What does our name
mean?
The Health Hive was named by our youth team members, inspired by connection, collaboration, and community.
Like a real hive, it’s full of energy and purpose, with everyone working together on research that aims to shape healthier futures.
Meet the Youth Team
Emma
As an aspiring woman in STEM and project management, Emma (she/her) seeks to learn from diverse perspectives and thrives on networking to create innovations that improve the quality of life for others. She is also currently working as a youth leader for the ‘THRIVE-25’ Youth Advisory Group, which aims to enhance cancer prevention for young people in Australia, founded by organisations such as the University of Melbourne. Emma is passionate about fostering meaningful change and strongly believes that problems can be effectively solved through empathy, communication and authenticity. As hobbies, Emma enjoys debating, participating in pitching competitions, community volunteering, running a small crochet business and practising Brazilian jiu-jitsu!
Kay
Kay (he/they) is a young advocate with a passion for change-making and addressing disparities. He is the founder and spokesperson for the Equity Advocacy Group on the mid-north coast, which aims to raise awareness, promote diversity, and combat social stigma. Kay is a member of their local headspace’s Youth Reference Group where they aim to promote authenticity and equity for marginalised groups across their community, especially for queer and neurodiverse youth. They strongly believe in the role of young people in promoting change and have recently conducted a study into the concerns of the youth in NSW, and aim to use this data to amplify youth voices and effectively address needs. He is currently working with the Young Global Health Representative non-profit, as the Ambassador for Australia and keynote speaker on health literacy. They love to read and write poetry and play they the flute in their free time. Fun fact: he was also a movie actor!
Julian
Julian (he/him) is a passionate advocate eager to learn and collaborate in youth advisory roles. With two years of experience at the Council for Intellectual Disability, Julian focuses on health, wellbeing, and behaviour support plans. He values the importance of ensuring workers' voices are heard. Outside of advocacy, Julian enjoys going to the gym, cooking, and drinking chai. He’s also a sports enthusiast and is keen on making information accessible through ‘Easy Read’, a method designed to simplify communication both orally and visually.
Elena
Elena Wang (she/her) is a Research Assistant, studying a Bachelor of Clinical Science and Doctor of Medicine at Western Sydney University. She is a part of the HAPYUS 2024 cohort where she focused on youth advocacy and health in a growingly digital world and aims to continue advocating for youth health and voices.
Dominik
Dominik Mautner (he/him) is a Research Assistant at the University of Sydney and is studying a Bachelor of Medical Science and Bachelor of Laws at University of Technology Sydney. His work focuses on youth health prevention, increasing physical activity, and seeks to understand the complex factors influencing adolescent health behaviours. He is committed to translating research findings into practical strategies to support the health and wellbeing of adolescents.
Meet the Research Team
A/Prof Stephanie Partridge
Chief Investigator
Core project team
PhD B Sc (Hons I)
Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney
A/Prof Stephanie Partridge is a Sydney Horizon Fellow and National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellow at the University of Sydney. She is the Research Lead at the Youth Well Lab. Her research is focused on harnessing digital technologies to create healthy societies and to improve the health of young people. Her research aims to find solutions to improve eating behaviours, physical activity levels and mental wellbeing in young people. She committed to conducting studies that are relevant to young people and aim to achieve this by involving them actively in all phases of research. In 2023, she won the Emerging Leader in Science Eureka Prize in recognition of her research. Stephanie is also the co-chair of the International Association for Adolescent Health Emerging Professionals Network.
Allyson Todd
PhD Candidate & Research Officer
Core Project Team
Master of Public Health, Bachelor of Global Studies
Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney
Allyson is a PhD candidate and Research Officer within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She is also the Youth Engagement Lead at the Youth Well Lab. She is passionate about chronic disease prevention in adolescents with a focus on youth engagement. Her PhD research aims to transform adolescent-led public health nutrition research and build capacity in adolescents to meaningfully contribute to research and policy decisions that impact them. Allyson is committed to improving health equity and sustainable health outcomes for adolescents, evident in her research and advocacy efforts. Allyson is an active member of the Public Health Association of Australia, serving on the Student and Young Professionals of Public Health (SYPPH) Committee and as Secretary for the Child and Youth Health Special Interest Group.
Sara Wardak
Associate Investigator
Core Project Team
BSc/LLB Student
University of Sydney
Sara Wardak is a Research Assistant in the Faculty of Medicine and Health and a current Bachelor of Science (Genetics and Genomics)/Bachelor of Laws student at the University of Sydney. With experience as a former youth advisor, her research now revolves around health, law and policy, and codesign, with a focus on adolescent health. As a 2024 Charles Perkins Centre Summer Research Scholar, she is passionate about undergraduate research and serves as the Head of the Australasian Council for Undergraduate Research's Student Committee (Ascending Head in 2024, Descending Head in 2025).
