Mary Brushe

Mary Brushe

School of Public Health

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Dr. Mary Brushe is an Adjunct Fellow at the University of Adelaide's School of Public Health and a Senior Research Officer (Epidemiology) at The Kids Research Institute. Mary completed her PhD (Public Health) in 2024, which explored early life inequalities in language development and screen time, using longitudinal cohort data and was awarded the PhD Research Excellence Category at the 2024 South Australian Science and Innovation Awards. Her expertise focuses on early childhood health and development, early language experiences, screen time in early childhood, mental health and well-being, social determinants of health and epidemiological research methods. Since completing her PhD, Mary has been working within the Indigenous Genomics team at The Kids, working amongst a multidisciplinary team aimed at addressing health inequities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Mary is also currently serving as President of the Public Health Association of Australia (SA Branch), Co-Chair of the Student and Early Career Committee for the International Social Epidemiology Society, and a member of the SA 0-3 Early Years Taskforce.

Mary is a Adjunct Fellow in the School of Public Health and a Senior Research Officer at The Kids Research Institute Australia. Her research focuses on understanding and supporting the health, development and education of young children. She has a particular interest in screen time in early childhood and how families can be best supported to use screen time in healthy ways. Her PhD focused on the early home language environments, how that impacts early development and early life socioeconomic inequalities. Mary also collaborates on a range of projects focusing on children and adolescent mental health and wellbeing, food insecurity and school breakfast programs, and evaluations of government and non-government early years programs.  

Dr Brushe has expertise in social epidemiology, longitudinal data analysis, participant recruitment and data collection, the development of interventions through co-design methodologies, literature review/synthesis, public health advocacy, and research translation to ensure her research reaches policy makers and the community. 

Mary is also the Vice President of the Public Health Association of Australia (SA Branch), an active member of the 0-3 Early Years Taskforce in South Australia, the PHAA Child and Youth Health Special Interest Group, and the Co-Chair of the Student and Postdoc Committee for the International Social Epidemiology Society. She is always interested in forming new collaborations with passionate researchers, policymakers or practitioners working in public health and the early years system. 

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing Adjunct Fellow University of Adelaide
    2024 - ongoing Senior Research Officer, Epidemiology The Kids Research Institute Australia
    2016 - 2023 Research Study Manager Telethon Kids Institute
    2015 - 2016 Health Promotion Officer Emerging Minds

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2024 Award SA Science and Innovation Award, PhD Research Excellence SA Science Awards Australia $10,000
    2023 Award Perron Career Launching Award The Kids Research Institute Australia Australia $20,000
    2022 Award SA President's Award Public Health Association of Australia (SA Branch) Australia -
    2022 Award Finalist CSL Florey Next Generation Award University of Adelaide Australia -
    2022 Scholarship Healthy Development Adelaide Travel Grant Healthy Development Adelaide Australia $1000.00
    2022 Award Embrace Youth Mental Health Award, Conference Category Telethon Kids Institute Australia $2934.00
    2021 Award VOTE Recognition Award Telethon Kids Institute Australia -
    2020 Scholarship Philip Ryan Doctoral Candidate Travel Grant 2020 University of Adelaide Australia -
    2020 Award L'Oreal UNESCO For Women in Science Mentoring Scheme 2020 L'Oreal and UNESCO Australia -
    2019 Award Peers and Partners Travel Award Telethon Kids Institute Australia -

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2018 - 2023 University of Adelaide Australia PhD (Public Health)
    2011 - 2015 University of Adelaide Australia Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours)

  • Research Interests
    Child and Adolescent Health Early Origins of Health Community Child Health Early Childhood Education Epidemiology Mental Health Population Health Public Health Indigenous and Disadvantaged Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander epidemiology Screen and digital media

Mary has been awarded over $1.3million in Category 1 and 2 funding and over $650,000 in contract research and internal funding. 

  • 2021 - 2024, Brushe, M., Finlay-Jones, A., Brinkman, S., Trapp, G., Melhuish, E., Lynch, J., Reilly, S. Screen time in early childhood: Addressing the next emerging public health crisis. Channel 7 Telethon Trust. 
  • 2019 - 2023, Brinkman, S., Brushe, M., Melhuish, E. Modern families in the era of mobile technology: understanding how the hidden home environment impacts child development. NHMRC Ideas Grant APP1183515.

