Indigenous Health Equity Unit

Staff

• Professor Cath Chamberlain

  Midwife/Professor of Indigenous Health, The University of Melbourne Professor Cath Chamberlain Cath is a descendant of the Trawlwoolway People (Tasmania), with over 25 years’ experience in reproductive and child health, including program and hospital service management, policy implementation,guideline development, evidence-based practice and research.

• Ms Debra Bowman

  Research Assistant in Indigenous Public Health Debra Bowman  Debra will be support the project with cultural leadership, resource development (including stories for parents) and more.  Debra Bowman is a proud Ngemba woman from Brewarrina, NSW.  She is currently studying her masters degree with the University of Melbourne and The Dulwich Centre in Adelaide in Narrative Therapy & Community Work, which she is very passionate about as storytelling and yarning comes natural to her cultural ways of being and keeps her grounded and connected to her cultural heritage.

• Dr Tess Bright

  Lead on the Healing the past by Nuturing the future project Dr Tess Bright Under construction xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

• Dr Elise Davis

  Deputy Head of the Unit for Health Equity, Senior  Research Fellow Dr Elise Davis is a public health researcher who is passionate about supporting child and parent mental health. She particularly enjoys evaluation and outcome measurement as well as qualitative interviewing and analysis.  Elise has worked in university settings and non-government organisations for the past 20 years.

• Dr Renee Fiolet

  Research Fellow - Indigenous Health Equity Unit Dr Renee Fiolet is a non-Indigenous woman born and raised on Wadawurrung Country (of the Kulin Nation) where she still lives today.  In Renee's words "I am terribly lucky to be a visitor on these beautiful lands that include the beaches along the Surf Coast of South Victoria." Renee has a background in nursing which is primary health care focused and has been an academic in the profession for a long time. Her research priorities include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, health equity and addressing the barriers which marginalised people experience when accessing care. Renee's thesis reported on the community-based participatory methods used to a co-designed family violence resource developed with the Wadawurrung community for their community members.

• Dr Kimberley Jones

  Research Fellow in the Indigenous Health Equity Unit Dr Kimberley Jones is a non-indigenous researcher born on Awabakal Country, now living on Wurundjeri Country in the Kulin Nation. Kim is a Research Fellow with expertise in evidence synthesis and trauma research. Kim’s research interests are focused on health equity in marginalised populations. She is passionate about improving health and wellbeing outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations. Kim completed undergraduate studies in biomedical science, a PhD in Neuroscience studying the effect of stress-related immune responses in the brain, and a Master of International Public Health at UNSW. Kim’s background includes work in health behaviour research, knowledge translation, clinical trials, chronic illness translational research, and trauma-related mental health research.  Kim has extensive experience in guideline development, evidence synthesis, and research project design and implementation.

• Dr Leo Kamitsis

  Research Fellow in the Indigeneous Health Equity Unit Dr Leo Kamitsis is a psychologist who has worked extensively with Aboriginal men who have experienced an addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs, complex trauma and other mental health issues. He has listened to stories of many Aboriginal men who have experienced severe trauma, but who have also shown incredible courage to overcome their difficulties and embark on a journey of healing. Leo completed his PhD in October of 2020 at Orygen and the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Youth Mental Health. He did a qualitative study exploring how people with a history of childhood trauma and psychosis experience the effects of antipsychotic medications on trauma-related thoughts, emotions, physical responses and dissociative symptoms.

• Ms Leanne Slade

  Administrative Officer, University of Melbourne Leanne is an administrative officer with extensive experience working in administration at a cultural institution.  Leanne has a background in early childhood education delivering nature-based programs to children and also has an educational background in psychology.

• Dr Anni Moana

  Counsellor/Psychotherapist Dr Anni Hine Moana has an extensive professional background as a counsellor /psychotherapist and as a counselling educator and now works in research and program development. Anni has a specific interest in learning from and supporting Australian Aboriginal people and other indigenous peoples who have experienced trauma as a result of settler-colonisation.

• Skye Stewart

  Research Assistant, Registered Midwife Skye Stewart is a Registered Midwife. First and foremost, Skye is a proud Wergaia and Wemba Wemba Custodian and Caretaker.  Her cultural role and responsibility is to do what she can to ensure that Aboriginal parents and their babies stay safe, well, alive and together. Skye has worked with Aboriginal communities around Victoria since she was little, following her Mum around when she was a health worker at a local Aboriginal Co-Op. Over the years she has supported many Aboriginal families accessing and navigating the maternity care system. Many of these families experienced vulnerability with complex trauma backgrounds, however, they have shown incredible resilience and courage. The capacity as humans to ‘come home to oneself’ and begin to heal is a driving force of the work that she does.

• Dr Cindy Woods

  Senior Research Fellow, La Trobe University Dr Cindy Woods is a mid-career researcher and her research focuses on Indigenous health and wellbeing, substance use, patient safety, rural and remote health and pregnancy/birth.