Sally Brinkman

Professor Sally Brinkman
Professor Sally Brinkman in 2023
Alma mater	Flinders University (1994), University of Adelaide, University of Western Australia (PhD) (2012)
Occupation	Epidemiologist
Known for	research and implementation of the Australian Early Development Index
Scientific career
Fields	Epidemiology, population health
Institutions	University of South Australia
Thesis	The validation and use of a population measure of early childhood development in Australia: the Australian Early development Index (2012)
Doctoral advisor	Cate Taylor, Fiona Stanley, Steve Zubrick
Website	people.unisa.edu.au/Sally.Brinkman

Sally Brinkman is an Australian social epidemiologist with a focus on early childhood development and the impact of society on children's short and long term outcomes. Brinkman led the development and implementation of the Early Development Instrument (EDI) for population level data across Australia, now known as the nationwide Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) measuring over 300,000 children in how they have developed by the time they start their first year of full-time school. Brinkman works for international organisations including World Bank, UNICEF and AusAID, and has over 200 publications covering child development and education. Brinkman is an Professor at the University of South Australia and the co-director of the Fraser Mustard Centre, an initiative to improve research translation established between the University of South Australia and the South Australian Department for Education.

Awards

in 2018, Brinkman received a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Research Excellence Award as Australia's top ranked applicant in the Career Development Fellowships: Population Health – Level 1 category.