Professor Gita Mishra

NHMRC Leadership Fellow

School of Public Health
Faculty of Medicine
g.mishra@sph.uq.edu.au
+61 7 334 65224

Overview

Professor Gita Mishra’s main research area is life course epidemiology and women’s health. She joined the University of Queensland (UQ) in 2010 as the first Professor of Life Course Epidemiology at the School of Public Health. She was subsequently awarded an ARC Future Fellowship (2013-2017), a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (2017-2021), and is currently an NHMRC Leadership Fellow (Level 3; 2022-26).

At UQ she is founding Director of the Australian Women and Girls’ Health Research (AWaGHR) Centre that has 30 academics, professional staff, and PhD students. Within the centre, she leads the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Women and Non-Communicable Diseases (CRE WaND) and the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health (ALSWH) a national flagship study since 1996 that has collected data on over 57,000 women in four age cohorts. Since 2012 she has also led and developed the International collaboration for a Life course Approach to reproductive health and Chronic disease Events(InterLACE) that combines data from more than 800,000 women in 27 studies in 12 countries and has become a leading global resource for robust evidence on reproductive events, including pregnancy loss and the risk of non-communicable diseases.

Professor Mishra is internationally recognized for her expertise in epidemiology and women’s health across the life course. This is especially regarding her research on the links between reproductive characteristics, from menarche to menopause, and non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Her work from ALSWH and InterLACE have contributed significantly to her career total of over 450 scientific papers, book chapters, and reports to inform government policy. As lead editor, Mishra has recently completed the 2nd edition of A life course approach to women’s health – part of the ground-breaking Life Course Series from Oxford University Press – due for publication in early 2023. As a result of successful grant funding, her current research at AWaGHR includes leading projects on endometriosis, menstrual and pelvic pain, and the healthcare experience of women with multimorbidity.

She is actively engaged in research translation and capacity building. In 2018 Professor Mishra led the evidence review for the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030, and recently she chaired the Future Research session at the 2021 RANZCOGWomen’s Health Summit in Canberra. In 2022 she was co-convenor of the Queensland Women’s Health Forum to support research and policy development in the state. Her research is often featured by national and international media organisations. For example, her team’s recent findings on the links between stillbirth and miscarriage and the risk of stroke led to interviews for Reuters, ABC, and BBC. She has also co-authored eight articles on women’s health for The Conversation that have reached over 130,000 readers.

In addition to mentoring postdoctoral researchers, Professor Mishra currently supervises 9 PhD students, with 21 previously completed. These have typically resulted in five or more papers published alongside each dissertation. Many of her students have then gone on to successful research or scientific careers at world-leading institutions.

In 2017, she was elected as a board member for the European Menopause and Andropause Society; received honorary membership of Sigma International, a global nursing organisation; and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS). In 2022 she received the RANZCOG award for Excellence in Women’s Health.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Auckland

Publications

  • Hickey, Martha, LaCroix, Andrea Z, Doust, Jennifer, Mishra, Gita D, Sivakami, Muthusamy, Garlick, Deborah and Hunter, Myra S (2024). An empowerment model for managing menopause. The Lancet, 403 (10430), 947-957. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02799-X

  • Mishra, Gita D, Davies, Melanie C, Hillman, Sarah, Chung, Hsin-Fang, Roy, Subho, Maclaran, Kate and Hickey, Martha (2024). Optimising health after early menopause. The Lancet, 403 (10430), 958-968. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02800-3

  • Brown, Lydia, Hunter, Myra S, Chen, Rong, Crandall, Carolyn J, Gordon, Jennifer L, Mishra, Gita D, Rother, Viktoria, Joffe, Hadine and Hickey, Martha (2024). Promoting good mental health over the menopause transition. The Lancet, 403 (10430), 969-983. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)02801-5

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Grants

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Supervision

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Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Mishra, Gita D., Rowlands, Ingrid J., Chan, Hsiu-Wen and Montgomery, Grant W. (2023). A life course approach to endometriosis. A life course approach to women's health. (pp. 33-C3P147) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864642.003.0003

  • Chung, Hsin-Fang and Mishra, Gita D. (2023). A life course perspective on women’s health behaviours. A life course approach to women's health. (pp. 257-272) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864642.003.0015

  • Mishra, Gita D., Chung, Hsin-Fang, Hickey, Martha, Kuh, Diana and Hardy, Rebecca (2023). Menopause and hysterectomy: a life course perspective. A life course approach to women's health. (pp. 49-C4P211) Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864642.003.0004

  • Hardy, Rebecca, Kuh, Diana and Mishra, Gita D. (2023). A life course approach to women's health: Linking the past, present, and future. A Life Course Approach to Women's Health. (pp. 385-406) edited by Gita Mishra, Rebecca Hardy and Diana Kuh. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780192864642.003.0023

  • Jin, Chuyao, Xu, Xiaolin, Tooth, Leigh R. and Mishra, Gita D. (2023). Voluntary childlessness: demographic, socio economic, family, and psychosocial factors. Handbook of labor, human resources and population economics. (pp. 1-26) edited by Klaus F. Zimmermann. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_441-1

  • Rowlands, Ingrid J., Mishra, Gita D. and Abbott, Jason A. (2022). Global epidemiological data on endometriosis. Endometriosis and adenomyosis: global perspectives across the lifespan. (pp. 15-28) Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-97236-3_2

  • Mishra, Gita D. (2017). Menopause, a stage in the life of women. Menopause: a comprehensive approach. (pp. 3-7) Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-59318-0_1

  • Mishra, Gita D., Kuh, Diana and Ben-Shlomo, Yoav (2015). Life course epidemiology. International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences. (pp. 67-75) edited by James D. Wright. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.14085-1

  • Ben-Shlomo, Yoav, Mishra, Gita and Kuh, Diana (2014). Life course epidemiology. Handbook of Epidemiology: Second Edition. (pp. 1521-1549) New York, USA: Springer New York. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-09834-0_56

  • Tom, Sarah E. and Mishra, Gita D. (2013). A life course approach to reproductive aging. Current topics in menopause. (pp. 3-19) edited by Volodymyr Dvornyk. Sharjah, United Arab Emirates ; Oak Park, Ill United States: Bentham Science Publishers. doi: 10.2174/9781608054534113010004

  • Mishra, Gita and Cooper, Rachel (2009). Consequences of changes in reproductive patterns on later health in women: A life course approach. Reproductive Ageing. (pp. 183-192) Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781107784734.019

  • Cooper, Cyrus, Sayer, Avan Aihie, Mishra, Gita and Kuh, Di (2009). Developmental origins of musculoskeletal disease. Early life origins of human health and disease. (pp. 100-112) edited by John P. Newnham and Michael G. Ross. New York, NY, United States: Karger. doi: 10.1159/000221157

  • Brown, W. J., Mishra, G., Kenardy, J. A. and Dobson, A. J. (2001). Too fat, too thin, just right: What is a healthy weight for young women?. Women's Health Australia Progress on the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health 1995-2000. (pp. 114-119) edited by C. Lee. Brisbane, Australia: Australian Academic Press.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

Completed Supervision