John W. Lynch Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor
Division of Health Sciences
University of South Australia
Email: John.Lynch@adelaide.edu.au
Discipline: Public Health, Epidemiology
Expertise: Health Care Inequalities, Public and Population Health
Investigator Award 
An Individual and Population Lifecourse Approach to the Determinants of HealthAward Year: 2001 Drs. Lynch and Smith will develop an individual and population lifecourse framework to better understand the two dominant features of population health - widening disparities existing simultaneously with overall improvements. Through analyses conducted at the individual, regional (states and regions within the U.S. and U.K.), and international levels, the investigators will examine how lifecourse influences affect a particular cohort, different cohorts over time, and disease trends among populations in wealthy nations and between the rich and poor within these countries. A range of exposures and health outcomes will be studied including low birth weight and such cause-specific morbidity and mortality indicators as CHD, stroke, COPD, asthma, TB, suicide, cirrhosis, accidental/violent deaths, and lung, breast, and stomach cancer. Findings should clarify those poor starts in life that can and cannot be overcome and assist in identifying targets for interventions.
Background 
John Lynch is professor of public health at the University of Adelaide since early 2011. He is also visiting professor of epidemiology at University of Bristol (UK). He was previously in the department of epidemiology at the University of Michigan and was a Canada Research Chair in the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at McGill University in Montreal. In mid 2008 he returned to Australia and took up an appointment at University of South Australia. He is an internationally recognized scholar in epidemiology and public health with more than 200 publications. In 2007 his work in public health was recognized with an honorary Doctorate in Medical Science from the University of Copenhagen. In 2009 he was awarded a prestigious NHMRC Australia Fellowship. His research interests include early childhood development, life course processes regulating health behaviours and human capability formation, population health information systems, evidence-based public health and improving the public health research-policy nexus.
- Harper, S., Lynch, J., Burris, S., Davey Smith, G. Trends in the Black-White Life Expectancy Gap in the United States, 1983-2003. JAMA, 2007, 297(11): 1224-32.
- Lynch, J.W., Davey Smith, G., Harper, S., Bainbridge, K. Explaining the Social Gradient in Coronary Heart Disease: Comparing Relative and Absolute Risk Approaches. J of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2006, 60: 436-441.
- Galobardes, B., Davey Smith, G., Lynch, J.W. Systematic Review of the Influence of Childhood Socioeconomic Position on Risk of Cardiovascular Disease in Adulthood. Annals of Epidemiology, 2006, 16: 91-104.
- Lynch, J., Harper, S., Kaplan, G.A., Davey Smith, G. Associations between Income Inequality and Mortality among U.S. States: The Importance of Time Period and Source of Income Data, AJPH, 2005, 95, 8, 1424-30.
- Lynch, J., Davey Smith, G., Harper, S., Hillemeier, M. Is Income Inequality a Determinant of Population Health, Part 2. U.S. National and Regional Trends in Income Inequality and Age- and Cause-Specific Mortality. Milbank Quarterly, 2004, 82(2): 355-400
- Lynch, J.W., Davey Smith, G. Is Income Inequality a Determinant of Population Health? Part 1. Milbank Quarterly, 2004, 82(1): 5-99.
- Lynch, J., Harper, S., Davey Smith, G. Plugging Leaks and Repelling Boarders--Where to Next for the SS Income Inequality? International J of Epidemiology, 2003, 32(6): 1022-8.
- Lynch, J., Davey Smith, G. Rates and States: Reflections on the Health of Nations. International J of Epidemiology, 2003, 32(4): 663-70.
- Gold, R., Kawachi, I., Kennendy, B.P., Lynch, J.W., Connell, F.A. Ecological Analysis of Teen Birth Rates: Association with Community Income and Income Inequality. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2001, 5(3): 161-7.
- Lantz, P., Lynch, J., House, J., Lepkowski, J., Mero, R., Musick, M., Williams, D. Socioeconomic Disparities in Health Change in a Longitudinal Study of U.S. Adults: The Role of Health-Risk Behaviors. Social Science and Medicine, 2001, 53(1): 29-40.
- Lynch, J.W., Davey Smith, G., Kaplan, G., House, J.S. Income Inequality and Mortality: Importance to Health of Individual Income, Psychosocial Environment, or Material Conditions. BMJ, 2000, 320(7243): 1200-4.