Principal Fellow, NICM Health Research Institute

Biography

I am a mid career primary care researcher (PhD conferred Mar 2017). I received the Western Sydney University Vice Chancellor’s Award Excellence in Research as an Early Career Researcher in December 2021 and a Women’s Health Research and Translation Network Early/Mid Career Researcher Award in August 2023. In December 2022 I was promoted to Level D (Associate Professor).

My research vision is to improve the experience of living with chronic disease. My research focusses on chronic illness relevant in primary care especially the intersection between metabolic health, women’s health and cancer survivorship, with a growing focus on disparities in care. My expertise spans co-design and qualitative methods, feasibility studies, randomised controlled trials, evidence synthesis, guideline development, and translation of guidelines into practice, and is built on a foundation of strong consumer and stakeholder involvement, and engagement and translation into practice, underpinned by over two decades experience as a clinician. My research is cited in and has directly informed national and international guidelines, medical education resources and popular consumer websites, and has led to establishment of new health services and models of care, a postgraduate microcredential, and development of a new Post Fellowship Recognition of extended skills in general practice with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP).

As Translation Platform Lead at NICM Health Research Institute, I established and lead the Western Sydney Integrative Health initiative, a co-designed academic medical centre (general practice) that embeds research into practice. I lead a team of three PhD candidates (Primary Supervisor), six research assistants and two early/mid career researchers. I am a practicing GP and joined a comprehensive cancer centre (Chris O’ Brien Lifehouse) as a Supportive Care and Integrative Oncology Specialist GP in 2022.

As an academic GP I hold a number of senior leadership positions at international level including Guideline Development Group and International Project Management Committee member (as Expert GP) for the international evidence-based polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) guideline; Guideline Development Group and Integrity Committee member for the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) guideline on premature ovarian insufficiency; Global Integrative Oncology committee member, Society for Integrative Oncology. Nationally and locally I provide leadership as the Deputy Faculty Chair of the RACGP Specific Interests Faculty and Chair of the Integrative Medicine Specific Interest Network; Survivorship Research Co-Lead and Scientific Committee Member at the Cancer Australia Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials Group; Cancer Institute NSW Primary Care Framework Advisory Member; and Member of the RACGP Expert Committee – Research. I have contributed as a working party member representing primary care on the Blood Cancer Taskforce and as an Expert Advisory Group member to the BreastScreen Australia review. 

I have an active social media presence and blog with over 5,000 followers, and am known as a well-known advocate for work-life balance and health and wellbeing for all.