Skip to the content
 

Introducing the SHIA@Monash Team

The SHIA@ Monash team in the Department of Health are focussed on supporting municipal and state levels of government, industry and community to undertake HIA. We offer a diverse skill set to support professionals and organisations across diverse industry sectors to engage with HIA.  

Professor Helen Keleher
Head, Department of Health Science
PhD, MA, BA, FRCNA

Helen’s current research program is in health promotion, mental health and wellbeing, health inequalities, chronic illness and pathways to them via the social determinants of health, particularly gender and social inclusion. During 2006-7, Helen is appointed to the Women and Gender Equity Knowledge Network of the World Health Organisation’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health.

Teaching areas include health promotion, health systems and policy, and community capacity building.

Jessica McCormick
BAppSc(HlthSci) (Hons)

Jessica’s area of expertise is in policy-linked Health Impact Assessment (HIA). In March 2002, Jessica attended the first meeting held in Australia which sought to explore the feasibility and potential application of HIA within a policy context in Australia. Since then, Jessica has developed an extensive skill base in both the theoretical and practical aspects of HIA. The focus of her research thus far has been in community based applications of it to regeneration policies and projects in Australia and overseas. Jessica has and continues to work collaboratively with the Department of Human Services and with colleagues at Monash University will provide technical support and capacity building to a number of state, regional and local demonstration projects.

Dimitri Batras
MPPM, BAppSc (Hons)
Dimitri is actively involved in teaching and research. He has broad interests which include health promotion capacity building, planning and evaluation, sex industry regulation, and public policy. Dimitri’s current research and consultancy activities include providing Health Impact Assessment (HIA) support to state and local government initiatives. He also provides consultancy support for the evaluation of health promotion programs.

Grace Blau
MPH, MSc (Nut), Grad.Dip.Diet., BPharm
In early 2007 Grace accepted a position as Policy Officer for the Victorian Health Inequalities Network, after working for two and a half years as Research Fellow in the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) Research Unit at Deakin University. During her period of employment in the HIA Unit, she completed a study that explored the positioning and application of HIA in the Victorian local government sector, and also undertook a HIA of the State Government’s Drought Social Recovery Strategy. She participated actively in the HIA teaching program for postgraduate students and in a range of HIA capacity building programs for professionals from both government and non-government sectors. Prior to working in the HIA field, Grace worked as a public health planner in two Victorian councils for a total period of four years. In her early professional career, she was a health care provider in both the private and public sectors for more than 25 years. She has completed a Bachelor of Pharmacy, a Graduate Diploma of Dietetics and a Master of Science, the thesis of which was the Development and Evaluation of a Diabetes Education Program. More recently, she has completed a Master of Public Health, with a particular focus on health policy.