Irene has a medical background and completed her PhD in Medicine at Monash University in early 2002. Her PhD thesis, “Survival amongst longevity cultures: social, physical activity, and nutritional determinants”, was based on a longitudinal study (Food Habits in Later Life) amongst multicultural older people conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO). She found that adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern prolonged survival among older people in Greece, Australia, Japan and Sweden.
Irene joined the Public Heath and Preventive Division of the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) in mid 2002 as a Research Fellow where she coordinated a large RCT, “Falls aren’t us” project. She also managed the implementation of falls risk screen in Emergency Department setting. Recently, Irene is involved in the Well For Life project where she oversees the literature review update of nutrition section.
Beginning in 2006, Irene has a joint appointment as Research Fellow in Primary Care at the Department of General Practice, the University of Melbourne. She coordinates the Patient Engagement And Coaching for Health (PEACH) study, a NHMRC funded cluster RCT investigating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a patient focused chronic disease self-management program (COACH program) in improving outcomes for people with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. She is also the coordinator of Chronic Disease Theme within the Primary Care Research Unit at the Department of General Practice. In 2008, she was appointed as the Fellow of the NHMRC Centre Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) in Clinical Science in Diabetes at the University of Melbourne, Department of Medicine, St Vincent’s Hospital.
Irene has published several peer-review articles. She has been a peer-reviewer for the Injury Prevention Journal, Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Medical Science Monitor Journal, the Australian Family Physician and NHMRC grants. She has been the Secretary of the Asia Pacific Clinical Nutrition Society since 2004.
Research Areas
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Nutrition, falls prevention, diabetes, primary care, public health, geriatric medicine, program evaluation
Current Research Projects
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Preventing future falls in older people presenting to Emergency Department following a fall – Falls Aren’t U
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Implementation of falls risk screen for older people presenting to an Emergency Department
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Well for Life: updating improving nutrition in residential aged care facilities section
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Patient Engagement And Coaching for Health (PEACH) study – at The University of Melbourne
Publications
Wahlqvist ML, Kouris-Blazos A, Darmadi I, Purba M. Nutrition and the elderly - the global perspective. South Africa Journal of Clinical Nutrition February 2000;13(1):28S-31S.
Darmadi I, Wahlqvist ML, Horie Y, Horie K, Sugase K, Kouris-Blazos A, Wattanapenpaiboon N. Food and nutrient intakes and overall survival of elderly Japanese. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2000;9(1):7-11.
Darmadi-Blackberry I, Wahlqvist ML. Selenium in human health. Current Therapeutics, June 2001:58-62.
Darmadi-Blackberry I, Wahlqvist ML. Magnesium in human health. Current Therapeutics, June 2002.
Wahlqvist ML, Darmadi-Blackberry I, Savige GS, Kouris-Blazos A, Trichopoulos D. Age Fitness. How achievable with food? In: Elmadfa I, Anklam E, König J (eds): Modern Aspects of Nutrition. Present Knowledge and Future Perspectives. Forum Nutr. Basel, Karger, 2003; 56:258-261.
Darmadi-Blackberry I, Wahlqvist ML, Kouris-Blazos A, Steen B, Lukito W, Horie Y, Horie K. Legumes: the most important dietary predictor of survival in older people of different ethnicities. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2004;13(2):217-20.
Wahlqvist ML, Darmadi-Blackberry I, Kouris-Blazos A, Jolley D, Steen B, Lukito W, Horie Y. Does diet matter for survival in long-lived cultures? Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2005;14(1):2-6.
Blackberry I and Wahlqvist ML. Nutrition and prevention of non-communicable diseases. Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism 2005. ISBN:3-8055-8015-0.
Russell M, Hill K, Blackberry I, Dharmage S, Day L. Falls risk and functional decline in older fallers discharged from Emergency Departments. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2006 Oct;61(10):1090-5.
Young D, Furler J, Vale M, Walker C, Segal L, Dunning P, Best J, Blackberry I, Audehm R, Sulaiman N, Dunbar J, Chondros P. Patient Engagement and Coaching for Health: The PEACH study--a cluster randomised controlled trial using the telephone to coach people with type 2 diabetes to engage with their GPs to improve diabetes care: a study protocol. BMC Fam Pract. 2007 Apr 11;8:20
Russell M, Hill K, Blackberry I, Gurrin L, Day L, Dharmage S. The reliability, sensitivity and specificity of the falls risk for older people in the community (FROP-Com) assessment tool. Age and Ageing. June 19, 2008
Walker C, Furler J, Young D, Dunning T, Best J, Dunbar J, Sulaiman N, Blackberry I. The role of health professional support in the self-management of type 2 diabetes. BMC Health Services Research. In press
Hill K, Walsh W, Vu M, Black K, Blackberry I, Bailey K, et al. Avoiding the tumble: Falls prevention in the hospital setting. Melbourne: Report to the Department of Human Services (Victoria); 2004.
Dow B and Blackberry I. Preliminary Report on VAED data Year 1 of the Southern Grampians and Glenelg Rehabilitation Program. Melbourne: Report to the Department of Human Services (Victoria); 2006.
Blackberry I, Galvin P, Hill K, Russell M, Liaw ST, Taylor J. Falls prevention guidelines for older people attending Emergency Department. Canberra: Report to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, 2007.
Blackberry I, Galvin P, Hill K, Russell M, Liaw ST, Taylor J. Implementation of evidence based falls risk screening for older people attending Emergency Department. Canberra: Report to the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, 2008.
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