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Methamphetamine and injecting drug use cohort studies: MIXMAX

Open to students

MIXMAX is the largest active cohort study of people who use drugs in Australia.

This study combines 2 pre-existing studies:

  • SuperMIX – the largest and longest running cohort study of people who inject drugs in Australia (2008 onwards).
  • VMAX – a cohort study determining patterns of methamphetamine use and harm in metropolitan and rural Victoria. The study is focused on methamphetamine smoking (2016 onwards).

The 2 studies have combined to establish new evidence on the harms of injecting drug use and methamphetamine use, and the effectiveness health programs and treatments to address them.

A cohort study is a research method where scientists follow a group of people over time to see how certain things, like habits or exposures, affect their health.

Student opportunities

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Social networks of people who use drugs

Help us understand the characteristics study participant social networks. Investigate the influence of these characteristics on drug-related risk behaviours and harms, including cessation from and relapse into drug use, and overdose.

Tobacco/nicotine harm reduction among people with a history of illicit drug use

Quantitative research including: 

  • analysis of trends in prevalence of daily tobacco use, quantity of cigarettes smoked daily, and/or vape use 
  • analysis of longitudinal changes in individual smoking behaviours 
  • estimation of incidence of tobacco-related chronic disease hospital admissions. 

Measuring risk and health outcomes among women who use drugs

Qualitative and quantitative research, including: 

  • conducting in-depth interviews with study participants to better understand their experiences as people who inject drugs 
  • analysis of longitudinal survey data, characterising and assessing its suitability to understand behavioural risk and health outcomes among women. 
Open to
  • Honours
  • Masters by research
Vacancies

2

Understanding the needs of women who inject drugs

Qualitative and quantitative research, or mixed methods research including: 

  • conducting in-depth interviews with women of the SuperMIX study, to better understand their gendered experiences as people who inject drugs 
  • analysis of longitudinal SuperMIX survey data to characterise the qualitative research sample and/or understand and compare differences between selected variables (experiences) of men/women. 

Partners

Funding partners

  • National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Grant ID: 2023690.

Collaborators

  • Monash Rural Health 
  • British Columbia Centre on Substance Use  
  • Curtin University 
  • Deakin University 
  • University of Bristol 
  • School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
  • Kirby Institute 
  • UNSW Sydney
  • Alfred Health 
  • Harm Reduction Victoria 
  • Royal Melbourne Hospital 

Project contacts

Main contacts

Professor Paul Dietze

Professor Paul Dietze

Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
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Student supervisor contacts

Dr Rachel Sacks-Davis

Dr Rachel Sacks-Davis

Senior Research Fellow
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Professor Paul Dietze

Professor Paul Dietze

Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
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Associate Professor Peter Higgs

Associate Professor Peter Higgs

Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
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Dr Michael Curtis

Dr Michael Curtis

Postdoctoral Research Officer
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Dr Anna Wilkinson

Dr Anna Wilkinson

Research Fellow
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Associate Professor Peter Higgs

Associate Professor Peter Higgs

Principal Research Fellow; Honorary Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, La Trobe University
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Dr Rebecca Winter

Dr Rebecca Winter

Deputy Head Justice Health Group
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Dr Shelley Walker

Dr Shelley Walker

Adjunct Research Fellow
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Project team

Professor Paul Dietze

Professor Paul Dietze

Program Director, Disease Elimination; Professor and Program Leader, National Drug Research Institute (NDRI)
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Troy Combo

Troy Combo

Program Manager, Aboriginal Health Plan, EC Australia
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Filip Djordjevic

Filip Djordjevic

Research Assistant
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Professor Joseph (Joe) Doyle

Professor Joseph (Joe) Doyle

Deputy Program Director, Disease Elimination; Co-Head, Infectious Diseases Clinical Research; President, Hepatitis Australia; NHMRC Clinical Research Fellow
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Dr Anna Hearps

Dr Anna Hearps

Deputy Program Director, Disease Elimination; Head, Infection, Inflammation and Innate Immunity Group
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Zachary  Lloyd

Zachary Lloyd

Research Assistant
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Rebekka (Bek) Petrovic

Rebekka (Bek) Petrovic

Research Assistant
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Dr Amanda Roxburgh

Dr Amanda Roxburgh

Senior Research Fellow
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Professor Mark A  Stoové

Professor Mark A Stoové

Head of Public Health
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Bianca Whiteside

Bianca Whiteside

PhD candidate; Research Assistant
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Joanna Wilson

Joanna Wilson

Research Assistant
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Associate Professor Bernadette Ward

Associate Professor Bernadette Ward

Collaborator
Monash Rural Health
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Dr Thomas Kerr

Dr Thomas Kerr

Collaborator
British Columbia Centre on Substance Use
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Dr Jocelyn Jones

Dr Jocelyn Jones

Collaborator
Curtin University
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Associate Professor Paul Agius

Associate Professor Paul Agius

Honorary Principal Research Fellow
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Professor Matthew Hickman

Professor Matthew Hickman

Collaborator
University of Bristol
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Associate Professor James Trauer

Associate Professor James Trauer

Head of Epidemiological Modelling
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University
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Professor Lisa Maher

Professor Lisa Maher

Collaborator
Kirby Institute and UNSW Sydney
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Associate Professor Andrew Stewardson

Associate Professor Andrew Stewardson

Infection Prevention and Healthcare Epidemiology
Alfred Health; Monash Univesity
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Sione Crawford

Sione Crawford

Collaborator
Harm Reduction Australia
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Associate Professor Nicholas  Clark

Associate Professor Nicholas Clark

Collaborator
Royal Melbourne Hospital
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