilityFebruary 2013Tackling overweight and obesity: does the public health message match the science?
Public health weight-loss interventions seem to be based on an outdated understanding of the science.
Published research Human CapabilityDecember 2011The potential impact of smoke-free facilities on smoking cessation in people with mental illness
The aim of this paper was to estimate the degree to which smoke-free facilities may facilitate smoking cessation in smokers with mental illness by estimating...
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilitySeptember 2012Socioeconomic disparities in the mental health of Indigenous children in Western Australia
The burden of mental health problems among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is a major public health problem in Australia.
Published research Aboriginal Health & Wellbeing Depression and Anxiety Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityJuly 2012Adjusting for under-identification of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander births in time series produced from birth records
Statistical time series derived from administrative data sets form key indicators in measuring progress.
Published research Aboriginal Health & Wellbeing Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityMay 2012Early mental health morbidity and later smoking at age 17 years
We examined the relationship between the onset and pattern of childhood mental health disorders and subsequent current smoking status at age 17 years.
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilityApril 2012Premature to conclude no genetic basis to the association between smoking and major depressive disorder
We analyzed two large-scale surveys, and found high rates of smoking in people with mood disorders and both with and without substance dependence disorders.
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilityJanuary 2012The association between playgroup participation, learning competence and social-emotional wellbeing for children aged four-five years in Australia
This study provides evidence that continued participation in playgroups is associated with better outcomes for children from disadvantaged families.
Published research Human Capability PlaygroupsDecember 2011Sugar sweetened beverage consumption by Australian children: Implications for public health strategy
High consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) has been linked to unhealthy weight gain and nutrition related chronic disease.
Published research Nutrition Human CapabilityNovember 2011Early mental health morbidity and later smoking at 17 years of age
We examined the relationship between the onset and pattern of childhood mental health disorders and subsequent current smoking status at age 17 years.
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human Capability Youth HealthSeptember 2011Maternal death and the onward psychosocial circumstances of Australian Aboriginal children and young people
This study sought to determine the social and emotional impact of maternal loss on Aboriginal children and young people using data from the Western...
Published research Depression and Anxiety Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityApril 2011Non-specific psychological distress, smoking status and smoking cessation: United States National Health Interview Survey 2005
It is well established that smoking rates in people with common mental disorders such as anxiety or depressive disorders are much higher than in people...
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilityMarch 2011Global research neglect of population-based approaches to smoking cessation
It has been argued that the preponderance of studies into individual smoking cessation therapies seems grossly out of proportion to the number of people...
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilityOctober 2010Antecedents of hospital admission for deliberate self-harm from a 14-year follow-up study using data-linkage
A prior episode of deliberate self-harm (DSH) is one of the strongest predictors of future completed suicide. Identifying antecedents of DSH may inform strategi
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilityJune 2010Anxiety disorders and cigarette smoking: Results from the Australian Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing
The aim of this study was to describe current and daily smoking rates, and smoking cessation rates in adults with anxiety disorders
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human CapabilityFebruary 2010Antecedents of teenage pregnancy from a 14-year follow-up study using data linkage
This study identified possible antecedents of teenage pregnancy using linked data from administrative sources to create a 14-year follow-up from a cross-sect...
Published research Human CapabilityJanuary 2010Indigenous well-being in four countries
Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand consistently place near the top of the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index...
Published research Aboriginal Health Human CapabilityJanuary 2010Common mental disorders: missed opportunity for smoking prevention and cessation
Common mental disorders: missed opportunity for smoking prevention and cessation
Published research Depression and Anxiety Human Capability -
Education and Qualifications
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Active Collaborations