Our Team

Professor Stuart Kinner

PhD  MAICD
Available for supervision at Honours, Masters and PhD levels, and for MDRP supervision

Professor Stuart Kinner is the Head of the Justice Health Unit in the Centre for Health Equity, Head of the Justice Health Group at Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Professor of Health Equity at Curtin University, and an Adjunct Professor in the Griffith Criminology Institute.

Stuart’s research focusses on the health of marginalised and justice-involved people. He is experienced in longitudinal studies, data linkage, randomised controlled trials, program evaluation and policy analysis, systematic review and meta-analysis. He has produced >250 publications including 188 peer-reviewed papers, and attracted >$26 million in research and consulting funds, mostly from nationally competitive schemes. He regularly presents by invitation at national and international meetings.

Stuart chairs Australia’s National Youth Justice Health Advisory Group and the World Health Organization’s Health in Prisons Programme Technical Expert Group. He co-convenes the Justice Health Special Interest Group in the Public Health Association of Australia, serves on the Steering Committee for the Worldwide Prison Health Research & Engagement Network, and serves on the Steering Group for the WHO Health in Prisons Programme.

A/Prof Rohan Borschmann

PhD  DClinPsych  PG-Dip(Psych)  BBSc  MAPS
Available for supervision at Honours, Masters and PhD levels, and for MDRP as co-supervisor

Associate Professor Rohan Borschmann is a Senior Research Fellow and psychologist in the Justice Health Unit. A former prison psychologist and probation officer, he completed his clinical doctorate in psychology in 2007 (QLD) and his PhD in psychiatry in 2014 (King's College London, UK). Rohan's research focuses on the mental health of adolescents and marginalised young people in Australia, with particular expertise in self-harm, substance use and antisocial behaviour during the teenage years. He has co-authored >115 peer-reviewed publications and secured >$15 million in competitive funding, including a 4-year Early Career Fellowship from Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to examine suicide and self-harm in young justice-involved people and other marginalised groups.

In addition to his research activities, Rohan is a registered psychologist with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). During the completion of his doctoral program he worked clinically with young people in community mental health settings, substance misuse treatment settings and with the Department of Corrective Services in Queensland, in both community and custodial settings. Additionally, he worked as a psychologist at Lotus Glen Correction Centre (LGCC) in Far North Queensland (Australia’s most northerly prison), where >70% of prisoners identify as Indigenous.

Rohan holds honorary appointments in the Centre for Adolescent Health (Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne), the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (King’s College London), and the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences (University of Melbourne).

Dr Jesse Young

PhD  MPH(dist)  BSc(dist)
Available for supervision for Honours, Masters (for 2 semester MPH capstone thesis projects) and PhD (as co-supervisor)

Dr Jesse Young is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow in the Justice Health Unit. He holds Adjunct appointments in the School of Population and Global Health at The University of Western Australia and in the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University. Specialising in psychiatric epidemiology and data linkage methodology, his research interests include mental health, intellectual disability, and inclusion health. He is a member of the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare’s National Prisoner Health Information Committee and Technical Expert Group, guiding the world-leading surveillance system for the health of justice-involved adults.

Louise Southalan

LLB  MIntDev  MSc  GAICD  Churchill Fellow

Louise Southalan is an honorary fellow in the Justice Health Unit.  She is involved in a range of national and international projects within the Unit to strengthen the evidence base and promote evidence-based decision making on health issues in prison and detention settings.

She works in Wungening Aboriginal Corporation’s Research, Evaluation and Engagement unit in Perth.  She is also a board member of Mental Health Matters 2 Ltd, which works to embed Lived Experience expertise of justice/mental health/AOD issues at all levels of policy, operations and research.  She is also steering committee member of WEPHREN, the Worldwide Prison Health Research and Engagement Network

Her past roles include:

• Establishing the Mallee Rehabilitation Centre therapeutic community within Casuarina Prison in Western Australia, for the WA Department of Justice
• Monitoring conditions in immigration detention centres in Australia and advocating on behalf of people in detention, for Australian Red Cross,
• In the Western Australian Mental Health Commission, developing new mental health legislation, commission forensic mental health services, and developing justice mental health policy
• As technical adviser to the WHO Health in Prison Program
• As board member of HepatitisWA
• As a criminal lawyer representing young people in detention.

