Seminar presenters
The Research Skills Seminar Series have a range of guest presenters that volunteer their time and expertise towards enriching the series. All presenters bring their experiences with research in health to ensure our series covers topics that are important and useful to our audience.
Our Presenters
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Katherine ColtronaManager, Research Governance, Telethon Kids InstituteKatherine has 30 years of experience in the health and medical research sector and the biotechnology industry. She spent the first 15 years of her career as a clinical nurse and educator both in Perth and London; followed by the past 15 years within health and medical research support services, including research development, ethics, governance, translation and innovation. Presenting
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Tara McLarenHead, Research Development, Telethon Kids InstituteAfter completing a Bachelor of Psychology at UWA, Tara lived in the UK for nine years where she re-trained as a Primary Teacher, working in both the government and private school systems. Since her return to Australia in 2005, Tara has worked in the Higher Education sector across a number of roles including: Research Development Advisor, Communications Manager, General Manager, Marketing Manager, and most recently as Manager of Impact and Engagement. Tara has a particular interest in supporting researchers secure research funding and to translate their research into outcomes that benefit the community. Tara is responsible for overseeing the Institute’s Research Development team with a focus on planning, coordinating and evaluating the Institute's research funding. Presenting
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Dr Natalie StrobelSenior Research Fellow, Kurongkurl Katitjin, Edith Cowan UniversityDr Natalie Strobel is a Senior Research Fellow employed as the team leader on the evidence synthesis stream for the Centre for Improving Health Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Families (ISAC) at the Edith Cowan University. She has been working in health services research and epidemiology to improve service delivery to children, in particular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Dr Strobel has been consulting with WHO on various neonatal guidelines including for preterm and low birth weight infants. Her work has had a strong focus on ensuring projects delivered are needs based and inform policy and practice. Presenting
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Dr Kenneth LeeSenior Lecturer, Pharmacy Practice, University of Western AustraliaDr Lee is a Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice and a clinician. As a clinician, he works in a large medical centre as the in-house pharmacist, as well as in private consultancy, where he primarily delivers comprehensive medication management review services to domiciliary patients. Dr Lee is passionate about integrating practice, research, and teaching. Presenting
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Prof Jonathan Carapetis AMDirector, Telethon Kids InstituteProfessor Jonathan Carapetis is Director of the Telethon Kids Institute and a Professor at UWA. His research interests include rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, other group A streptococcal diseases, vaccine preventable disease, Indigenous child health, youth health and education, and skin sores and scabies. He has supervised 23 PhD, Masters, Honours, Clinical Trainees and others in research. Presenting
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Prof Sonya GirdlerProfessor of Occupational Therapy and Director of the Curtin Autism Research Group (CARG) and Director of Program 3 of the ‘Living with Autism’ Cooperative Research CentreSonya has published over 100 papers, including publishing more than 20 reviews (Systematic and Scoping), supervised 12 PhD students to completion and has extensive experience in conducting research in health and community settings. Presenting
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Michael DymockBiostatistician and Infectious Diseases Modeller, Telethon Kids InstituteMichael is a biostatistician based at the Telethon Kids Institute. In 2018 he received a first-class Honours degree in Computational Statistics at the University of Western Australia, where he was later employed as a consultant statistician with the Centre for Applied Statistics. His current research interests include Bayesian adaptive trial designs, computational statistics and vaccine safety surveillance. Presenting
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Belinda FrankInvolvement Coordinator, Telethon Kids Institute
Belinda is the Involvement Coordinator at Telethon Kids Institute. She started her consumer advocacy work in 2002, originally as a board member and then state manager for a not for profit organisation. In 2016 she started work at the Telethon Kids Institute as the Consumer Advocate then moving into the Development Team with the establishment of the Consumer and Community Health Research Network. Belinda currently serves on state and national research committees. Presenting
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Rad AnibaHead of Research Data Strategy, Telethon Kids Institute
Rad is an experienced data professional with the capability of transforming the way organizations view and use data as an asset to create business value. He helps organizations plan, design and execute data strategies that rely on Business Strategy, Management, Technology, Data, and People Presenting
