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Ms Bianca Varney

Ms Bianca Varney

Senior Research Officer

Masters in International Public Health (UNSW)

Bachelors of Science (Advanced), Honours in Immunology (USyd)

Medicine & Health
School of Population Health

I am an emerging pharmacoepidemiologist that specialises in the use of ‘big data’ to understand the use and safety of medicines during critical perinatal periods.

I am supported by the UNSW Scientia Scholar Scheme as an early career researcher at the Medicines Intelligence (MedIntel) Research Program within the School of Population Health. My research uses large-scale administrative health data and sophisticated epidemiological techniques to address gaps in current knowledge in the safe use of opioids. My current research focus is on understanding the risks of prescription opioids in of reproductive age, women who are pregnant and in women who have given birth. My aim is to generate high-quality evidence to inform policy and help women and their doctors make informed decisions about their health.

E-mail
b.varney@student.unsw.edu.au
  • Journal articles | 2024
    Varney B; Zoega H; Gillies MB; Gisev N; Weston Shand A; Pearson SA; Havard A, 2024, 'Prevalence and Persistence of Prescription Opioid Use Following Hospital Discharge after Childbirth: An Australian Population-Based Cohort Study', Anesthesia and Analgesia, 138, pp. 970 - 979,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Raftopulos NL; Washaya TC; Niederprum A; Egert A; Hakeem-Sanni MF; Varney B; Aishah A; Georgieva ML; Olsson E; Dos Santos DZ; Nassar ZD; Cochran BJ; Nagarajan SR; Kakani MS; Hastings JF; Croucher DR; Rye K-A; Butler LM; Grewal T; Hoy AJ, 2022, 'Prostate cancer cell proliferation is influenced by LDL-cholesterol availability and cholesteryl ester turnover', CANCER & METABOLISM, 10,
    Journal articles | 2022
    Varney B; Zoega H; Gillies MB; Brett J; Pearson SA; Havard A, 2022, 'Prescription opioid use in Australian women of reproductive age: Implications for unplanned pregnancies', British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 88, pp. 1298 - 1320,
    Journal articles | 2020
    Krycer JR; Quek LE; Francis D; Zadoorian A; Weiss FC; Cooke KC; Nelson ME; Diaz-Vegas A; Humphrey SJ; Scalzo R; Hirayama A; Ikeda S; Shoji F; Suzuki K; Huynh K; Giles C; Varney B; Nagarajan SR; Hoy AJ; Soga T; Meikle PJ; Cooney GJ; Fazakerley DJ; James DE, 2020, 'Insulin signaling requires glucose to promote lipid anabolism in adipocytes', Journal of Biological Chemistry, 295, pp. 13250 - 13266,
    Journal articles | 2019
    Balaban S; Nassar ZD; Zhang AY; Hosseini-Beheshti E; Centenera MM; Schreuder M; Lin HM; Aishah A; Varney B; Liu-Fu F; Lee LS; Nagarajan SR; Shearer RF; Hardie RA; Raftopulos NL; Kakani MS; Saunders DN; Holst J; Horvath LG; Butler LM; Hoy AJ, 2019, 'Extracellular fatty acids are the major contributor to lipid synthesis in prostate cancer', Molecular Cancer Research, 17, pp. 949 - 962,
    Journal articles | 2018
    Balaban S; Lee LS; Varney B; Aishah A; Gao Q; Shearer RF; Saunders DN; Grewal T; Hoy AJ, 2018, 'Heterogeneity of fatty acid metabolism in breast cancer cells underlies differential sensitivity to palmitate-induced apoptosis', Molecular Oncology, 12, pp. 1623 - 1638,
    Journal articles | 2017
    Lovelace MD; Varney B; Sundaram G; Lennon MJ; Lim CK; Jacobs K; Guillemin GJ; Brew BJ, 2017, 'Recent evidence for an expanded role of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism in neurological diseases', Neuropharmacology, 112, pp. 373 - 388,
    Journal articles | 2016
    Lovelace MD; Varney B; Sundaram G; Franco NF; Ng ML; Pai S; Lim CK; Guillemin GJ; Brew BJ, 2016, 'Current evidence for a role of the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism in multiple sclerosis', Frontiers in Immunology, 7, pp. 246,
    Journal articles | 2015
    Jones SP; Franco NF; Varney B; Sundaram G; Brown DA; De Bie J; Lim CK; Guillemin GJ; Brew BJ, 2015, 'Expression of the kynurenine pathway in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells: Implications for inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease', PLoS ONE, 10, pp. e0131389,
  • Conference Presentations | 2024
    Tran D; Varney B; Jones N; Bharat C; Brett J; Oei J; Pearson SA; Degenhardt L; Havard A, 2024, 'Trends in the use of opioid agonist treatment for opioid dependence in pregnancy', presented at 2024 NDARC Annual Research Symposium, Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney NSW, 20 September 2024,
    Conference Presentations | 2024
    Varney B; Bharat C; Brett J; Degenhardt L; Jones N; Oei J; Pearson SA; Havard A; Tran DT, 2024, 'Use of opioid agonist therapy in pregnancy: Timing of initiation and treatment retention', presented at 2024 NDARC Annual Research Symposium, Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney NSW, 20 September 2024,
    Conference Presentations | 2024
    Zhou J; Varney B; Bharat C; Degenhardt L; Jones N; Havard A; Tran DT, 2024, 'Retention in opioid agonist treatment following childbirth and associated factors', presented at 2024 NDARC Annual Research Symposium, Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney NSW, 20 September 2024,
    Conference Posters | 2024
    Zhou J; Varney B; Bharat C; Degenhardt L; Jones N; Havard A; Tran DT, 2024, 'Retention in opioid agonist treatment following childbirth and associated factors', Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney NSW, presented at 2024 NDARC Annual Research Symposium, Wesley Conference Centre, Sydney NSW, 20 September 2024
    Conference Papers | 2021
    Varney B; Gilles MB; Havard A; Zoega H; Pearson S-A; Litchfield M, 2021, 'Prescription opioid use in Australian women of reproductive age from 2013 to 2020', in PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, WILEY, pp. 308 - 309,

Covidence Global Scholarship Fund - 2022

University of New South Wales Scientia PhD Scholarship 2020-2024

University of Sydney Honours Scholarship 2012 Ìý

University of Sydney Research Summer Scholarship 2011/2012 Ìý