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Monash University Department of Rural and Indigenous Health

Staff

Academic Team

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Associate Professor Janice Chesters

Deputy Director

Janice graduated with degrees from LaTrobe and Monash as a mature age student and joined the School of Rural Health in 1999. In both her academic work and community service she has a strong commitment to improving rural health, especially in Gippsland.

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Associate Professor Marlene Drysdale

Head—Indigenous Health

Marlene has lived in various places around Australia and for the past 19 years worked in Rural Victoria in Aboriginal education and health with a strong community focus. Marlene’s family ties are in Wiradjeri country in NSW. Marlene is currently completing a PhD ‘Reconciliation in Australia: A study of Communication Strategies and Symbolism. Marlene has been an active member of State and National Committee on education and health matters.

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Mollie Burley

Lecturer

Mollie has broad experience in rural health management, education and research at both an undergraduate and postgraduate level. She is a registered nurse with specific interests in advanced practice nursing and the develoopment and support of Interprofessional learning across health professions.

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Helen Chambers

Research Assistant

Helen graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science (majoring in Microbiology) and then Diploma of Education (Melbourne College of Education). Helen is now employed as data manager/research assistant for MUDRIH where she uses her skills/knowledge to develop databases and run analysis for projects as required by researchers.

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Robyn Collins

Assistant Lecturer

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Isabel Ellender

Senior Lecturer

Isabel is part of the Indigenous Health Unit team. She has a nursing background and has worked with Indigenous communities for many years as an archaeologist. She carries her interests in Indigenous health and transcultural learning into her teaching within the medical and nursing curricula.

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Rose Gilby

Lecturer

Rose Gilby is a Wiradjuri woman and has been with the Indigenous Health Unit since 2006 and previously worked for LaTrobe University. Rose has a background as an Aboriginal Health Worker and is currently completing her Bachelor of Nursing. Rose is based at the Mildura Campus.

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Phillippa Greene

Project Officer

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Hilton Gruis

Senior Lecturer

Hilton has extensive experience working within a number of key senior positions within the Gippsland regional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and social and emotional wellbeing fields. Hilton has degrees in Social Welfare, Psychology, Humanities and Social Sciences.

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Rebecca Jones

Lecturer

Rebecca Jones has a particular interest in environmental health, ecological approaches to health and environmental and health history. She teaches a postgraduate unit examining the health effects of environmental change. A historian by training she recently completed a PhD exploring health and environment in the history of Australian organic farming and gardening.

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Heather Kelly

Project Officer

Heather began her salaried working life as a teacher and discovered that being a careers teacher was the best job in the school! She combined her interest in health with career education and now works in the Indigenous Health Unit supporting prospective health science students, tutoring and doing research. Heather also liaises between WILDFIRE (Monash Uni rural health student club) and the School of Rural Health.

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Hanan Khalil

Senior Lecturer/Pharmacist Academic

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Clare McHugh

Research Assistant

Clare has worked as an occupational therapist and English language teacher both in Australia and overseas. Before she started work as a Research Assistant at MUDRIH in late 2008, she also worked for several years in health promotion in Gippsland. She is enjoying the stimulation of working in the academic environment.

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Darryl Maybery

Associate Professor of Mental Health

Darryl's University teaching has been in the areas of research methodology, statistics, therapeutic interventions and program evaluation. He researches in the areas of stress, mental health and wellbeing, positive psychology and rurality. His major research focus is in the area of families with parental mental illness and he maintains editorial roles with the Journal Rural Society and The Australian e-Journal for the Advancement of Mental Health.

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Terence Moore

Senior Lecturer

Terry came to MUDRIH from the University of Tasmania. His professional background is in Aboriginal education, mostly in Far North Queensland but also central Australia. He is currently in the final stages of his PhD which focuses on Aboriginal identity, identity politics and public policy. His thesis argues that improvements in Indigenous well-being—primarily in education, but with wider implications—depend in large part on moving beyond the simplistic understandings of Aboriginality on which much policy, program and practice are currently based. His thesis and further research in the field of indigenous health is directed at uncovering the complex causes of contemporary Aboriginal circumstances, developing more sophisticated understandings of Aboriginality and proposing public policy approaches appropriate to that complexity.

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Associate Professor Priscilla Pyett

Associate Professor in Indigenous Health Research

Priscilla is a sociologist and public health researcher with over 9 years experience conducting collaborative research with Victorian Aboriginal communities. She has recently joined MUDRIH from the University of Melbourne where she was Senior Research Fellow in the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit.

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Dr Eli Ristevski

Lecturer

Eli Ristevski is a Postgraduate Coursework Degrees Coordinator for Graduate Diploma of Rural Health and the Masters of Rural Health. Eli is currently on maternity leave.

