Last week Associate Professor Divya Mehta was named a finalist in the 2021 Women in Technology (WiT) Awards in the Research Leader Science category.
Associate Professor Mehta joins 47 other female finalists from across Queensland who are making their mark across the spectrum of science and technology. The annual WiT Awards recognise outstanding talent and achievement giving women the recognition they deserve, building support for their work, and inspiring the next generation of leaders by showing what is possible.
Winners will be announced at the 2021 WiT Awards presentation and gala dinner on 21 October 2021.
More about Divya’s work
Can we be the drivers of our own mental health and well-being? According to Associate Professor Divya Mehta – yes, we can!
Associate Professor Mehta is geneticist who analyses big data to better understand how our genes contribute towards our health. Over 17 million Australians will experience a stressful event during their life. A key question is – why do we all respond differently to stress? Her research lies at the cusp of genetics, statistics and mental health and identifies the biological, psychological and social drivers of our stress response.
“Our mental health and well-being depend on both our genes and our environment. We inherit our DNA code from our parents, and this does not change during our lives. What changes however is the levels or activity of our genes and genes can be turned on or off in response to changes in our environment and lifestyle. The impact can be seen on our physical and psychological health.”
Associate Professor Mehta’s research suggests that positive lifestyle factors such as good diet, regular exercise and increased social support can reduce and even reverse some of the negative effects of stress on our genes. For example, among paramedic students exposed to stress, those reporting higher levels of social support responded better to stress in terms of gene activity of stress-related genes and reduced rates of mental health disorders than those who did not.
Divya Professor Mehta says that while we cannot change our DNA code, we can alter our environment, and by doing so, we can drive our own mental health in a positive direction.