Born and raised in Townsville, I moved to Mount Isa in 2005 to take on the position of Research Officer at MICRRH. I worked in this position full-time until February 2007, when I began work on my PhD studies. I still work as a research officer for MICRRH one day per week.

My Honours thesis was entitled Meaningful Interactions: A Critical Medical Anthropological Examination of Aboriginal Australian Identity, Health, and Well Being (2004). The thesis examined the political, social, cultural and historical contexts of Aboriginal identity formation, health and illness experiences and expressions and the basis for well being, with a specific focus on the Yolngu Sociomedical system and the introduction of kava to the Yolngu by Missionaries as a form of control, moral judgement, and surveillance of Aboriginal bodies. During my Honours year at university, I was employed on a short term contract as a research assistant for the Central Queensland Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, which provided great insights into the Native Title process, and its impacts on claimants' health and well being. Shortly after the completion of my thesis, I was employed in a joint contract between the Native Title Studies Centre (JCU Cairns) and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), to work on an annotated bibliography for the GBRMPA's new Traditional Owners Information System. These were both invaluable employment experiences to have early in my career, and experiences which I believe have benefited my research at MICRRH.

In my time at MICRRH I have worked on several projects including The Rural and Remote Road Safety study (2005-2006), The Mount Isa Community Partnerships evaluation (2005-2006), assisted in development of an online Cultural Awareness training package for General Practitioners (GPET Cultural Awareness Package) (2006), The Lifescripts adaptation for use with Indigenous clients (2007), development of the Community Infonet project (2007 to present), and will be working on development of a training and implementation package to accompany the adapted Lifescripts resources (2008).

My PhD is entitled: Who Cares? Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Care Choices and Access Barriers in Mount Isa. I received an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) Scholarship to complete this project between February 2007 and February 2010. The study aims to explore the ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations make decisions about health care, and their experiences of care within the health network of Mount Isa. Exploration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of thinking about health, help-seeking and health care decision pathways will reveal how this population engages with mainstream biomedical health services, and the alternative measures that this population use to ensure good health. The thoughts and experiences of various health professionals working within the health care network will also be considered. Their perspectives on the way the health network operates, the collaborations and gaps in service provision and the ways that they assist their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients through the network will be discussed.

Research Interests

Medical Anthropology, including:

• The health and well being of Indigenous Australians
• Healing systems
• Human resource networks and their utilisation for extended health care in communities (Sociomedical systems)
• Female Reproductive and sexual health (especially birthing rites and experiences)
• Grass roots community movements
• Community Controlled Health Initiatives

Research Projects

My current projects include:

• PhD Study
• Community Infonet - online directory of health and social services in Mount Isa
• Lifescripts training and implementation package (to accompany Indigenous Australian Lifescripts package)

Other Interests:

• My dogs, Meggan and Pepe
• Cooking
• Travelling
• Quilting
• Lino-printing and paper quilling