Harkness Project Title: The Impact of Maternal Health on Child Health Status and Health Service Utilization

Mentors: Barry Zuckerman, M.D., and Bernard Guyer, M.D.

Placement: Boston University Department of Medicine

Biography at time of Harkness Fellowship: Sharon R. Goldfeld, M.B.B.S., a 1999–2000 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow in Health Care Policy, is an NHMRC research fellow (funded through the Public Health Research and Development Committee) at the University of Melbourne.  Her current research examines the factors, particularly psychosocial factors, which influence the use of health services in the first 12 months of life. She has participated in the development of research and programs for the Centre for Community Child Health, and teaches at the University of Melbourne. She became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a consultant pediatrician in 1997, specializing in developmental and behavioral pediatrics. She completed fellowships in community child health and adolescent health, and received her Graduate Diploma of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in 1998. Goldfeld is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Melbourne.

Career Activity Since Fellowship

• Inaugural Aileen Plant Award, for contribution to Australian public health leadership and research, 2008
• Senior Child Health Policy Advisor, Office for Children and Principal Medical Advisor, Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, 2007
• Exam Medal, Best Performance, Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, 2007
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NHMRC Capacity Building Grant – Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, 2007
• National Director, Australian Early Development Index National Collection, Centre for Community Child Health
• Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne, 2005
• Pediatrician and Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, 2001

Current Positions:

• Consultant Paediatrician and Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Community Child Health, Royal Children’s Hospital
• Senior Fellow, Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne
• Post Doctoral Research Fellow, NHMRC Capacity Building Grant, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
• Principal Medical Advisor, Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

(Updated August 2010)

E-Mail: sharon.goldfeld@rch.org.au

Harkness-Related Publications

Goldfeld S, Wright M, Oberklaid F. "Parents, infants and healthcare: Utilisation of health services in the first 12 months of life." Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 2003;39(4): 249–253.

Goldfeld S, Wise P, Zuckerman B. "The Impact of Maternal Health on Child Health Status and Health Service Utilisation." Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2002;38 (5):A8.

Goldfeld SR, Wright MC, Oberklaid F. "Determinants of Primary Health Care Use in the First 12 Months of Life." Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 2001;37 (6):A8.