Menu
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.
Adrienne (she/her) lives on Wurundjeri lands and respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners of these lands. Adrienne is a Principal Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, physiotherapist and program leader within the Healthy Trajectories team.
Adrienne’s research addresses the complexity of living with disability and the challenges that arise such as pain, movement disorders and issues in the health system. She has created resources and processes that allow clinicians to improve the way they support children and young people with cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities. Adrienne is very excited to be part of the growing Healthy Trajectories team and looks forward to working with youth and their families to reach our vision.
Outside of work, Adrienne likes to swim, walk with the dog along the inner city Yarra river trails, and enjoys the great food Melbourne offers. Read more about Adrienne’s research.
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 Operations Manager and Project Manager of the team’s Upper Limb Trials.
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.
Jacky (she/her) is a research assistant and physiotherapist from Boon Wurrung Country, now living in on Wurundjeri land. Jacky is passionate about enhancing the health and wellbeing of all children and young people with disabilities. She has worked as a paediatric physiotherapist in community and hospital settings in Australia and the UK and feels incredibly privileged to work so closely with children and their families, both in times of joy – when achieving goals and also in times of need.
Jacky is driven by the desire for a more equal and inclusive world, where all children with disabilities, regardless of their background have equal opportunities and rights. She completed her Masters in Global Health and Development in 2019 and commenced a Global Health Fellowship in early 2020. Since returning to Australia, she has been working as a Research Assistant at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, where she enjoys being involved in the many diverse and impactful projects of the Healthy Trajectories Hub. In particular, Jacky loves collaborating with and learning from her colleagues.
Jacky loves camping and exploring the great outdoors, and when not at work can often be found with her nose in a good book – ideally by a body of water.
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!
Kerry (she/her) lives on Wathaurong lands and respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners of these lands. Kerry is a PhD student with 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.
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.
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 assisting Healthy Trajectories.
When not at work, Beni enjoys drawing and painting in the company of cats and dogs.
Elise (she/her) lives on Wurrundjeri country and pays her sincere respects to traditional owners of the land. She is National Evaluation Manager for ENVISAGE. Elise has a background in psychology and has been a public health researcher in the area of disability and mental health for the last 20 years. She has held previous research roles in university settings and government and non-government settings. Previous research areas include quality of life of children and mental health of parents. She is passionate about supporting parents and carers of children with a disability and enjoys working with and learning from other parents. Elise cares for her 15 year old son who has a disability.
When she is not working, Elise loves walking, going to the beach, spending time with her boys, basketball and baking!
Nicole is a post-doctoral research fellow with Healthy Trajectories working mainly in the Inclusive Education and Optimising Health research themes. She is also a physiotherapist and continues to work clinically in private practice on the days she is not working at Healthy Trajectories. Nicole’s PhD explored spinal cord injuries which occur due to a rugby union incident – many of which occur during adolescence. This included using community engaged methods to identify gaps in support after spinal cord injury, along with barriers and facilitators to quality of life and participation over the lifespan.
Inspired by her PhD research and clinical work, Nicole seeks to understand the priorities and needs of children with disabilities and their families and identify opportunities to improve health and participation for all. As a parent of neurodiverse children, she is also motivated by her experiences of challenges and barriers to inclusive education practice in Australia.
Francesca (she/her) grew up in Italy and now finds her home on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people. She holds a Master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Pisa and completed her PhD with the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. For several years, she worked at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, engaging in research projects focusing on young people with neurofibromatosis type 1 and autism, as well as adolescents who are gender diverse.
Francesca possesses a genuine drive to build knowledge that can improve children’s health and quality of life. She joined the Healthy Trajectories Hub as a Research Fellow because she was eager to contribute to research that is co-designed, interdisciplinary, and impactful. She hopes to integrate her clinical and research expertise to undertake studies that can inform clinical practice and policymaking.
In her free time, Francesca enjoys walking among plenty of ferns and eucalyptus trees. She is also very passionate about learning about other cultures. When she cannot visit a foreign place, she simulates traveling experiences by experimenting with new food and listening to live music around Melbourne.
The Healthy Trajectories Child and Youth Disability Research Hub acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to the lands and waterways on which we live, learn and work. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and to Elders past, present and emerging.
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more