Left to right: Grace Walker, Geri McLeod, Martin Kennedy, Bridget Kinnersley, John Horwood, Janet Spittlehouse, Joe Boden, Bhuban Dhakal, James Foulds.
Not pictured: Emeritus Professor David M. Fergusson.
The Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS) has been in existence for over 40 years. During this time we have followed the health, education, and life progress of a group of 1,265 children born in the Christchurch (New Zealand) urban region in mid-1977.
The cohort has been studied from infancy into childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Data gathered over the course of the study now comprises some 50 million characters of information, with which the study has published over 500 scientific papers, reports, books and book chapters describing the life history of the CHDS cohort.
In 2019, we completed our participant interviews for their 40-year assessment.
Funding
Health Research Council of New Zealand
News
December 2019
- Joe reviews a Royal Society Te Apārangi report about the heath risks and benefits of using cannabis: Health impacts of cannabis – benefits, harms and many unknowns
- We won an award! ✲★✲ The New Zealand Medical Association’s 2019 Robinson Award, to be precise – for excellence in medical writing and a highly clinically relevant manuscript. Ooh! Our winning paper was 'Childhood predictors of adult adiposity: Findings from a longitudinal study'. Check out the press release: 2019 New Zealand Medical Association’s Robinson Award Manuscript Announced
September 2019
- Joe gives his expert opinion in part 2 of Three's documentary Patrick Gower: On Weed "an impartial investigation of the world of medical and recreational marijuana, and what this untapped billion-dollar industry could mean for New Zealand"
August 2019
- BIG news for the Team! John’s decided to step down from his role as Director. He’s been with the CHDS since the very start, 42 years ago, and he’s done awesome things. He’s still going to be involved for a while so it’s not goodbye just yet. Our Deputy, Joe, moves up into the boss position. Go Team!
- Joe's been appointed by the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor to the Expert Panel on Cannabis. Nice one, Joe!
Read more in CHDS News
