Welcome to my personal webpage; this is a digital CV and a way for me to collate my work, network and connect with collaborators.
I'm a public health researcher with training in infectious disease epidemiology, data linkage, microbiology, and molecular diagnostics. I'm currently a Senior Scientist in Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in the Clinical Prevention Services program. Prior to this, I was a CIHR & Michael Smith Foundation for Health & Medical Research funded Health System Impact postdoctoral fellow working across a number of research projects around viral hepatitis, HIV and other transmissible infections, including SARS-CoV-2, at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control & University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. I completed my doctoral research in Australia, where I grew up, and received my PhD in Medicine in 2017 from the University of New South Wales through the Kirby Institute.
I am currently an Investigator with the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C, the BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort, and the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network. My program of research is broadly focused on infectious diseases, and seeks to address gaps in knowledge around viral hepatitis, HIV, Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections (STBBIs), SARS-CoV-2, incarceration, injecting drug use, and the co-occurrence of these conditions, that have the potential to inform public health policy and health programming, while also advancing the rights and the health of marginalized people.
It was serendipitous that I ended up working in infectious disease research, since my dad was diagnosed with hepatitis C virus ('hep C') infection in 1998. Dad thinks he most likely acquired hep C infection as a result of injecting drugs or being in prison during his younger years, and he had probably been living with hep C for at least 30 years when he received treatment and cleared the virus in 2015. The impact my dad's hep C diagnosis had on my family is similar to the story I've heard from a lot of other people, including experiencing stigma, fear and shame. My personal experience has given me a lot of insight in to the complex and intertwined factors related to hep C, and it is a motivation for me to work towards elimination of hep C, not just in Australia and Canada, but throughout the world.
I am a passionate advocate and supporter of diversity, inclusion, and equity and I'm a Co-Founder and Director of the Australian and Papua New Guinean registered charity Grass Skirt Project Ltd, whom I help to develop innovative community driven projects, delivering improved health and social outcomes for people in Papua New Guinea. I have previously been a Steering Committee member of Action Hepatitis Canada and a previous Director of Hepatitis Education and Prevention Society of British Columbia (HepCBC).
I'm a public health researcher with training in infectious disease epidemiology, data linkage, microbiology, and molecular diagnostics. I'm currently a Senior Scientist in Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in the Clinical Prevention Services program. Prior to this, I was a CIHR & Michael Smith Foundation for Health & Medical Research funded Health System Impact postdoctoral fellow working across a number of research projects around viral hepatitis, HIV and other transmissible infections, including SARS-CoV-2, at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control & University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. I completed my doctoral research in Australia, where I grew up, and received my PhD in Medicine in 2017 from the University of New South Wales through the Kirby Institute.
I am currently an Investigator with the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C, the BC Hepatitis Testers Cohort, and the CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network. My program of research is broadly focused on infectious diseases, and seeks to address gaps in knowledge around viral hepatitis, HIV, Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections (STBBIs), SARS-CoV-2, incarceration, injecting drug use, and the co-occurrence of these conditions, that have the potential to inform public health policy and health programming, while also advancing the rights and the health of marginalized people.
It was serendipitous that I ended up working in infectious disease research, since my dad was diagnosed with hepatitis C virus ('hep C') infection in 1998. Dad thinks he most likely acquired hep C infection as a result of injecting drugs or being in prison during his younger years, and he had probably been living with hep C for at least 30 years when he received treatment and cleared the virus in 2015. The impact my dad's hep C diagnosis had on my family is similar to the story I've heard from a lot of other people, including experiencing stigma, fear and shame. My personal experience has given me a lot of insight in to the complex and intertwined factors related to hep C, and it is a motivation for me to work towards elimination of hep C, not just in Australia and Canada, but throughout the world.
I am a passionate advocate and supporter of diversity, inclusion, and equity and I'm a Co-Founder and Director of the Australian and Papua New Guinean registered charity Grass Skirt Project Ltd, whom I help to develop innovative community driven projects, delivering improved health and social outcomes for people in Papua New Guinea. I have previously been a Steering Committee member of Action Hepatitis Canada and a previous Director of Hepatitis Education and Prevention Society of British Columbia (HepCBC).
