Dr Sam Toloo Sheikhzadeh Yazd
Faculty of Health,
School of Public Health & Social Work
Biography
Dr. Sam Toloo is a health sociologist specialising in community and consumer perspectives in key areas such as health services, disasters and climate change. His research focuses on examining how consumers utilise health services, and the factors that influence how communities cope with the impacts of climate change. His recent (funded) projects include examining the utilisation of emergency health services (emergency departments, ambulance) in non-emergency situations, and the acceptability of potential alternative pathways for acute care; and examining the impact of climate change on communities and health services.
Findings from Dr Toloo’s research has informed health and disaster risk reduction policies in Australia and globally. His work has been cited by the Queensland Government (2019), the World Health Organisation (2021) and the World Bank (2023). He has published more than 70 peer reviewed articles, chapters, and conference papers.
Dr. Toloo coordinates and teaches postgraduate courses in health systems, health policy, and emergency management. He supervises PhD students in these fields and serves on the editorial board of the international journal BMC Health Services Research.
Research Interests:
- Health Services, Emergency Departments, Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
- Consumer perspectives, attitudes, preferences, and behaviour
- Stakeholder engagement, including patients, healthcare professionals, and communities
- Climate Change, impacts on health and healthcare services
- Disaster risk reduction in vulnerable communities, including Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) populations
Personal details
Positions
- Lecturer
Faculty of Health,
School of Public Health & Social Work
Keywords
Demand for emergency health services, Health seeking behaviour, Hospital based emergency services, Pre-hospital emergency services, Ambulance, Queensland, Australia, Sociology of health and medicine, Utilisation behaviour, Heatwaves, health, social factors, Emergency Department, Heatwaves and Community Vulnerability
Research field
Health services and systems, Policy and administration, Sociology
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Australian National University)
Professional memberships and associations
- Editorial Board, BMC Health Services Research
- Health Service Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ)
- Research Portal: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/sam.toloo
- ORCID: 0000-0001-5694-288X
- Publons & Web of Science ResearcherID: V-4465-2019
- ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ghasem_Toloo
Publications
Research outputs by year
- Pizzino, S., Durham, J., Fitzgerald, G. & Toloo, G. (2024). Understanding physical and mental health impacts of flooding: flood risk perception and communication. In J. Lamond, D. Proverbs & N. Bhattacharya Mis (Eds.), Research Handbook on Flood Risk Management (pp. 38–51). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/248655/
- Toloo, G., Fredriksen, M. & Pizzino, S. (2024). Community engagement. Disaster Health Management: A Primer for Students and Practitioners, 101–113. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/248654
- Scanlon, B., Durham, J., Wyld, D., Roberts, N. & Toloo, G. (2023). Exploring equity in cancer treatment, survivorship, and service utilisation for culturally and linguistically diverse migrant populations living in Queensland, Australia: a retrospective cohort study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 22(1). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/242521
- Durham, J., Toloo, G., Scanlon, B., Wyld, D. & Roberts, N. (2023). Rethinking cancer prevention for migrant populations in Queensland, Australia: A retrospective cohort study comparing culturally and linguistically diverse and Australian born cancer patients. Global Public Health, 18(1). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/239301
- Toloo, G., Lim, D., Chu, K., Kinnear, F., Morel, D., Wraith, D. & FitzGerald, G. (2022). Acceptability of emergency department triage nurse's advice for patients to attend general practice: A cross-sectional survey. EMA - Emergency Medicine Australasia, 34(3), 376–384. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/226667
- Toloo, G., Bahl, N., Lim, D., FitzGerald, G., Wraith, D., Chu, K., Kinnear, F., Aitken, P. & Morel, D. (2020). General practitioner-type patients in emergency departments in metro North Brisbane, Queensland: A multisite study. EMA - Emergency Medicine Australasia, 32(3), 481–488. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/135588/
- Bell, A., Toloo Sheikhzadeh Yazd, S., Crilly, J., Burke, J., Williams, G., McCann, B. & Fitzgerald, G. (2019). Emergency department models of care in Queensland: a multisite cross-sectional study. Australian Health Review, 43(4), 363–370. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/121558
- Fitzgerald, G., Toloo Sheikhzadeh Yazd, S., Baniahmadi, S., Crompton, D. & Tong, S. (2019). Long-term consequences of flooding: a case study of the 2011 Queensland floods. Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 34(1), 35–40. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/126067
- Toloo, S., Hu, W., Fitzgerald, G., Aitken, P. & Tong, S. (2015). Projecting excess emergency department visits and associated costs in Brisbane, Australia, under population growth and climate change scenarios. Scientific Reports, 5, 1–9. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/86502
- Toloo, S., Yu, V., Aitken, P., FitzGerald, G. & Tong, S. (2014). The impact of heatwaves on emergency department visits in Brisbane, Australia: a time series study. Critical Care, 18(2), 1–19. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/70058
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Sam, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Committee Role/Editor or Chair of an Academic Conference
- Reference year
- 2024
- Details
- Peer reviewer for The Australian Sociological Association conference full papers in 2010 and 2011
- Type
- Membership of Learned Societies
- Reference year
- 2024
- Details
- Member of Health Services Research Association of Australia and New Zealand (HSRAANZ)
- Type
- Reviewer for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2024
- Details
- Since 2012, invited peer reviewer for Australian and International reputable journals in health services, public and environmental health, including:Academic Emergency Medicine (Q1); BMJ Open (Q1); BMC Public Health (Q1); BMC Health Services Research; Emergency Medicine Australasia (Q1); Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal (Q1); Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health (Q2); Public Health (Q2); Australian Health Review (Q2); BMC Emergency Medicine (Q2).Environmental Health Perspectives (Q1); Pediatrics (Q1); Global Environmental Change (Q1); Environmental Research (Q1); Climate Research (Q1); International Journal of Biometeorology (Q2); International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (Q2).
- Type
- Assessor, Examiner or Supervisor Role
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Examiner of PhD thesis University of the Sunshine Coast); Final PhD seminar Panel (QUT).
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Member of Editorial Board, BMC Health Services Research since 2021
- Type
- Fellowships
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- As a teaching qualification in higher education, the HEA Fellowship demonstrates a personal and institutional commitment to professionalism in learning and teaching.
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- Service Integration and Preventing Potentially Preventable Hospital Presentations. $50,000. Department Of Health, Queensland Government.
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- The Potential Impact of Expanded Scope of Care by Paramedics on Emergency Healthcare Demand: A Literature Review. $12,507. Department of Health and Human Services - Tasmania.
- Type
- Membership of Review Panels on Prestigious Grant Applications
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Peer reviewer for Queensland Emergency Medicine Research Foundation (QEMRF) in 2016.
- Type
- Other
- Reference year
- 2014
- Details
- External Assessor for a NHMRC Partnership Project grant application
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Current supervisions
- Preparing Saudi paramedics for effective disaster management: a study of the current state and future needs
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Adem Sav - Patient Safety Culture in Saudi Hospitals: A Comparative Mixed Methods Study of Staff Perceptions and Organisational Practices in Saudi Hospitals in the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Darren Wraith, Ms Paula Bowman
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Equity Across the Cancer Care Continuum for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Migrants Living in Australia (2024)
- The Relationship between Temperature and Infectious Gastrointestinal Diseases in Queensland, Australia (2020)
- The Factors That Influence Private Health Insurance Holders' Choice between Public and Private Emergency Departments at the Time of Emergency (2017)
- Growing Demand for Emergency Department Services: Associated Factors and Perspective of Patients (2015)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.