She is a Churchill Fellow, and completed her report in 2020 on strategies for national agencies to improve state prison mental health systems and services. The report is available here. She holds a law degree and masters degrees in International Development and in Mental Health Policy and Services.

Anna Forsythe

MEnv  MMGA
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Anna Forsythe is a Research Officer and Data Analyst with the Centre for Adolescent Health at MCRI, and an Honorary Fellow at the Justice Health Unit. Anna’s research experience spans environmental and health sciences; she completed a Masters degree in population genetic analysis in 2009 and a Master of Environment in 2017.  She has an interest in data linkage, and is driven by the great potential linkage studies present in terms of informing public policy and improving health outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations. She currently works across several linkage projects exploring morbidity and mortality of young people exposed to the justice system.

Melissa Willoughby

BJus&Crim(Hons)
Available for supervision at Honours level

Melissa Willoughby is an honorary fellow and PhD candidate with the Justice Health Unit at the University of Melbourne, supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Melissa also holds a research assistant position in the Centre for Adolescent Health at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her research interests centre around the health of marginalised populations and violence prevention. Her current research examines violence-related death and morbidity among adults and young people exposed to the criminal justice system. She is supervised by Professor Stuart Kinner, Associate Professor Rohan Borschmann, Associate Professor Matt Spittal and Dr Jesse Young. She received First Class Honours in Justice and Criminology at RMIT University for her thesis examining the health, welfare and criminal justice service contacts among people who suicided after release from prison.

Emilia Janca

BSc(Hons)  MPH
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Emilia is an honorary fellow who has been working with the Justice Health Unit since 2017. She is also a research associate at the Curtin School of Population Health and a technical advisor to the WHO (Europe) Health in Prisons Programme Technical Expert Group. Emilia completed both Honours in Population and Global Health and a Master of Public Health at the University of Melbourne. She has a particular interest in improving the health and social circumstances of women involved in the criminal justice system.

Lindsay Pearce

MPH
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Lindsay Pearce is a Research Fellow with the Justice Health Unit. She completed her Master of Public Health at the University of British Columbia and an undergraduate degree in Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Lindsay’s research and work has focused on the health and health care experiences of vulnerable populations including people who use drugs, people living with HIV and Hepatitis C, and incarcerated populations. She is interested in the application of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to elucidate the stories of these populations and drive evidence-informed health system change.

Dr Lucas Calais Ferreira

PhD
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Dr Lucas Ferreira is a Research Fellow in the Justice Health Unit (Centre for Health Equity), and the Breast Cancer and Twins Research Australia units (Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics) in the Melbourne School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne. He focuses on traditional and genetic epidemiology to research risk factors for physical, mental and social outcomes in the population. Lucas has co-created the Brazilian Twin Registry and led collaborative efforts within the International Network of Twin Registries. He has conducted and facilitated several initiatives aimed at knowledge translation and stakeholder engagement in scientific research.

Kym Coupe

Kym Coupe is currently completing a Master of Public Health in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. She is undertaking a systematic review investigating non-fatal self-harm behaviour among people with dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance use disorder. Her research is supervised by Dr Jesse Young, Claire Keen and Dr Gregory Armstrong. Kym also works as a research assistant in the Justice Health Unit.

Alex Campbell

BAppSc(Psych)(Hons)  MPH
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Alex Campbell currently works as a research assistant in the Justice Health Unit. Under the supervision of Dr Jesse Young, he studies the connection and comorbidity of mental illness, substance addiction and chronic diseases. Alex completed his Master of Public Health at the University of Melbourne in 2021, majoring in epidemiology and biostatistics. He has previously worked as a research assistant studying baboon behaviour in South Africa. In his free time, Alex enjoys forest bathing and walks on the beach.

Dr Clare Glover-Wright

BSc(Hons)  PhD

Clare is an early career researcher and also completing a Master of Public Health at the University of Melbourne. She is currently working in the Justice Health Unit with Dr Jesse Young and has a particular interest in vulnerable populations. Originally from the UK, Clare gained both her undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications from the University of Leicester before moving into Regulatory and Scientific Affairs positions within local and international pharmaceutical companies and consultancies. She is currently working on a global review of the health outcomes associated with co-located mental health and alcohol and other drug (AOD) services.

