Working groups
Professor Paul Dietze is one of Australia's leading alcohol and other drug epidemiologists with a significant national, and emerging international profile. He is an NHMRC Senior Research Fellow and a past ARC Future Fellow and VicHealth Public Health Research Fellow. With more than 20 years' experience and an outstanding track record, his work has established internationally innovative surveillance systems and applied research designs that break new ground in the public health research into alcohol and other drug use and related harms in Australia.
He has produced more than 160 journal articles along with many other reports of significant impact that have changed practice in the area of alcohol and other drugs in this country. During the course of his research career he has received more than $20 million of research funding. These grants provided funds to conduct or establish:
Paul's work has had major impact. Naloxone is now administered via the intranasal route in many parts of the USA as a result of his work in Victoria. He was a member of the ‘Guidelines Development Group on the management of opioid overdose' for the World Health Organization, which met in Geneva in February 2014 with the guidelines released in late 2014. He has been involved in the development and implementation of a variety of heroin overdose prevention initiatives including the Direct Response to Overdose (DROP) project and he is leading the evaluation of the first Australian bystander naloxone program being implemented in the ACT. He was a key member of the Expanding Naloxone Availability in the ACT Committee. He is a Chief Investigator on a trial of intranasal naloxone in the Sydney Medically Supervised Injecting Centre that commenced in January 2012.
He co-convenes the Victorian Injecting Drug Harm Reduction Network with Penington Institute through which research findings on injecting drug use are disseminated to the alcohol and drug sector. He has received numerous awards and prizes in recognition of his work.
Most significant publications:
The Canberra Alliance for Harm Minimisation and Advocacy (CAHMA), ACT Health, the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Association ACT (ATODA) and a multidisciplinary group of stakeholders initiated Australia’s first take-home naloxone (THN) program in April 2012...
Independent evaluation of the ‘Implementing Expanded Naloxone Availability in the ACT (I-ENAACT)’ Program, 2011-2014.This project was undertaken to provide a detailed understanding of the interface between the price of drugs and the behaviour of people who inject drugs (PWID) and other drug-market changes. Specifically, three major aims were to:
Understanding and describing Australian illicit drug markets: Drug price variations and associated changes in a cohort of people who inject drugs.Background: Understanding of substitution patterns in drug using careers is limited. Between 2009 and mid-2013, the purity-adjusted price of methamphetamine declined sharply in Melbourne in absolute terms and relative to the purity-adjusted price of heroin.
Patterns of drug preference and use among people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia.The Salvation Army commissioned the Burnet Institute to gather data on its 24-hour needle and syringe program (NSP) in St Kilda. Uniquely in Victoria, the St Kilda NSP is funded to run a staffed service 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and has been in operation with this model for over 10 years. This section is an executive summary of the Burnet Institute’s findings about the role, impact, and effectiveness of the St Kilda 24-hour NSP service.
ST KILDA 24-HOUR NSP EVALUATION.Drug and Alcohol Review
Paul Dietze
Journal of Behavioral Addictions
Paul Dietze
Drug and Alcohol Review
Michael Livingston, Nicholas Taylor, Jessica Howell, M. David Curtis, Paul Dietze
MIXMAX is the largest active cohort study of people who use drugs in Australia. It combines 2 pre-existing studies: SuperMIX and VMAX.
Expanding access to hepatitis C testing and treatment using a pharmacy-based model.
This project updates analysis of NDSHS survey data from 2001 to 2022 to monitor trends in age of initiation and prevalence of illicit drug use by birth cohort over time among Australians.
This pilot study aims to investigate the use of smart phone apps for health promotion.
This project addresses critical knowledge gaps in Australian and global efforts to eliminate hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030.
A partnership aimed at increasing hepatitis C treatment uptake among people who inject drugs (PWID) using nurse-led models of care in community and prison settings.