Biography

I’m a mental health researcher with over 15 years of experience across both the not-for-profit and academic sectors. For the past decade, I’ve been a key member of the Primary Care Mental Health Team at the Department of General Practice and Primary Care (DGPPC), where I’ve developed expertise in clinical trials, participant recruitment, research ethics, and evaluation. With a background in Psychology, I’m a mixed-methods researcher, and I use realist evaluation and behaviour change theory to deliver meaningful insights that shape how we approach patient-centred mental health care in primary care.

Currently, I’m leading research and evaluation for a new mental health model of care in general practice, including implementing the Link-me prognosis tool to assess mental health risk. I also play a central role in WiserAD, Australia’s first antidepressant deprescribing intervention, which helps patients make informed decisions about safely stopping their medication. My PhD, completed in 2024, focused on investigating the key factors that make antidepressant deprescribing successful in primary care. This research has shaped my current interests in exploring how these factors, and the patient-prescriber relationship, impact or are impacted by the deprescribing process.

In addition to these projects, I’m involved in The MiND Study, which is investigating a blood biomarker for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease. I’m also an investigator on a project focused on building capacity in GPs and residential aged care staff to better support the mental health needs of older Australians. Additionally, I’m an investigator on the A-Part of the Crowd project, funded by the Medibank Health Foundation, which addresses loneliness and wellbeing among young Australians.

I have a strong background in research ethics and have served for two years on the Department of General Practice Human Ethics Advisory Group, as well as on a Low and Negligible Risk Human Ethics Committee at the University of Melbourne. I’m also passionate about mentoring the next generation of researchers, supervising fourth-year Psychology students at Monash University, and honours and medical students in the DGPPC. My work combines research, teaching, and driving change in mental health care.

Throughout my PhD journey, I led two graduate student groups and co-coordinated the UniMelb Mental Health PhD Program. In 2022, I received the MDHS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Research for my support of fellow researchers, and in 2024, I was awarded the Melbourne Medical School Publication Prize for my final PhD peer-reviewed article.

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