Professor Gurmeet Singh

Senior Principal Research Fellow, Head of the Life Course Program, Deputy Head of the Child and Maternal Health Division

Qualifications:

PhD, University of Queensland, 2008; Fellow, Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 2008; Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, 2003; Diplomate of the National Board of Examinations (Paediatrics), India, 1989; MD (Doctor of Medicine) In Paediatrics, University of Delhi, 1988; Diploma of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Delhi, 2006; Diploma of Child Health, University of Delhi, 2005; Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery, University of Delhi, 1982

Approved level of HDR supervision at Charles Darwin University:

Primary Supervisor for PhD

Location:

Darwin - Royal Darwin Hospital campus

Biography:

Professor Gurmeet Singh is the director of the life course studies and recently obtained $2.2 million to conduct the next follow-up of the Aboriginal Birth Cohort (ABC), the longest and largest Aboriginal Cohort in Australia. She has dedicated over 18 years to indigenous health in both paediatric medicine and health research capacity in the Northern Territory (NT). Her area of interest is the relationship of early life factors to later health and chronic disease, particularly renal disease.

Professor Singh has been an integral part of the ABC for the past 16 years with involvement in all aspects of the study. She has been influential in forming national and international collaborations and is committed to using the study data to inform policy to decrease chronic disease burden in Indigenous communities.

She has since been instrumental in recruiting an age matched non-Aboriginal Top End Cohort (TEC). She coordinates the Darwin site of the Preterm Kidney Study investigating the impact of prematurity on renal function in collaboration with Monash University.

Concurrently, Professor Singh is a specialist paediatrician at Royal Darwin Hospital and a Senior Lecturer, Northern Territory Medical program. She is passionate about encouraging medical students to actively engage in research. To this end, she has been instrumental in expanding the honours program of the James Cook University School of Medicine to Darwin.


 

 

Professor Gurmeet Singh
Email
Research Themes
  • Child and Maternal Health
  • Life Course
  1. Mackerras, D.E., Singh, G.R., & Eastman, C.J. (2011). Iodine status of Aboriginal teenagers in the Darwin region before mandatory iodine fortification of bread. Medical Journal of Australia, 194(3), 126-30.
  2. Cunningham, T.E., Sayers, S.M., & Singh, G.R. (2011). Lipoprotein(a) identifies cardiovascular risk in childhood: The Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study. Journal of  Paediatrics and Child Health, 47(5), 257-261.
  3. Sayers, S.M., & Singh, G.R. (2010). Lifelong consequences of poor fetal growth. Medical Journal of Australia, 192(1), 5-6.
  4. Singh, G.R. (2009). Glomerulonephritis and managing the risks of chronic renal disease. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 56(6), 1363-82.
  5. Sayers, S., Singh, G., Mott, S., McDonnell, J., & Hoy, W. (2009). Relationships between birthweight and biomarkers of chronic disease in childhood: Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study 1987-2001. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 23(6), 548-56.
  6. Singh, G.R., Sayers, S.M., & Mackerras, D.E.M. (2009). The Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort: the lifecourse and much more. Australasian Epidemiologist, 16(3), 14-16.
  7. Allan, R.C., Sayers, S., Powers, J., & Singh, G. (2009). The development and evaluation of a simple method of gestational age estimation. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 45(1-2), 15-9.
  8. Sayers, S., Mott, S., & Singh, G. (2011). Fetal growth restriction and 18-year growth and nutritional status: Aboriginal birth cohort 1987–2007. American Journal of Human Biology, 23(3), 417–419.
  9. Mackerras, D.E.M., Singh, G.R., & Sayers, S. (2010). The Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study: When is a cohort study not a cohort design? Nutrition & Dietetics, 67(3), 171–176.
  10. Hoy, W.E., Hughson, M.D., Singh, G.R., Douglas-Denton, R., & Bertram, J.F. (2006). Reduced nephron number and glomerulomegaly in Australian Aborigines: a group at high risk for renal disease and hypertension. Kidney International, 70(1), 104-10. 
Click here to view more Gurmeet Singh publications in PubMed.
  1. Innovative study traced families for decades

    Innovative study traced families for decades

    Date

    The Life Course study was started in 1987 by the late pediatrician Dr Susan Sayers from the Menzies School of Health Research in Darwin.

  2. Aboriginal Birth Cohort study reaches 32 years of looking at health in the NT community

    Aboriginal Birth Cohort study reaches 32 years of looking at health in the NT community

    Date

    It is the longest and largest study of Aboriginal people in Australia, with 686 participants all born between 1987 and 1990 at Royal Darwin Hospital.

  3. Menzies runs next phase of Aboriginal health study

    Menzies runs next phase of Aboriginal health study

    Date

    Australia’s largest and longest running study of Aboriginal people, the Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study (ABC), has begun its fifth wave of data collection.

  4. New stage in Indigenous health study

    New stage in Indigenous health study

    Date

    Campus Morning Mail reports on Menzies School of Health Research commencing collecting data for a fifth wave of its Aboriginal Birth Health Cohort Study.

  5. Fifth wave of research to roll out across the Top End

    Fifth wave of research to roll out across the Top End

    Date

    Australia’s largest and longest running study of Aboriginal people, the Aboriginal Birth Cohort Study (ABC), has commenced its fifth wave of data collection.

  6. Longest running Aboriginal health study to enter new stage

    Longest running Aboriginal health study to enter new stage

    Date

    For thirty years, researchers at the Menzies School of Health research have been tracking the health of babies born to Aboriginal mothers at Royal Darwin Hospital between 1987 and 1990.

  7. $12 Million NT Investment aims to save lives

    $12 Million NT Investment aims to save lives

    Date

    Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion and Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt AM today announced the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding for researchers at Darwin’s Menzies School of Medical Research, covering Indigenous-specific and broader health projects.

  8. Preterm babies at risk of developing kidney disease

    Preterm babies at risk of developing kidney disease

    Date

    How healthy we are in adulthood is, in many ways, determined while we are still in the womb. Babies born prematurely could be at greater risk of developing kidney disease later in life according to a landmark Monash University study investigating the impacts of preterm birth on kidney development.

  9. Red hot Alice puts mums and bubs at risk

    Red hot Alice puts mums and bubs at risk

    Date

    Three Menzies staff - Professor Anne Chang, Dr Gurmeet Singh and Dr Elizabeth McDonald - were involved in this study. The paper, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, linked preterm births with extreme heat.

  10. Cohort Profile: Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort (ABC) study

    Cohort Profile: Australian Aboriginal Birth Cohort (ABC) study

    Date

    International Journal of Epidemiology, 2017, 1 Pocket Profile

  11. Rain, hail or shine - Landmark study rolls on

    Rain, hail or shine - Landmark study rolls on

    Date

    The largest, longest-running and most significant study of the lives of Indigenous babies born in Australia continued its fourth wave of data collection throughout 2014.

  12. 730NT: Tracking down Darwinites' health

    730NT: Tracking down Darwinites' health

    Date

    It's the nation's largest and longest-running study of Aboriginal people - and it's happening here in the Northern Territory.

  13. On the road again: Nation's oldest and largest Aboriginal health study

    On the road again: Nation's oldest and largest Aboriginal health study

    Date

    The oldest and largest study of Aboriginal people in Australia has begun its fourth wave of data collection.