Christine (she/her) grew up on Nipaluna lands and currently lives on Wurundjeri lands. Christine pays her respects to the Custodians, Elders past, present and emerging. Christine is the Apex Australia Foundation Chair of Neurodevelopment and Disability at The University of Melbourne and The Royal Children’s Hospital. This is called the Apex Chair for short.
Christine is an occupational therapist, and her research focuses on participation – what helps, what makes it harder, and how to change what we do so that participation is better for everyone. Christine’s research is usually done in partnership with young people with disability and their families.
In 2021, Christine became Founding Director of Healthy Trajectories, a child and youth disability research hub on the Melbourne Children’s Campus. She is excited to bring together a team to work towards the vision of achieving best outcomes for children and youth with disability and their families. Read more about Christine’s research.
When she is not researching (and sometimes when she is) you can find Christine sailing with her family or doing renovations on her home.
Georgie (she/her) resides on the traditional lands of the Bunurong People in Bayside Melbourne.
Georgie has a background in physiotherapy, research and project management and enjoys the opportunity to use these skills in her role as Healthy Trajectories Research Manager.
Georgie is driven by a desire to minimise the impact that health conditions have on a person’s ability to participate fully in all aspects of life. Broadly, Georgie’s clinical and research interests include:
Georgie was drawn to the research of the Healthy Trajectories hub because of the focus on partnering with and learning from those with lived experience of disability.
In her leisure time, Georgie enjoys being in the outdoors – beach walks with her fur niece Bella (a dog), cycling, swimming and kayaking. This activity is complimented by a healthy appetite for good food and wine, and a love of seeking out new places and experiences.
Bridget (she/her) lives on the traditional lands of the Taungurung people in Strathbogie, Victoria. Bridget is a research fellow with the Healthy Trajectories team. Bridget has worked in the community in regional areas of Victoria and New South Wales as a physiotherapist. Her research interests are in understanding how service providers, services and systems can create environments that promote wellbeing and child development for families new to disability and the NDIS.
Through her PhD studies Bridget developed an understanding of how assessment is used and experienced by parents and therapists. This work resulted in recommendations for practice that enable parents and young people to be more involved in their assessment and decisions about their own health and future. Bridget uses these ideas in her clinical work with families of infants born very preterm or with neuro-developmental disability.
In her spare time Bridget enjoys bushwalking, cooking, gardening and caring for land, trees and wildlife on Taungurung Country.
Nicole (she/her) is a postdoctoral research fellow with Healthy Trajectories child and youth disability research hub in the University of Melbourne, Department of Paediatrics at the Royal Children’s Hospital. Her work involves primarily qualitative research exploring the experiences of care coordination for children with medical complexity and learning and belonging within education settings for students with disability. Nicole is also a physiotherapist with a background in private practice. Her research is conducted in partnership with people with disability and families. She collaborates across disciplines including education, architecture and design.
Suzanne (she/her) lives on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. She has worked as a physiotherapist alongside children and families for more than 20 years. Through her PhD and post-doctoral studies, Suzanne’s research showed that some developmental needs were being missed following early childhood heart surgery, leading to improved approaches to early identification and support.
Suzanne is a Research Fellow with the Healthy Trajectories team. Her current research focuses on the tools used to understand and support children’s development, participation and wellbeing across the life course. She is particularly interested in supporting parents as experts, empowering them to make informed decisions for their child and family.
Outside of work, Suzanne enjoys hiking with her family, keeping fit along the Yarra trails, and sharing the joy of Maple the Berner.
Kerry (she/her) lives on Wathaurong lands and respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners of these lands. Kerry has over 20 years’ experience working in paediatric physiotherapy. Her work has included both clinical and service development roles in a range of acute and community settings including University College Hospital in London, The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne and the Victorian Paediatric Rehabilitation Service Barwon and Children’s Therapy Services in Geelong.
Kerry’s position within the Healthy Trajectories team allows her to use her clinical experience as a foundation for research that focuses on promoting partnership and collaboration between service providers and families. Her focus in both research and in clinical practice is to empower children and families, and to provide support that is responsive, flexible and guided by the priorities, values and needs of each child and family.
Outside of work and study, Kerry enjoys walking, bike riding and travelling, and catching up with family and friends.
Kerry is standing at the top of a mountain overlooking a fjord in Norway. She is wearing a black raincoat and has wet hair. She is smiling because she hiked up in the rain, and made it to the top and the rain stopped.
Miriam (she/her) is a Research Assistant for the ENVISAGE Service Providers and Review of Best Practice in Early Childhood Intervention projects. She enjoys living and raising children in a small town in regional Victoria on Taungurung land.
Miriam has a background in physiotherapy, with many varied work experiences across rural and metro regions of Victoria, Western Australia and New South Wales. Miriam is mother to two children, one of whom has a rare genetic syndrome (Kabuki syndrome). As a family they live with the complexity and uncertainties of navigating multiple medical, disability, and educational services and systems.
Working in the Healthy Trajectories team gives an opportunity to bring together personal and professional experiences to hopefully have impact on wider systems and processes, making things better for future generations of children and their families.
Outside of this work Miriam enjoys volunteering locally as a babywearing peer educator and re-energises through music (playing violin) and other forms of creative expression.
Sevastine (she/her) lives on Wurundjeri lands and pays her respects to the traditional owners of these lands. Sevastine is a clinical counsellor by background and holds a consumer engagement position with Healthy Trajectories.
She is experienced at recruiting, training, and enabling consumers with lived experience of disability to participate in research, across all stages of design, implementation and dissemination. Her work focuses on:
Sevastine has cerebral palsy herself and uses this lived experience and understanding of disability to connect and empathise with young people and their families.
In her role, Sevastine coordinates and enables advisory committees and collaboration between young people with disability and research teams to maximise outcomes for people with disability and their families. She ensures that consumers are well supported in their partnership with Healthy Trajectories, to add their voice and influence the direction of research.
Outside of work, Sevastine loves music, dancing, spending time with family and friends, travelling and just being in nature!
Beni (she/her) is a digital content editor originally from Noongar country, now living in Wurundjeri country. She graduated from the University of Western Australia with Bachelor in Science, majoring in Genetics.
She has always had a passion for volunteer work and began working at the Royal Children’s Hospital as a volunteer, which lead to a job as communications assistant Healthy Trajectories.
When not at work, Beni enjoys drawing and painting in the company of cats and dogs.
Jacinta (she/her) is a PhD candidate and speech pathologist living and working on Wurundjeri country. Her clinical experience is in a specialist school setting for children and adolescents with disabilities. She is driven by a desire to promote communication access and to support students to develop their self-advocacy skills.
Jacinta is excited to be working towards her PhD in promoting the mental health of young people with complex communication needs. Jacinta loves to collaborate with different groups of people, and she is involved with the research groups CP-Achieve and CHILD. Jacinta’s PhD has at its foundation “consumer engagement”, which means people with lived experience of disability are directly involved in shaping the projects. She recognises that this engagement will help the research outcomes be useful and practical to the people it matters to.
When Jacinta is not working, you can find her reading a book in the sun or making pasta.
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