Leisa King

Leisa is a Senior Project Officer at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS). She has collaborated on a range of research projects at QAEHS, including longitudinal projects investigating PFAS exposure with aviation firefighters and a five-year NHMRC project investigating similar PFAS exposure with residents from exposed communities and occupationally exposed groups. She also works on projects investigating indoor pollution and air quality including the establishment of an Australian-first indoor air monitoring program and the INQUIRE Study (co-funded by the European Union, UKRI under Horizon Europe and NHMRC).

Leisa holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology and has 18 years’ experience as a senior research assistant/project officer at UQ. Alongside her work at QAEHS, she works on a 42-year longitudinal, birth cohort project at the School of Public Health. Across both roles she is responsible for ethical clearances, data collection protocols, recruitment and data collection. The focus of her work at QAEHS is building relationships and maintaining communication with study participants to improve study outcomes.

Publications

Aldridge, E., Ishaq, Z., King, L., Mueller, J. & Wang, X. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in Australian fire station dust – occurrence, concentration and exposure risk, 44^th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Singapore, 29 September-4 October 2024.

Nilsson, Sandra, Smurthwaite, Kayla, Aylward, Lesa L., Kay, Margaret, Toms, Leisa-Maree, King, Leisa, Marrington, Shelby, Kirk, Martyn D., Mueller, Jochen F. and Bräunig, Jennifer (2022).Associations between serum perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA) concentrations and health related biomarkers in firefighters. Environmental Research, 215 (Pt 3) 114370, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114370

Nilsson, Sandra ; Smurthwaite, Kayla ; Aylward, Lesa L. ; Kay, Margaret ; Toms, Leisa-Maree ; King, Leisa ; Marrington, Shelby ; Hobson, Peter ; Barnes, Craig ; Rotander, Anna ; Kirk, Martyn D. ; Mueller, Jochen F. ; Braeunig, Jennifer. Biomonitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exposure in firefighters: Study design and lessons learned from stakeholder and participant engagement International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 2022-05, Vol.242, p.113966, Article 113966

Najman, Jake ; Williams, Gail M. ; Clavarino, Alexandra M. ; McGee, Tara R. ; King, Leisa ; Scott, James G. Life events in pregnancy, early childhood, adolescence and adulthood predicting adult mental illness: A 40-year prospective study. Journal of affective disorders, 2025-11, Vol.388, p.119603-119603, Article 119603

Najman, J., Clavarino, AM., King, L., Scott, JG., Williams, GM., Gender specific effects of different forms of intimate partner violence on mental health and substance abuse. Violence and Victims, Sep 2025, DOI: 10.1891/VV-2024-0022.

Najman JM, Williams GM, Clavarino AM, McGee TR, King L, Scott JG and Bor W. Family poverty over the early life course and adult experiences of intimate partner violence: a cohort study. Public Health, 234, 143-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2024.06.020