Staff

The SPHERE team comprises of research fellows, affiliates, project-support specialists and management professionals responsible for the day-to-day delivery of our evolving research programs. 

Dr Jody Church

Dr Jody Church is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

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Dr Sharon James

Dr Sharon James works as a Research Fellow and Project Manager on the Australian Contraception and Abortion Primary Care Practitioner Support (AusCAPPS) Network.

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Dr Jessica Botfield

Dr Jessica Botfield is a Senior Research Fellow at SPHERE and provides research support to the Family Planning Australia Research Centre.

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Dr Anisa Assifi

Dr Anisa Assifi is a Research Fellow and Project Manager of the MRFF-funded ALLIANCE trial.

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Dr Satish Melwani

Dr Satish Melwani

Dr Satish Melwani is a dentist and a public health researcher with a keen interest and experience in non-communicable disease prevention, health literacy research, maternal and child health, and health system strengthening.

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Dr Alissia Kost

Dr Alissia Kost

Dr Alissia Kost is a SPHERE Research Fellow for the Endometriosis Management Plan and Australian Contraception and Abortion Primary Care Practitioner Support (AusCAPPS) Network projects.

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Dr Sharinne Crawford

Dr Sharinne Crawford is a Research Fellow and Project Manager of the Endometriosis Management Plan (Endo-MP) project.

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Dr Kailash Thapaliya

Dr Kailash Thapaliya is a postdoctoral research fellow at SAHMRI Women and Kids, SAHMRI. 

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Dr Vera Camões-Costa

Dr Vera Camões-Costa is an implementation scientist, mixed-methods researcher and former mental health practitioner, with experience in designing, implementing and evaluating evidence-based health innovations in primary care.

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Dr Karen Nolidin

Dr Karen Nolidin joined the Department of General Practice at Monash University in 2022 and currently works as a Research Fellow and providing administrative support for the AusCAPPS Network.

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Tahlee Stevenson

Tahlee is a Registered Nurse and researcher, working at the SA Pregnancy Advisory Centre, and across the Adelaide University’s Health and Medical Science Faculty.

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Dr Karin Stanzel

Dr Karin Stanzel is a registered nurse/midwife who worked for more than 20 years in community health, mainly focusing on young people and women’s health.

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Dr Natasha Davidson

Natasha joined SPHERE, the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health for Women in Primary Care, in April 2020.

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Isabella Papadopoulos

Isabella Papadopoulos joined SPHERE in 2024 as a research fellow on the ALLIANCE Trial.

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Dr Gizat Kassie

Dr Gizat Kassie is a Senior Research Fellow at SAHMRI Women and Kids.

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Dr Maira Sohail

Dr Maira Sohail joined SPHERE in October 2024 as a research fellow. Dr Sohail completed their PhD in Epidemiology in 2021 from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, United States

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Dr Melissa Harris

Dr Melissa is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Women’s Health Research at the University of Newcastle.

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Dr Leesa Hooker

Dr Leesa Hooker is a nurse/midwife academic and Senior Research Fellow at the La Trobe Rural Health School and the Judith Lumley Centre.

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Dr Shelly Makleff

Dr Shelly Makleff is a Research Fellow in the Global and Women's Health Unit in the School Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University and a Research Affiliate with SPHERE.

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Anna Fragkoudi

Anna has a midwifery background and is a holder of a Master of Applied Sciences. 

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Joly Kwek

Joly Kwek joined SPHERE as the Community of Practice Project Officer in March 2022.

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Mae Rilloraza

Mae is the Clinical Trial Coordinator of the ORIENT study. Mae is a Registered Nurse and a researcher.

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Catriona Rowe

Catriona is a senior research officer who joined the Department in 2016 as a clinical trial coordinator on the ACCORd Trial.

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Claudia Morando-Stokoe

Claudia is the administrative support officer at SPHERE and is also involved in the ORIENT study and the EXTEND PREFER project as a trial support officer.

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Sangita Chakraborty

Sangita joined SPHERE in 2023 as a research officer on the Endo-MP Project.

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Elizabeth Lehman

Elizabeth joined SPHERE in 2023 as the Project Officer for the ALLIANCE Trial.

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Dr Maria De Leon-Santiago

Dr Maria de Leon-Santiago is the Manager of the SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence and is based at the Department of General Practice, Monash University.

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Claudia Morando-Stokoe

Claudia is the administrative support officer at SPHERE and is also involved in the ORIENT study and the EXTEND PREFER project as a trial support officer.

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Ella Healy

Ella Healy is the Senior Policy and Impact Officer for the SPHERE Centre of Research Excellence. Ella holds a Bachelor of Health Science and a Master of International Relations.

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Anna Goldstein

Anna has more then three decades experience working across government and community sectors to address social issues including support for women.

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