Putu Novi Arfirsta Dharmayani
Research Officer
Core project team
Master of Public Health (Research) Bachelor of Psychology
Macquarie University
Putu Novi Arfirsta Dharmayani is a research assistant/officer at Macquarie University. She holds a Master of Public (Research) and Bachelor of Psychology. Her master's research project focused on the association between fruit and vegetable consumption and depression symptoms, particularly in young women. Novi has strong interest in healthy lifestyle, including physical activity and dietary behaviours, food insecurity, mental health, and sustainability.
Dr Rebecca Raeside
Associate Investigator
Core project team
PhD, MPH, BBIomedSc
Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Dr Rebecca Raeside is the Digital Health Innovation Stream Lead at the Youth Well Lab. Her research embraces the digital revolution by exploring the potential of digital health strategies to reduce the risk of chronic diseases for young people. Through an adolescent rights approach, she prioritises their needs, priorities and views to fill a significant research gap in preventive healthcare. She actively works alongside young people to inform all aspects of her research. Her research will have significant and lifelong impacts to the health of the community, by reducing individual risk of chronic diseases and subsequently reducing future burden to the health system. She currently leads a nationwide clinical trial, the Health4Me study, which was co-designed with young people and aims to improve the leading risk factors for chronic diseases (physical activity and diet) through accessible digital health strategies.
A/Prof Seema Mihrshahi
Chief Investigator
Core Project Team
PhD MPH BSc(Hons)
Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Sydney
Public Health Consultant
Associate Professor Seema Mihrshahi has a background in public health nutrition and nutrition epidemiology. Her current research focuses on community-based approaches for improving healthy eating, improving food security in vulnerable groups and research into optimal infant growth and young child feeding. She has a keen interest in research translation, particularly implementing effective strategies to achieve optimal growth in early life and throughout the lifecourse. She has participated in various research projects with a focus on women's and children's health both within Australia and internationally.
Dr Katrina Champion
Chief Investigator
PhD BA-Psych/B Health
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
Dr Katrina Champion is a Sydney Horizon Fellow at The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use and School of Public Health at the University of Sydney. As Program Lead of Healthy Lifestyles Research at the Matilda Centre, Katrina's program of research aims to build, optimise and evaluate digital interventions to improve the physical and mental health of adolescents.
Dr Lauren Gardner
Chief Investigator
PhD, BPsych (Hons)
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
Dr Lauren Gardner is a Senior Research Fellow and NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow within the Matilda Centre at the University of Sydney. As Program Lead of School-Based Health Interventions, Lauren has expertise in the development, evaluation, and translation of digital preventive interventions to enhance adolescent health and wellbeing. Most recently, this includes leading the development of the OurFutures Vaping program, and its evaluation in the world's largest randomised controlled trial of a school-based digital intervention to prevent vaping (40 schools, >5,000 students). Lauren also leads implementation research to drive large scale dissemination of the OurFutures health and wellbeing programs into schools both nationally and internationally.
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Dr Hoi Lun (Helen) Cheng
Chief Investigator
PhD BAppSc (Ex&SpSc) / BSc (Nutr)
Academic Department of Adolescent Medicine, The Children's Hospital at Westmead
Specialty of Child and Adolescent Health, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Helen is a dual-qualified Accredited Practising Dietitian and exercise scientist, and currently holds the Marie Bashir Clinical Research Fellowship in Adolescent Health at The Children's Hospital at Westmead. Helen has over 10 years' experience working in adolescent and young adult health research, with a focus on youth nutrition and obesity. Her work explores the physiological changes of puberty and understanding how such changes make it difficult for young people to engage in positive eating behaviours. She also has an interest in understanding what matters to young people and how health professionals can engage them better in health and nutrition research.
Professor Julie Redfern
Chief Investigator
PhD BAppSc (Physio Hons 1)
BSc FAHMS FESC GAICD
Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Bond University
Julie Redfern is a Professor of Public Health, NHMRC Leadership Fellow and a Physiotherapist. Professor Redfern currently holds a NHMRC Investigator Grant Level 2 for which she won the NHMRC Elizabeth Blackburn Award for Health Services. In May 2024 she commenced a new role Director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare at Bond University. She also recently won the NSW Woman of Excellence Award, a University of Sydney Vice Chancellor’s Award for Leadership and Mentoring and an Australian Cardiovascular Alliance Award (ACvA) for Mentoring. She has been Chief Investigator on research grants totalling $30M in the past 5 years and has published over 250 manuscripts. She is currently a member of the Scientific Committees for the World Heart Federation and Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand and is co-Director of the ACvA Implementation and Policy Flagship. Professor Redfern is Principal Investigator of the NHMRC Synergy grant, SOLVE-CHD. She has over 15 years of experience developing, testing and implementing scalable strategies to close evidence-practice gaps and improve health outcomes for people with chronic and cardiovascular disease.
