Most of his career in academia has involved conducting collaborative research in population and clinical epidemiology of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and respiratory diseases, built environment and physical activity, the epidemiology of road injuries, and biostatistical methods in epidemiology. Over his career he has been Chief Investigator on over 50 competitive research project grants (including 25 NHMRC Project grants) and he has over 350 peer-reviewed research publications. Key research leadership and capacity building projects include the Busselton Health Study 1990-2020, Road Accident Prevention Research Unit 1989 – 1993, Biostatistical Consulting Service 1990 -1995, Survey Research Centre 1996-1997, and Centre for Built Environment and Health 2007-2018.
Key contributions external to UWA include Board Member of the Busselton Population Medical Research Institute 1990-present, Chair of the Research Committee of the WA Health Promotion Foundation (Healthway) 1998-2000, Member of the WA Department of Health Statistical Advisory Panel on complex data linkage applications (2012-2013), Member of the Telethon Kids Institute Researcher Promotions Panel 2014-2017, Member of Quality Enhancement Review Panel for Sydney Public Health Consortium 1999, Member of Independent Review Panel for the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia 2004, and Accreditation Committee member for the Statistical Society of Australia 2001-2004.