Professor Ed Mitchell

Professor Ed Mitchell qualified at St George’s Hospital Medical School in London and has worked in the UK, Zambia and New Zealand.  He completed his paediatric training in New Zealand.

In 2001 he was appointed Professor of Child Health Research at the University of Auckland.  He has published over 300 original papers, particularly on the epidemiology of asthma and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

In 1996 the University of London awarded him a Doctor of Science for his work on “The Epidemiology and Prevention of SIDS”.  He has received several awards for his landmark study of SIDS.
 

Career and Research Highlights

• Sudden infant death syndrome (1987-1990: Directed the New Zealand Cot Death Study (a case-control study, HRC funded); 1991-1993: Directed the New Zealand SIDS Prevention Study (a nested case-control study within a national cohort study, NIH funded); advisor to many countries on SIDS prevention; 1998-2008: International adviser to the German SIDS Case-Control Study; 2008-present: elected President to the International Society for the Study and Prevention of Perinatal and Infant Death [ISPID])

• Asthma (increasing rates of hospitalisation in New Zealand; increasing prevalence of asthma; founding member of the ISAAC Steering Committee, part funded by HRC)

• Cohort study with disproportionate sampling of small for gestational age (SGA) infants. This study has examined the children at birth (HRC funded), 12 months, 3.5 years, 7 years and 11 years of age (Cure Kids funded). The study was initially established to identify the determinants for being born SGA. It is now looking at risk factors for obesity.

• Children of SCOPE (HRC and Cure Kids funded). Examining factors in pregnancy that influence the risk of obesity in the child.