Dr Nicole Au

Position: Research Fellow

Email: nicole.au@monash.edu

Qualifications: PhD (Monash University); Postgrad Dip Health Econ (Monash University); BCom (University of Melbourne)

Profile:  Nicole completed her PhD in 2011. Her thesis focused on the economic determinants and consequences of obesity in Australia and involved analyses of large panel datasets using microeconometric techniques.

Prior to her PhD, Nicole worked on population health policies and economic evaluations at the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing in Canberra, and on tobacco control policy evaluations in Shandong Province, China.    

Nicole's current research interests include behavioural economic interventions for obesity and chronic diseases; techniques to control for reporting heterogeneity in self-assessed health questionnaires; and, the efficiency of health service delivery in low income countries.

Recent Publications: 

AU, N., Hauck, K.,Hollingsworth, B. (2013) The relationship between smoking, quitting smoking and obesity in Australia: a seemingly unrelated probit approach. Applied Economics 45:16.

Au, N, Hauck, H, Hollingsworth, B (2012) Employment, work hours and weight gain among middle-aged women. International Journal of Obesity.

Au, N., (2012) The health care cost implications of overweight and obesity during childhood. Health Services Research 47:2, 655-676.

Au, N., Hollingsworth, B., (2011) Employment patterns and changes in body weight among young women. Preventive Medicine 52, 310-16.

Recent Conference papers:

With Lorgelly, P. A panel data analysis of health state utilities: the role of obesity and multiple morbidities in Australia. European Conference on Health Economics (ECHE), Zurich, July 2012.

With Lorgelly, P. Adjusting for reporting bias in the EQ5D-5L: a novel application of anchoring vignettes. European Conference on Health Economics (ECHE), Zurich, July 2012.

The medical costs of childhood overweight. Eighth International Health Economics Association (IHEA) World Congress, Toronto, July 2011.