Meet our early career researchers & trainees

 

Julieann Coombes identifies as a Gamilaraay woman through her grandmother’s family and spent her time growing up in Walgett. Julieann is a Registered Practice Nurse with extensive involvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and has lived and worked on the NSW Central Coast for the last 27 years.

Julieann is a Research Fellow in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program at The George Institute. She brings to the role a wealth of career experience since being the first co-ordinator and practice nurse at the Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Health Centre in Wyong.

Julieann is very active in local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representative groups including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Catholic Ministry of the Broken Bay Diocese, where he serves as Chairperson, the Central Coast Indigenous Responsible Gambling Group, Northern Sydney Women in Leadership Advisory Committee, Central Coast Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and is currently the Aboriginal member for FaHCSIA Human Research Ethics National Committee.

Julieann’s focus areas are cultural awareness, equity, health and education. She has taught Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health in secondary and tertiary institutions and has represented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses at the national level.

Julieann resides on the Central Coast and is the proud mum of five daughters.

Julieann Coombes

Research Fellow, The George Institute for Global Health

Abby-Rose Cox is a member of the Nimunburr community with connections to Kija in the East Kimberley. Her experiences of teaching Aboriginal youth has been a driving force in pursuing a career in research. For the past year, she has worked as part of the Yawardani Jan-ga intervention (horses helping in Yawuru) team in Broome as an Equine Assisted Learning practitioner. 

Abby-Rose’s PhD project seeks to explore how culturally secure social and emotional wellbeing programs change the relationship disengaged Aboriginal youth have with educational institutions. It is a qualitative study evidencing the Yawardani Jan-ga program in the social and emotional wellbeing context as reported by Aboriginal youth, families and referrers in the Kimberley region.

Abby-Rose’s passion derives from her experiences as a teacher, mentor, peer educator and social and emotional wellbeing coordinator. Her experiences in the education and youth mental health space in Broome and her duel role as a doctoral candidate and an EAL-Practitioner aims to provide invaluable insights into how local services can better work together with communities to offer services that are more responsive, effective, sustainable, and culturally appropriate for Aboriginal youth.

abby-rose cox

PhD Candidate, Telethon Kids Institute

Tessa Cutler is a PhD candidate in the Indigenous Epidemiology and Health Unit, and Centre for Mental Health within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral research and research interests focus on improving mental health and wellbeing, and preventing suicide, particularly for young Indigenous Australians. She holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Public Health, specialising in epidemiology and biostatistics and has worked in public health research for more than 10 years.

tessa cutler

PhD Candidate, MSPGH, The University of Melbourne

 

Karyn Ferguson

Karyn Ferguson

PhD Candidate, The University of Melbourne

Dr Alison Gibberd recently completed her PhD. She is interested in the potential of routinely collected data to answer complex Aboriginal health questions. She is a Research Fellow in the Indigenous Epidemiology and Health Unit of the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne and manages the project: Predicting and preventing child removals and optimising the child protection system for Aboriginal children in partnership with Aboriginal communities and health services.

Alison Gibberd

Research Fellow, Indigenous Epidemiology and Health, The University of Melbourne

Dr Mark Hanly is a statistician based at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health. He is experienced in analysing linked cross-sectoral datasets to identify factors that promote positive health and development during early childhood.

Mark Hanly

Lecturer, Centre for Big Data Research in Health, The University of New South Wales

 

Maicee Harrison is enrolled in the Doctor of Philosophy (Health Sciences) at Swinburne University of Technology, within the Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science in Melbourne. Her research investigates the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the Australian justice system from a strength-based perspective, aiming to identify the contributing factors to justice system involvement or non-involvement. Following the completion of her doctorate she hopes to continue a research career in areas of miscarriages of justice and justice inequality.

Maicee harrison

PhD Candidate, Swinburne University of Technology

 

Cat Lloyd-Johnsen is a PhD student with the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. Her doctoral research tests the feasibility and community acceptability of establishing a data resource by linking health and education datasets for a cohort of Aboriginal children (birth to school entry) in Central Australia. The aim is to generate an enriched suite of data that provides researchers, health services providers and community stakeholders with an opportunity to improve the quality of health care for Aboriginal children over the life course in real time. Cat has over 9 years of experience in early childhood research and she holds a Master of Public Health (2010) from the University of Melbourne and a Masters of Philosophy in Social Change from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway (2004).

Cat lloyd-johnsen

PhD Candidate, Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne

 

Courtney Ryder is an Aboriginal PhD student in the Injury Division at The George Institute. Her research is part of the Coolamon study, understanding burn injuries in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: treatment, access to services and outcomes. For which she has a NHMRC postgraduate scholarship to investigate the trajectory of recovery, quality of life, parental resilience and economic impacts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families whose children are recovering from a burns injury.

Courtney ryder

PhD Candidate, Injury Division, The George Institute for Global Health

Dr Christina Heris is a research fellow with the Tobacco Free Program in the Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing at the Australian National University with interests in health communications, tobacco control and adolescent health. Christina completed her PhD thesis Young Aboriginal People Staying Smoke-Free in 2020 supported by CRE REACH and in collaboration with many of the CRE’s investigators and trainees. She continues to be involved in the work of CRE REACH through the Next Generation Youth Wellbeing study.

Christina heris

Research Fellow, Australian National University

 

Chris McKay is a Koori researcher of Wiradjuri descent completing his PhD at the University of Melbourne’s School of Population and Global Health. His PhD research is looking into the cardiometabolic health profile of Aboriginal adolescents and the individual, social and environmental contexts associated with healthy outcomes and increased risk of chronic disease. Addressing risk factors for chronic disease and supporting health during adolescence will help reduce the burden of chronic disease among Aboriginal populations.

chris mcKay

PhD Candidate, MSPGH, The University of Melbourne

 

Hayley Williams is a PhD Candidate at the University of Queensland working on a project to improve the care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with burns injuries.

Hayley Williams

PhD Candidate, University of Queensland

Ben is a PhD student at the University of Oxford where he is currently investigating paediatric global health systems. He previously completed his medical studies and graduate diploma in health management at the UNSW in Sydney. Ben is a Murrawarri man.

University of Oxford profile: https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/team/benjamin-jones

Ben Jones

PhD Candidate, The University of Oxford

 

Bobby Porykali comes from a Medical Science and Biotechnology background. His passion lies in Global Indigenous Health. Experienced in child and maternal health, clinical trials and public health programs aimed at improving the health and wellbeing for his Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Bobby is a Project Manager at the George Institute for Global Health working on the Next Generation – Youth Wellbeing Study, this study aims to assess the health and wellbeing of 2,250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents and youth aged 10 to 24 years over time. He is also undergoing postgraduate studies at the University of Technology Sydney where he aims to examine the impact that driver licensing has on improving employment and health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Bobby Porykali

Project Manager, Injury Division, The George Institute for Global Health