Our civil society networks and partners
Joining Hands for a Healthy Future: Insights for Integrating Community Participation in Intersectoral Collaboration for Planetary Health
Maarinke van der Meulen
Maarinke is the Program Lead for the Global Thought Leadership Program, in the Impact and Engagement team. She drives research impact by working with researchers and other subject matter experts and translating knowledge for different audiences, complimenting advocacy efforts on preventable disease and injury. Maarinke joined the George Institute in 2018 to develop the program, establishing activities such as data visualisation, podcasts, and interactive stories. The Global Thought Leadership program now includes the Emerging Thought Leader Program -coaching early-mid career researchers and subject matter experts- and managing the Distinguished Fellow Program, engaging and collaborating with a network of renowned experts around the globe.
Prior to this Maarinke worked for 8 years in medicines education, after 12 years in insurance, finance and IT. Maarinke has a Masters in International Law and International Relations, Graduate Certificate in Health Policy and Health Communications, and a Bachelor of Business with double major in Marketing and Management.
Dr Sue Haupt
Dr Sue Haupt is a Research Associate at The George Institute for Global Health, the Women’s Health Program, and is also an Honorary Senior Research in the Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology at UoM. She focuses on sex disparities in medical research and health and has a track record of commitment to humanitarian research projects for health equity around the globe. She is internationally recognised for original, ground-breaking, research discoveries of sex differences in cancer (93 articles). She is an advocate for sex and gender policies in medical research and care on ABC Health Report (2019, 2021), which aligns directly with her contribution to the Launch of the Australian Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine in March 2024 at UNSW. She is an invited speaker on sex disparities at international medical conferences and across a breadth of diverse, national public forums. A medical science writer of original research (e.g. NatComms), reviews, commentaries and perspectives (e.g. NatMed, including features on sex disparities in health (e.g. NatRevCancer). She is committed to educating the next generation of research scientists and has extensive experience as a: graduate student supervisor (8 PhD, 1 ongoing, 2 MA students and 6 Honours students, all H1 graduates); mentor; chair and member of university student committees.
Back pain treatment: How do we decide when – or if – to intervene?
Thomas Gadsden
Dr Thomas Gadsden is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Systems Science, The George Institute for Global Health, and a Conjoint Lecturer at UNSW Sydney.
His research focuses on health systems strengthening, with expertise in discrete choice experiments, evidence synthesis, and evaluation. His PhD research examined the design of appropriate incentives for community health workers in Indonesia.
Tom has held diverse roles across the health sector, including as a Public Health Officer Trainee at the NSW Ministry of Health, Health Financing Officer for the WHO Country Office in Lao PDR, and Australian Youth Ambassador for Development. He also worked as a youth worker in remote Aboriginal communities.
Tom has a strong track record of partnering with government stakeholders and has authored commissioned reports and policy briefs for Australian government agencies and the World Health Organization.
Professor Vivekanand Jha
Professor Jha is Executive Director at The George Institute for Global Health, India, Chair of Global Kidney Health, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, and the past President of the International Society of Nephrology.
He has wide-ranging research interests, including understanding the health and societal impact of kidney diseases around the world and the development of affordable, scalable and sustainable primary and secondary prevention tools.
He has worked with many organisations including the WHO to develop clinical practice guidelines and advocacy papers, has lectured extensively around the world, and is a prolific writer and editor.
Sudha Kallakuri
After completion of her Masters, Sudha started her career in clinical research at Clinigene International Ltd, sister concerns of Biocon. She has worked in clinical research industry for the past five and a half years and was part of George Clinical for nearly four years.
Sudha has had experience in working on academic trials and seeks to pursue higher education and training in public health research, especially in the areas of non-communicable diseases including mental health and injuries.
She is currently involved in a study where mobile-based technology is being used to provide basic mental health care to scheduled tribe villages in rural Andhra Pradesh.
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Severine Bompoint
Severine has a Bachelor degree in Computer Science, Information Systems and Piloting and an Associate Degree in Statistics and Data Management from the University of South-Brittany (France).
Before joining the George Institute in 2006 she worked in a contract research organisation in the United States and at the National Research and Safety Institute in France. She has extensive experience programming and validating statistical analyses for clinical trials from various phases and therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology and cardiology.