Professor Shane Thomas

Honorary Professor

Biography

Shane Thomas is an Honorary Professor at the Research School of Population Health, and is a research methodologist with active research interests in health system and quality improvement, chronic (especially mental) illness, behavioural addictions.

The focus of Shane's work is to perform top quality rigorous multi-disciplinary translational research and consultancy that makes a difference especially for those who are experiencing disadvantage. The approaches he uses are drawn from the health and medical sciences, business and the evaluation sciences obtained from his training at the University of Melbourne, Harvard Business School and professional experience.

Shane is also a Professor and Director at the International Primary Health Care Research Institute, Shenzhen, China; an Honorary Professor at Peking University, China, and a Principal at Thomas and Associates.

Research

Research interests

Professor Shane Thomas together with Professor Colette Browning recently led four staff from the Research School of Population Health in their contributions to eight papers to the Frontiers in Public Health Special Research Topic issue on Chronic Illness and Ageing in China. https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/7544/chronic-illness-and-ageing-in-china#articles. Professor Thomas is an expert in healthy ageing and has worked extensively in China on Chronic illness and the COVID-19 outbreak. The special issue is a significant advance in the work in this field. It was funded by the Australian Research Council in a Discovery Project and the Shenzhen Government in China.

China’s population is ageing and, like many countries including Australia, the major disease burden is chronic illnesses. Today, life expectancy in China is 76 years, an increase in 17 years since 1970. In 2016, 10.8% of the population were aged 65 years and over and by 2050 this will increase to 25%. Closely linked to the shift in ageing profile is the transition in health, involving a progressive shift in the burden of disease away from communicable disorders and injuries to chronic non-communicable diseases. Almost 80% of all deaths in people living in China aged 60 years or over are attributable to chronic non-communicable disease Behavioural risk factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, sedentary behaviour, insufficient dietary intake, and high BMI contribute significantly to the prevention and management of these conditions. Population ageing has a major impact on the numbers of people with at least one chronic illness.

The work reported in the special issue was inspired by similar work undertaken by Professors Thomas and Browning in Australia and the United States.

All of the papers in the Special Issue are free public access.

The editors for the special issue included a team of leading Australian and Chinese scholars:

  • Professor Colette J Browning, Federation University
  • Professor Shane Thomas, Australian National University
  • Professor Zeqi Qiu, Peking University
  • Dr Anna Chapman, Deakin University
  • Dr Shuo Liu, Peking University

 

The Special Issue involved 40 International authors. The papers included in the special issue are:

 

  • Rao X, Lai J, Wu H, Li Y, Xu X, Browning CJ and Thomas SA (2020) The Development of a Competency Assessment Standard for General Practitioners in China. Front. Public Health 8:23. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00023
  • Yiengprugsawan VS and Browning CJ (2019) Non-communicable Diseases and Cognitive Impairment: Pathways and Shared Behavioral Risk Factors Among Older Chinese. Front. Public Health 7:296. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00296
  • Sun W, Li Y, Hu Y, Rao X, Xu X, Browning CJ and Thomas SA (2019) Perspectives on the Training of Chinese Primary Health Care Physicians to Reduce Chronic Illnesses and Their Burden. Front. Public Health 7:168. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00168
  • Heine C, Gong CH and Browning CJ (2019) Dual Sensory Loss, Mental Health, and Wellbeing of Older Adults Living in China. Front. Public Health 7:92. Doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00092
  • Heine C, Browning CJ and Gong CH (2019) Sensory Loss in China: Prevalence, Use of Aids, and Impacts on Social Participation. Front. Public Health 7:5. Doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00005
  • Browning CJ, Qiu Z, Yang H, Zhang T and Thomas SA (2019) Food, Eating, and Happy Aging: The Perceptions of Older Chinese People. Front. Public Health 7:73. Doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00073
  • Gildner TE, Ng N, Wu F, Guo Y, Snodgrass JJ and Kowal P (2018) Ideal Cardiovascular Health and Cognitive Test Performance: Testing a Modified Index of Life’s Simple 7 Among Older Chinese Adults. Front. Public Health 6:352. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00352
  • Hou B, Nazroo J, Banks J and Marshall A (2018) Migration Status and Smoking Behaviors in Later-Life in China—Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Front. Public Health 6:346. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00346
  • Chapman A, Browning CJ, Enticott JC, Yang H, Liu S, Zhang T and Thomas SA (2018) Effect of a Health Coach Intervention for the Management of Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in China: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Front. Public Health 6:252. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00252
  • Xu X, Parker D, Shi Z, Byles J, Hall J and Hickman L (2018) Dietary Pattern, Hypertension and Cognitive Function in an Older Population: 10-Year Longitudinal Survey. Front. Public Health 6:201. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2018.00201

 

The special issue will soon be published as a volume and it includes an editorial co-authored by the editorial team and English and Chinese language content.