  • Other Supervision Activities
    Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
    2025 - 2025 Principal Supervisor Children coming to school hungry: A longitudinal analysis using the Australian Early Development Census The Kids Research Institute Australia Bachelor of Health Sciences (Public Health Placement) Other Full Time Tashayini Thambyrajah
    2024 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Supports for children and adolescents experiencing food insecurity: An international policy review. The Kids Research Institute Australia Global Health Internship, Princeton University and The Kids Other Full Time Eloise Berman and Jenna Elliot
    2024 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Understanding policies and programs across Australia that aim to support children and families dealing with food insecurity The Kids Research Institute Australia UniSA Public Health 3rd Year Internship Other Part Time Charlotte Le Page
    2023 - 2023 Co-Supervisor The effects of breakfast skipping on children’s social and emotional wellbeing University of Adelaide Masters of Public Health Master Full Time Sophie Burnell
    2021 - ongoing Co-Supervisor Influence of school suspensions on child and adolescent wellbeing Telethon Kids Institute Global Health Internship, Princeton University Other - Cindy Cheng
    2020 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Development of a Framework for the Categorisation of Screen-based Children's Content Telethon Kids Institute Public Health Practice Student Internship, University of Western Sydney Other - Georgia Walters

  • Committee Memberships
    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2022 - ongoing Member 0-3 Early Years Task Force Raising Literacy Australia Australia
    2021 - ongoing Member Data Linkage Committee Telethon Kids Institute Australia
    2021 - ongoing Co-Chair Student and Early Career Committee International Social Epidemiology Society United States
    2019 - ongoing Treasurer Child and Youth Health Special Interest Group Public Health Association of Australia Australia
    2019 - ongoing President PHAA (SA Branch) Public Health Association of Australia Australia
    2015 - 2017 Member Youth Advisory Council Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health Australia
    2014 - 2016 Representative Lived Experience Council COPMI National Intitative Australia

  • Memberships
    Date Role Membership Country
    2019 - ongoing Member Society for Epidemiologic Research United States
    2018 - ongoing Member Public Health Assoiation of Australia Australia
    2018 - ongoing Member Australiasian Epidemiological Association Australia
    2018 - ongoing Member Healthy Development Adelaide Australia
    2017 - ongoing Member International Association for Youth Mental Health Australia

  • Presentation
    Date Topic Presented at Institution Country
    2023 - 2023 Social and emotional well-being trajectories throughout childhood and adolescence: A longitudinal population level study. Society for Mental Health Research Conference Society for Mental Health Research Australia
    2023 - 2023 Early Start Screen Smart Program: Developing and piloting an intervention to support parents of 0-2 year olds with their child’s screen time International Congress on Digital Media and Developing Minds Children and Screens United States
    2023 - 2023 Understanding the quality of young children’s screen time: E-CHILDS Framework. International Congress on Digital Media and Developing Minds Children and Screens United States
    2023 - 2023 The causal effect of parent-child interactions on children’s language development at 3 and 4 years 17th World Congress on Public Health World Congress of Public Health Italy
    2022 - 2022 Social and Emotional Wellbeing Trajectories throughout Childhood and Adolescence: A longitudinal population level study. - Child and Adolescent Mental Health Conference -
    2021 - 2021 Inequalities in screen time during the early years: Findings from a prospective cohort study. Annual General Meeting Society of Social Medicine and Population Health United Kingdom
    2021 - 2021 The Word Gap: At What Age Does it Emerge? Results from a Prospective Cohort Study. - World Congress of Epidemiology -
    2021 - 2021 At What Age Does the Word Gap Emerge? Findings from the Language in Little Ones Study Australian Early Development Census National Conference 2021 Australian Government Department for Education, Skills and Employment and Telethon Kids Institute Australia
    2020 - 2020 Inequality within the home language environment: Findings from a Prospective Cohort Study. South Australian State Population Health Conference 2020 Public Health Association of Australia (SA Branch) Australia
    2020 - 2020 The Language in Little Ones Research Study Annual General Meeting Playgroup South Australia -
    2019 - ongoing How many words are Australian children hearing in the first year of life? Australian Public Health Conference 2019 Public Health Association of Australia Australia
    2018 - ongoing Language in Little Ones Study - Results from the First Wave Nursing Council South Australian Child and Family Health Service Australia
    2018 - ongoing Language in Little Ones Study - Results from First Wave Buisness Intelligence Technical Forum South Australian Department for Education Australia
    2018 - ongoing The contribution of home language exposure to intergenerational transmission of inequality Australian Early Development Census National Conference 2018 Australian Goverment Department of Education Australia
    2017 - ongoing The Language in Little Ones study Online Interview Early Learning Review Australia

  • Review, Assessment, Editorial and Advice
    Date Title Type Institution Country
    2023 - 2024 MRFF Mental Health Grant Assessment Committee Grant Assessment MRFF Australia
    2022 - ongoing Academic Journal Reviewer - Pediatrics Journal Review Pediatrics -
    2021 - ongoing Academic Journal Review Journal Review New Ideas in Psychology -
    2021 - 2022 Academic Journal Reviewer Journal Review BMC Public Health -
    2021 - 2021 Academic Journal Reviewer Journal Review Paediatric Medicine -
    2019 - 2019 AEA 2019 Scientific Meeting Abstract Reviewer Conference Review Australiasian Epidemiological Association Australia
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