Emergent Epidemic of
Non-communicable Diseases
The Emerging Epidemic of Non-communicable Diseases: New Perspectives, New Methods, New Solutions
Dr C Mary Schooling
Associate Professor and Cluster Leader
(Non-communicable Diseases in Global Health), School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong
Biography
Dr C Mary Schooling is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Public Health, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Dr Schooling received a PhD from University College London in 2001. By applying the evolutionary biology theory that growth and reproduction trade-off against longevity, Dr Schooling has generated impactful public health insights, which contributed to the US Food and Drug Administration (2014/5) and Health Canada (2015) identifying androgens as a new cardiovascular disease risk factor, with corresponding impact on sales and practice. Dr Schooling has also identified that the most used drug to prevent cardiovascular disease, statins, partially operates by reducing testosterone in men with corresponding implications for prevention strategies, as well as obtaining genetic validation that an existing drug (neurokinin three receptor antagonists) could be repurposed as a means of preventing ischemic heart disease and possibly prostate cancer in men. As a keen advocate of more rigorous epidemiological methods, Dr Schooling has contributed to building research resources in Hong Kong, implemented studies with many different designs and published award-winning methodological papers, among over 400 published papers. As an editor or Advisory Board member of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Social Science and Medicine, Preventive Medicine, International Journal of Epidemiology and Plos ONE, and as a reviewer for many international grant awarding bodies, Dr Schooling is shaping the next generation of methodologically rigorous researchers in global health.
Abstract
Controlling the emerging epidemic of non-communicable diseases likely requires moving beyond empirically derived hypotheses, often based on limited questions about a narrow section of the global population, to generic explanations that can be adapted to local situations. New questions key to global health will be identified and advantages of building on well-established theories demonstrated in terms of the insights gained. Key to this endeavour is the use of resources and methods that enable valid generalisable inferences from observational data, in terms of patterns of disease, causes of disease and translation to diverse settings. Issues new and old will be considered, such as competing risk when comparing patterns of disease between settings, the difficulty of making fair comparisons, particularly in the face of survivorship bias, and means of thinking about generalising across contexts, along with discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches. Finally, examples will be given of new insights and their implications for promoting the equitable prevention of non-communicable diseases globally.