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Elizabeth ChesterDirector of Communications and Development, Telethon Kids InstituteElizabeth provides counsel to the Director and senior staff on strategic communication and advocacy issues and leads a team of professionals who support the Institute in communications, media, fundraising, events, community involvement and marketing. team plays a vital role in supporting the researchers in translating the outcomes of their work to broader audiences, including families and policy makers. It also supports the researchers in developing and stewarding relationships with corporates and philanthropist committed to making a difference to child health and wellbeing. Elizabeth has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist and producer, and has worked with both Channels 7 and 9, and in the State Government's Media Office. She also ran her own consultancy before formally joining the Institute. In her role, Elizabeth has worked closely with the Institute's Founding Director Professor Fiona Stanley in her advocacy for Australia's children and families. Presenting
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A/Prof Fenella GillAssociate Professor, Nursing Research, Perth Children's Hospital, Child and Adolescent Health ServiceFenella leads research focused on paediatric inpatient and family experiences, safety and outcomes. Fenella’s PhD work resulted in national practice standards for critical care nurse education incorporating the views of health consumers. Fenella was an NHMRC Translating Research into Practice Fellow for post-doctoral research on partnering with parents in the care of their deteriorating child in hospital. Fenella holds an inaugural West Australian Health Translation Network (WAHTN) and Curtin University 2019 Early Career Fellowship in Research Translation and in 2016 Fenella was honoured as a life member of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN). Presenting
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Glenn PearsonDirector, Aboriginal Health, Telethon Kids InstituteGlenn is the Deputy Director of Aboriginal Health and part of the Institute Leadership Team at TKI as well as Lead of the Kulungu Aboriginal Research Development Unit (KARDU). He has 15 years experience in senior positions within the Australian and State Governments in a range of areas including health, education and child protection including almost 10 years with the now, Department of Child Protection and Family Support. Co-presenting
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Dr Brad FarrantHead, Aboriginal Health & Wellbeing, Telethon Kids InstituteBrad is a Senior Research Fellow who has been at the Telethon Kids Institute since 2010. Prior to joining the Institute he completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours and a PhD in Developmental Psychology at the University of Western Australia. Brad's research focuses on the importance of early childhood development. He is particularly interested in how to connect this to strengths of Aboriginal people and culture. Coming from the perspective of Developmental Psychology Brad is also interested in how broader ecological factors like biodiversity loss, population growth, peak water and climate change will interact to affect children's development now and in the future Co-presenting
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Dr Tegan McNabGrants & Research Development Manager, Telethon Kids InstituteTegan undertook her undergraduate and postgraduate degrees at Murdoch University. She managed the Western Australian DNA Bank (an NHMRC Enabling Resource) for a number of years before moving into research development roles at both The University of Western Australia and Curtin University. Tegan joined Telethon Kids in early 2019. Tegan has a particular interest in supporting researchers to secure research funding. She is responsible for the Institute's grants research operations. Presenting
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Richard MacliverInnovations Manager, Child and Adolescent Health ServiceRichard utilises his skills in human-centered design, communication, and health technology development to understand complex problems and design solutions that improve the experience and outcomes of clinicians and patients. Co-presenting
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Ashley SchoofCommercialisation Officer, Telethon Kids InstituteAs the Commercialisation Officer at the Telethon Kids Institute, Ashley is responsible for the identification, protection and commercialisation of Intellectual Property at Telethon Kids to support the development of new discoveries, preventions and cures. Co-presenting
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Dr Shirley McGoughAdjunct Research Fellow, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin UniversityShirley has a wide range of experience conducting health research in the area of mental health using a mix of research designs. She is a registered nurse and a credentialed mental health nurse. Presenting
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A/Prof Sue SkullMedical Lead Quality Improvement, Safety Quality and Performance and Consultant Paediatrician Department of General Paediatrics, Child and Adolescent Health ServiceSue is a paediatrician, epidemiologist, and public health physician. She is an experienced teacher of research methods and enjoys helping others improve and enjoy their research experience. Sue was Head of the Research Education Program at PCH up to end 2021. Presented up to end 2021
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Dr Julie MarshSenior Research Fellow, Telethon Kids InstituteJulie is an experienced statistical consultant who has worked in the Pharmaceutical industry for many years before returning to academia. She is a Senior Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute where she specialises in adaptive clinical trials, statistical methods for detecting adverse events following immunisation and the longitudinal analysis of birth cohorts. Presented up to end 2021
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Natalie BarberNatalie was the Head, Research Governance and Platforms, Telethon Kids Institute up to end 2021Natalie has vast experience in running clinical trials and human research from the Pharmaceutical Industry and the NHS in the UK. She is an experienced teacher of Good Clinical Practice. Presented 2021
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