January 23, 2015

Professor leads Illawarra residents in health challenge

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health Professor Alison Jones is encouraging Illawarra and Shoalhaven residents to join her in a study that will encourage and track weight loss in 2015.

The HealthTrack Study is run by the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, which is a collaboration between the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Local Health District and UOW.

The study aims to compare different approaches to lifestyle intervention with health practitioners over 12 months, as well as to measure the population risk factors for chronic disease based on a participant group of people aged between 25 and 54.

Late last year Professor Jones chose to join the study with an aim of losing 20 kilograms over the 12-month period, and to share her own weight loss struggle with the public.

“Like most people in my middle years, I have gained weight around the middle. I got to a point where I knew I wanted to lose a significant amount of weight – around 20 to 30 kilograms,” Professor Jones said.

“As a medical practitioner I knew that carrying weight around the middle was a marker of chronic disease for the future. I thought, ‘I can either do this quietly or I can open myself up to my community and say let’s do this together, let’s support each other’.”

Participants of HealthTrack will have access to researchers from a range of medical specialties including nutrition, exercise science and psychology, who will compile a personalised plan suited to the individual’s needs.

“This study makes the best of science available to people of the region at zero cost – and the participants are also helping researchers discover new things,” Professor Jones said.

To find out more about the study, or to see if you are eligible to participate, visit the HealthTrack Study website.

Professor Jones will be sharing her experience with the study every Friday in the Illawarra Mercury’s Good Life supplement, starting 30 January.