Professor John Attia

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Professor John Attia obtained a BSc in Physiology (Faculty scholar at McGill University) and then won a 5 year MRC scholarship to complete his MD/PhD in Molecular Genetics (University of Toronto). He trained at McMaster University (Canada) in general internal medicine and obtained his fellowship with the Royal College of Physicians of Canada and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. During this time he was awarded the Outstanding Housestaff award, the J.T. Walsh award for outstanding Internal Medicine resident, and Best Teacher in Internal Medicine. During his residency, he also completed his MSc in Epidemiology (McMaster University). He has been listed on the NHMRC register of Evidence-Based Medicine experts and has provided epidemiological expertise to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. In 2012, he won the senior research excellence award from both the Faculty of Health (University of Newcastle) and the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Between 1999 and 2016, he has collaborated in obtaining $20 million in grant income and published over 400 manuscripts (with another 5 submitted); these have garnered over 7000 citations, leading to an h-index of 42 (Scopus data April 2016). He has also submitted 7 government reports, and 7 book chapters. He has been supervisor or co-supervisor to 26 PhD students (16 graduated and 10 current) and 6 Master’s students (all graduated). He is currently academic director of general medicine at John Hunter Hospital responsible for the foundation and running of the advanced training program for general physicians, one of the only fully supported such programs in the state. He is also co-director of the Clinical Research Design, IT, and Statistical Support (CReDITSS) Unit, a unit that provides methodological and analysis advice to clinical researchers.Research ExpertiseJohn's research expertise includes clinical, molecular, and genetic epidemiology methods. Clinical epidemiology covers such topics as population- and hospital-based observational studies (cohort, case-control, crossover) and controlled clinical trials as well as studies of diagnostic tests, meta-analyses, and health services research. Molecular epidemiology focuses mainly on evaluation of biomarkers. Genetic epidemiology covers design and analysis of genome-wide association studies of various complex diseases, particularly macular degeneration and stroke.