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Professor

Ingrid van der Mei

Professor

Menzies Institute for Medical Research

Orcid identifier0000-0001-9009-7472
  • Professor
    Menzies Institute for Medical Research
  • Menzies Institute for Medical Research, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, 358b-01 Medical Science 2, Hobart CBD Campuses, TAS

BIO

Professor Ingrid van der Mei, a leading epidemiologist at the University of Tasmania's Menzies Institute for Medical Research, is trying to solve the puzzle of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a debilitating neurological disease that often presents in young and middle-aged adults. MS is caused by the demyelination of nerve cells, and depending on the location of these, people develop a large range of symptoms including problems with fatigue, mobility and muscle function, pain, cognition, speech, bladder, and vision.

Ingrid's research focuses on understanding why people get MS and what influences the progression and quality of life. One of the team's biggest findings to date has been proving the link between MS and sun exposure. When Ingrid first started her MS research in 1998, it was known that there was a latitudinal gradient with the rate of MS being seven times higher in Tasmania than in Northern Queensland. That led to the idea that low sunlight exposure or low vitamin D levels might be a risk factor of MS. That hypothesis turned out to be true.

Ingrid is running the Australian MS Longitudinal Study. Around 2,500 people around Australia participate in a number of surveys each year. The data is owned by MS Australia and used for research, service delivery and advocacy, and is available for other Australian MS researchers. It has focused, for example, on understanding the impact of MS on work productivity, the role of MS Nurse care on health outcomes, and the symptoms and other medical conditions that have the biggest impact on quality of life. For more information, please see https://www.msaustralia.org.au/AMSLS.

Ingrid is also taking advantage of the new era of technology to improve health. Her vision is to harness digital health technologies for people with MS, their clinical care and associate care teams, with the aim of improving both clinical care and self care for people with MS.
She is working on projects that focus on the improvement of the management of people with MS through data, knowledge and empowerment:
• InforMS, as a single integrated electronic system for people with MS, has the ability to impact on clinical care and self care. For example, neurologists will have ‘hard data’ about whether a treatment works or does not work, allowing them to identify treatment failure early and be responsive with their treatment, and MS Nurses will have accurate, up to date information for triage issues, preventing escalation of disease activity, and will be able to use telehealth to service those in regional and remote areas. Through InforMS, people with MS will be empowered to optimise their self-management and it will allow a shift in patient–clinician interactions that encourages shared decision-making about their health.
• MS WorkSmart is a first of its kind digital program, specific for people with MS that not only provides knowledge but encourages people with MS to make important changes and modifications to their lifestyle and workplace that aim to improve their work productivity and ultimately reduces the risk of unemployment and underemployment due to MS.
• The My SymptoMS App is an MS specific tool designed to identify the lifestyle factors that have positive and negative effects on MS symptoms. Users are able to work with health practitioners to implement change according to their individual findings.
• Four specialised MOOCs increase knowledge on specialised topics. Three are designed for people with MS, and one is designed for those who support and care for people with MS.

'I want to keep being challenged in my work, through new lines of research in the digital era,' she said. 'I like what I do. To see the change in knowledge and to develop tools that are helpful for people with MS is really satisfying.'

DEGREES

  • PhD, Epidemiology
    University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia
  • MSci, Environmental Health Sciences
    Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
  • MSci, Human Movement Sciences
    VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

SCHOOL AND PORTFOLIO

  • Menzies Institute for Medical Research

FIELD OF RESEARCH