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La Trobe University 'Rising Stars' research mentoring program and network

ARCH has invited Early and Mid-Career Researchers (EMCRs) from among its partners to join the La Trobe University “Rising Stars” post-doctoral research mentoring program and network. The cohort represents a variety of health disciplines, including nursing, allied health, public health and medicine. The aim of the network is to provide mentoring and support to EMCRs to become more competitive with grant applications, improving the quality and quantity of their research outputs and to learn about how to develop a highly successful career in health research. The network members meet both in-person and virtually. Please see below for a summary of some of our Rising Stars and their areas of research interest should you wish to collaborate.

To find out more about the Rising Stars Program, please email C.Thwaites@latrobe.edu.au

EMCR Name	Affiliation	Current areas of research	Expertise	Contact details
Dr Hazel Heng	Northern Health	Falls prevention, health services research, digital health, vestibular physiotherapy	Qualitative research, scoping and systematic reviews, REDCap, program evaluations	Hazel.heng@nh.org.au
Dr Bijaya Pokharel	LTU School of Nursing and Midwifery, Austin Clinical School	Cultural safety and competency, primary care, sexual/reproductive health, family violence, migrant/refugee health	Implementation science, theory-based evaluation of complex interventions, qualitative research, systematic reviews	b.pokharel@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Caroline de Moel-Mandel	LTU Department of Public Health, School of Psychology and Public Health	Equitable access to healthcare services, particularly in sexual and reproductive health, as well as the systems and processes that facilitate the delivery of these services	Mixed-methods research; and scoping, rapid and systematic reviews	c.mandel@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Prabhat Lamichhane	LTU School of Psychology and Public Health	Health Systems, Continuity of Care, Impact Evaluation, Health Services, Child Health, Obesity	Health Systems Evaluation, Health Economics, Public Health, Quantitative surveys, Mixed-Method	p.lamichhane@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Burcu Ozcul	LTU School of Nursing and Midwifery, The Alfred Clinical School	Child and adolescent mental health, young people's mental health, child, adolescent and young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, depression, anxiety, neuroimaging	Qualitative research, Quantitative research	b.ozkul@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Brooke Huuskes	LTU Centre for Cardiovascular Biology and Disease Research	Kidney disease, health services	Qualitative research, patient engagement, research priority setting	b.huuskes@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Tafheem Ahmad Wani	LTU Digital Health Information Management Cluster, School of Psychology and Public Health	Healthcare Cybersecurity, Mobile Health, Socio-technical models in Digital health, Virtual Care, Responsible and Ethical AI use in Health	Mixed-methods, Action Research/Co-Design,  Digital Health Frameworks	T.Wani@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Amy Dennett	Eastern Health	Cancer, health service improvement, education	Trial management, qualitative, surveys, mixed methods, implementation	a.dennett@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Chris Lynch	LTU Department of Public Health, School of Psychology and Public Health	Digital/mHealth models for virtual/hybrid care, CVD, health services research	Codesign, digital health frameworks, trial management, mixed methods	chris.lynch@latrobe.edu.au
Dr Aruska D’Souza	The Royal Melbourne Hospital	Health service research, outcome measurement, general medicine, geriatrics/ gerontology, hospital discharge	Quantitative research, mixed methods, systematic reviews, psychometric testing	Aruska.D’Souza@mh.org.au
Dr Fleur Terrens	Eastern Health	Parkinson’s Disease, Falls prevention, Ageing	Qualitative research, co-design, mixed methods, systematic reviews	fleur.terrens@easternhealth.org.au