As Head, Global Heath Equity and Justice Research group, I lead a vibrant and cohesive program of research of research in the Pacific. South East Asia and Australia. My work is driven by a commitment to person-centred, strengths based approaches that advocate for equity and inclusion and decolonising research practices to find social and public health solutions to some of our greatest issues. This includes issues of gender and sexuality, sexual and reproductive health, young people, and gender-based violence but also infectious diseases of global significance such as HIV, TB, STIs, Hepatitis B, HPV and cervical cancer and COVID-19.
Originally trained in anthropology and sociology, I now consider myself an interdisciplinary researcher who draws on a variety of disciplines and approaches to achieve the best health outcomes for the communities I serve. I value developing in-depth long term partnerships, curiosity and rigour. I currently lead a program of work scaling up equitable access to point-of-care testing for HIV in PNG, socio-cultural research into local configurations of TB, HIV sero-discordant relationships and health system and community responses to COVID-19. I also work at the intersection of art and science, as evident with a recent street art project in Indonesia on climate change and sexual and reproductive health and photo voice on COVID-19 and young people with HIV.