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DR Anske Robinson

Research Fellow

Anske is a Research Fellow with the Department of Rural and Indigenous Health, Monash University. She assists with the co-ordination of the postgraduate research degrees program and is a lecturer in research methods, and rural health units for the Master of Health Sciences, Monash University. She has a strong commitment to rural health issues and the rural environment. She also had a specific interest in complementary and alternative medicine use.

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Andrea Reupert

Senior Lecturer/Psychologist

Andrea is a researcher, psychologist and educator and has worked in various setting such as schools, private practice and universities for over twenty years. Andrea's primary research interest is parental mental illness and the ways that families affected by parental mental illness, especially children, might be best supported.

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Margaret Stebbing

Academic—Population Health

Margaret came to MUDRIH from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. She has enjoyed a broad career as a public health practitioner and researcher in Victoria, in the Northern Territory and in Asia in the fields of population health research including epidemiological studies, disability, genetic counselling and the management of communicable disease. Her current research interests include risk perception and health risks associated with emerging technologies and dangerous climate change.

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Jane Taylor

Postgraduate Coursework Degrees Coordinator

Jane is a Postgraduate Coursework Degrees Coordinator for Master of Health Sciences. She is a speech pathologist with extensive experience in rural areas providing clinical services and teaching in health and education.

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Annette Woodhouse

Lecturer

Annette Woodhouse is a lecturer for MUDRIH and will be involved in the Bachelor of Nursing/Rural Health Practice for units SRH 4103—Rural Issues 3: Dynamics of Rural health and CRH 1005—Alcohol and other Drug Issues in Rural Australia. Annette has worked in mental health in Australia and New Zealand for too many years to mention, in each of the mental health nursing specialty areas. Most recently as the regional mental health promotion officer for Gippsland.

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Dr Anton Isaacs

PhD Candidate

Dr. Anton Isaacs is studying the factors that affect utilisation of mental health services by Indigenous men in Gippsland.

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Dr Sharafat Malek

PhD Candidate

Dr. Sharafat Malek is a PhD candidate at Monash University Department of Rural & Indigenous Health (MUDRIH). He has an MBBS from Dhaka University, a ‘Grad Cert in Public Health’ from University of Wollongong and a ‘Master of Public Health (with thesis)’ from University of New South Wales. Before his PhD enrolment, Sharafat worked for two years full-time in the research team of Prof. Rick McLean at the School of Rural Health, University of Sydney, located in Dubbo, NSW.

Administrative Team

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Michael Elswyk

Office Manager

Michael is responsible for the overseeing of day to day running’s of the MUDRIH office & Administration, from preparation of MUDRH budget & audits, Human Resources, Occupational health & Safety and performance management of Administration staff. Michael has worked for the School of Rural Health for the past 6 years and has extensive financial knowledge. He’s also a member of the MUDRIH Executive & School of Rural Health Regional Manager’s team.

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Marillyn Harkness

Personal Assistant

Marillyn is responsible for providing administration support to MUDRIH’s Board of Management, assists the Director and Academic staff in the production of MUDRIH’s reports to the Commonwealth Government Department of Health & Ageing and organises meetings and functions.

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Leanne Turnbull

Administrative Officer—Indigenous Health

Leanne is the Administrative Assistant in the Indigenous Health Unit and also Personal Assistant to Associate Professor Marlene Drysdale; Head, Indigenous Health Unit. Leanne holds an administration role for the Footprints Forward project.

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Cathy Beamish

Administrative Officer—Education

Cathy is a part-time Education & Administration Officer for the Department of Rural & Indigenous Health. Her working days are generally Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

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Julie Irvine

Receptionist/Administrative Officer

Julie has been a Receptionist and Administrative Assistant with MUDRIH since October, 2007. She is responsible for general reception work, switchboard, mail and the administrative requirements of the MUDRIH staff. Julie previously worked in an Admin./Finance role within the private sector.

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Janelle McGrail

Research Assistant/Administrative Officer

Janelle is a part-time Research Assistant/Administrative Officer based at the Department of Rural and Indigenous Health at the Moe office.

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Clare Van Den dolder

Administrative Officer—PHCRED

Clare is the Primary Health Care Research Evaluation & Development (PHCRED) Administrative Officer. She provides administrative assistance to the PHCRED Program Manager & Research Capacity Building Initiative (RCBI) Director and also liaises closely with the Researcher Development Program (RDP) Fellows.

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Sharon Harrup

Graphic Designer

Sharon maintains MUDRIH's website and provides graphic design support to all MUDRIH staff.