Sohee Kwon

BA

Sohee Kwon is a Research Assistant in the Justice Health Unit, working with Melissa Willoughby and Dr Clare Glover-Wright on preventing violence against young women exposed to the criminal justice system. In 2021, she completed her Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in Politics and International Studies & Sociology, and in 2022, she will begin her Honours year in Sociology at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests centre around forms of othering and belonging, with a special focus on human rights and intersectionality.

Jessica Tyler

BHSc  MPH

Jessica Tyler currently works as a research assistant in the Justice Health Unit, a research coordinator at Twins Research Australia and is the registries lead at GenV (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute). Jess completed her Master of Public Health at the University of Melbourne in 2018, majoring in epidemiology and biostatistics. Her research interests include the interaction between mental health and chronic disease, maternal and child health and development, and data linkage. She’s drawn to large scale data projects that focus on complex health conditions and interactions. Under the supervision of Dr Lucas Ferreira in the Justice Health Unit, she’s working on a systematic review on the validity of administrative data for ascertaining health conditions.

Clare Chiminello

BA  GDipLib

Clare Chiminello is the administrative officer for the Justice Health Unit. Her background is in project administration in aged care, advance care planning, Aboriginal health and cultural respect in healthcare and health education. She is committed to equity in health and education.

Anna Forsythe

MEnv  MMGA
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Anna Forsythe is a Research Officer and Data Analyst with the Centre for Adolescent Health at MCRI, and an Honorary Fellow at the Justice Health Unit. Anna’s research experience spans environmental and health sciences; she completed a Masters degree in population genetic analysis in 2009 and a Master of Environment in 2017.  She has an interest in data linkage, and is driven by the great potential linkage studies present in terms of informing public policy and improving health outcomes, particularly for vulnerable populations. She currently works across several linkage projects exploring morbidity and mortality of young people exposed to the justice system.

Dr Kyli Hedrick

PhD  MAppPsych  BA(Hons)(Psych)  GDipPsych  PGDip  BA

Dr Kyli Hedrick is a registered psychologist, lecturer, and public health researcher. She holds an honorary appointment with the Justice Health Unit. Her PhD (undertaken at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health) examined the epidemiology of self-harm among asylum seekers in both detained and community-based populations. Kyli is also the Founder and Director of a small private practice for people from immigrant, asylum seeking, and refugee backgrounds. As part of this role, she provides supervision, training, and consultancy to organisations and individuals working with people affected by trauma. From 2017 to 2019, Kyli was a member of a national Mental Health Expert Panel where she conducted independent mental health assessments and provided psychological reports for asylum seekers medically transferred to Australia from offshore immigration detention. Prior to this, Kyli was employed as a clinician at a specialist trauma service (the Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture, also known as Foundation House) for a period of five years. Both her research and practice interests lie at the intersection of health and human rights.

Emilia Janca

BSc(Hons)  MPH
Available for supervision at Honours and Masters levels

Emilia is an honorary fellow who has been working with the Justice Health Unit since 2017. She is also a research associate at the Curtin School of Population Health and a technical advisor to the WHO (Europe) Health in Prisons Programme Technical Expert Group. Emilia completed both Honours in Population and Global Health and a Master of Public Health at the University of Melbourne. She has a particular interest in improving the health and social circumstances of women involved in the criminal justice system.

Louise Southalan

LLB  MIntDev  MSc  GAICD  Churchill Fellow

Louise Southalan is an honorary fellow in the Justice Health Unit.  She is involved in a range of national and international projects within the Unit to strengthen the evidence base and promote evidence-based decision making on health issues in prison and detention settings.

She works in Wungening Aboriginal Corporation’s Research, Evaluation and Engagement unit in Perth.  She is also a board member of Mental Health Matters 2 Ltd, which works to embed Lived Experience expertise of justice/mental health/AOD issues at all levels of policy, operations and research.  She is also steering committee member of WEPHREN, the Worldwide Prison Health Research and Engagement Network

Her past roles include:

• Establishing the Mallee Rehabilitation Centre therapeutic community within Casuarina Prison in Western Australia, for the WA Department of Justice
• Monitoring conditions in immigration detention centres in Australia and advocating on behalf of people in detention, for Australian Red Cross,
• In the Western Australian Mental Health Commission, developing new mental health legislation, commission forensic mental health services, and developing justice mental health policy
• As technical adviser to the WHO Health in Prison Program
• As board member of HepatitisWA
• As a criminal lawyer representing young people in detention.

