Dr Seema Mihrshahi

Biography

Seema Mihrshahi is the Heinz Post-doctoral Research Fellow at QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation.
Seema’s role is to analyse and report for the NOURISH randomised controlled trial, which seeks to promote positive feeding practices and food preferences in early childhood as a primary prevention strategy for childhood obesity. 
Background
Seema was previously:

• Senior Research Fellow - Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine - Monash University


• Research Fellow - International and Immigrant Health Group - Department of Medicine - University of Melbourne


• Research Fellow in Nutrition - University of Sydney and George Institute for International Health Research.

Seema was also the project manager of the Childhood Asthma Prevention Study (CAPS), a multicentre randomised trial for the primary prevention of asthma in children, which tested:

• two interventions


• dietary modification


• house dust mite avoidance.

Seema has participated in research projects in three developing countries:

• Thailand


• Bangladesh


• Vietnam.

Research interests

• Health and nutrition of children in developing countries.

Seema's PhD research involved the use of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS-UNICEF) from 31 developing countries to study the association between exclusive breastfeeding and child morbidity, particularly acute respiratory infections and diarrhoeal disease, which are the most common causes of child mortality and morbidity.
In 2005, Seema undertook fieldwork at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research (ICDDR, B) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she was involved in a cohort study to assess the effects of feeding practices on child morbidity.
An additional part of her research examined the implementation of the recommendations developed by WHO/UNICEF in the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding in Bangladesh.