She is a Churchill Fellow, and completed her report in 2020 on strategies for national agencies to improve state prison mental health systems and services. The report is available here. She holds a law degree and masters degrees in International Development and in Mental Health Policy and Services.

Dr Danny Sullivan

MBBS  MBEth  MHlth&MedLaw  MMgt  AFRACMA  FRCPsych  FRANZCP
Available to supervise any medical student projects

Dr Danny Sullivan holds an Honorary appointment with the Justice Health Unit.  He is a consultant forensic psychiatrist with extensive experience working in forensic mental health, court and correctional settings. He has interests in disability and sexual offenders, as well as developing services to address the mental health needs of justice-involved people in prison, hospital and community settings.

Melissa Willoughby

BJus&Crim(Hons)
Available for supervision at Honours level

Melissa Willoughby is an honorary fellow and PhD candidate with the Justice Health Unit at the University of Melbourne, supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Melissa also holds a research assistant position in the Centre for Adolescent Health at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Her research interests centre around the health of marginalised populations and violence prevention. Her current research examines violence-related death and morbidity among adults and young people exposed to the criminal justice system. She is supervised by Professor Stuart Kinner, Associate Professor Rohan Borschmann, Associate Professor Matt Spittal and Dr Jesse Young. She received First Class Honours in Justice and Criminology at RMIT University for her thesis examining the health, welfare and criminal justice service contacts among people who suicided after release from prison.

Zahraa Albatat

Zahraa Albatat is an Honours student in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Under the supervision of Professor Stuart Kinner, A/Prof Rohan Borschmann, Dr Lucas Calais Ferreira and Lindsay Pearce, Zahraa will work to explore the question “Does health improve during incarceration?” She is interested in health equity, medicine and psychology. Zahraa completed her Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience at the University of Melbourne in 2021.

Afaf Humam

Afaf Humam is a Master of Philosophy student with the Justice Health Unit. Her supervisors are Prof Stuart Kinner, Dr Lucas Calais Ferreira and Lindsay Pearce. Her thesis topic is looking at age-specific patterns of mortality among young people exposed to the youth justice system in Queensland, Australia. Afaf completed her Bachelor of Science at Monash University and her Honours at the University of Melbourne. Her Honours paper was published in November 2021 and is available here.

Tricia Mhey Rivas

Tricia is a final year Master of Public Health student specialising in both Health Program Evaluation and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. This year, she is working on a research project titled “Understanding deaths due to non-communicable disease (NCD) among young people in Australia” under the supervision of Professor Susan Sawyer, Professor Stuart Kinner, and Dr Lucas Calais Ferreira for her research capstone. In 2019, she completed her Bachelor degree in Public Health at the University of the Philippines - Manila. She also co-authored a research project titled “Fishing Methods and Occupational Safety Practices of Fishermen in a Coastal Municipality of Central Luzon” which was later published in the Acta Medica Philippina: The National Health Science Journal in April 2021.

Ella Sandler

Ella Sandler is an Honours student in the Justice Health Unit, supervised by Melissa Willoughby and Emilia Janca. Her thesis in 2022 is “Sex differences in circumstances of fatal overdose in young people who have had contact with the youth justice system”. Ella is interested in understanding and exploring how systematic inequalities influence health. Ella completed her Bachelor of Biomedical Science at Monash University in 2021, and developed an interest in epidemiology and public health through her degree.

Rebecca Shuttleworth

Rebecca is a final year Master of Public Health student specialising in epidemiology and biostatistics at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Under the supervision of Professor Stuart Kinner, A/Prof Rohan Borschmann, and Dr Jesse Young, she is undertaking a systematic review on the impact of incarceration on health outcomes for her MPH capstone project. In 2020, she received first-class honours in Health Science from Monash University for her thesis on the diagnosis experience and care access of persons with adult-onset type 1 diabetes.