Professor Philayrath Phongsavan
Chief Investigator
PhD, MPH, BA (Hons)
Prevention Research Collaboration, Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney & Charles Perkins Centre
Philayrath Phongsavan is a Professor of Public Health with expertise in behaviour change programs and evaluations in different settings (schools, community, clinical), modalities (telephone, digital/online), and across the lifespan (youths, adults). Professor Phongsavan is a researcher and educator in chronic disease prevention, health promotion, social determinants of health and wellbeing, and program evaluation. She has extensive experience in policy-relevant research with governments, non-health sectors, and community organisations leading chronic disease prevention and control. Professor Phongsavan is Director of the Prevention Research Collaboration, a multidisciplinary chronic disease prevention research group at the University of Sydney, focusing on evaluation, scale up and implementation research, and systems approaches to physical activity, nutrition, social health, obesity and tobacco prevention and control.
Dr Louise Thornton
Chief Investigator
PhD BPsych
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney
Dr Thornton is a Senior Research Fellow and Program Lead for Digital Interventions and Engagement at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use and Deputy Director of the HealthyMinds Research Program at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. She leads a program of research to identify and understand the most effective ways digital technologies can be leveraged to reduce chronic disease risk and improve people's mental health. Her research primarily focusses on adolescents and young people, and people experiencing mental health problems.
Dr Anna Singleton
Chief Investigator
PhD, MSc (experimental Psych), BSc (Hons 1 Psyc)
The Daffodil Centre, a joint venture between the University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW, Sydney Nursing School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Dr Anna Singleton (she/her) is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Sydney (PhD 2021, MSc Experimental Psych; BSc Hons I Psych). Anna's research aims to co-design and implement scalable and accessible digital health strategies to improve health outcomes for people living with and beyond cancer. Due to this work, Anna was awarded the 2023 NSW Premier's Award for Outstanding Early Career Researcher (Cancer Institute NSW). Anna has many in high-impact publications, including Journal of Clinical Oncology (IF 45.3), and JMIR. Anna also holds many leadership positions, including the co-chair of the Primary Care Collaborative Cancer Clinical Trials group Survivorship Engine Room and Topic Editor of Frontiers in Digital Health.
Dr Karice Hyun
Chief Investigator
PhD, MAppStat, BSc
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
Department of Cardiology, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, ANZAC Research Institute
Dr Karice Hyun is a Statistician and Senior Research Fellow (NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow 1) at the University of Sydney and Sydney Local Health District (Concord Hospital). She was selected as a World Heart Federation Emerging Leader in 2019. As a Statistician, she works on national linked data projects, projects involving primary care medical record extracts, and major national and international cardiovascular health trials and registries. She also assists registrars and medical students with research and statistical support for their research projects. As a Research Fellow, her work informs health delivery and aims to improve primary and secondary prevention of chronic disease through translational research. She collaborates with fellow researchers to explore gaps in the management of chronic diseases and to identify scalable methods to reduce these gaps.
Adjunct A/Professor John Skinner
Associate Investigator
PhD, MPH, BA Hons, BA Dip Ed
Research Lead, Djurali Centre for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Research, Heart Research Institute; Adjunct Associate Professor, Macquarie University & Charles Sturt University
Dr Skinner has held diverse roles in public health policy, research, management, consultancy and reconciliation. He has gained national recognition for his contributions to public oral health research, policy, and practice. In 2014 John was appointed as the Director of the Centre for Oral Health Strategy NSW where he led the development of the Oral Health 2020 and the Aboriginal Oral Health strategic plans for NSW. John completed a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney in 2017 on the oral health of teenagers in NSW. In March 2018 Dr Skinner commenced at The University of Sydney as a Senior Research Fellow at the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and was their Research Director until June 2022. His key passion lies in collaborative research with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to enhance their access to services, increased community research capacity and impactful outcomes. This involves co-designing service delivery models, preventive initiatives, and workforce programs. John is currently the Research Lead at the Djurali Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Centre based at the Heart Research Institute and works on a range of projects related to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, oral health, air quality, asthma and eating disorders.
A/Prof Josephine Y Chau
Associate Investigator
PhD, MPH, BSc (Hons), BA
Department of Health Sciences, Macquarie University
A/Prof Josephine Chau is a public health researcher with expertise in physical activity, sedentary behaviour (too much sitting as opposed to not enough exercise), health promotion, and program evaluation. Her core research focuses on adults and workplace settings. This has involved designing and evaluating “move more, sit less” initiatives, and investigating the social and environmental factors (people, places, and policies) that affect workers’ moving and sitting, as well as their mental wellbeing and productivity. She is also interested in media analysis about communication of health issues. Her current projects include exploring high intensity interval training as a way to accumulate physical activity in daily life, evaluating the impacts of Play Streets on community health and wellbeing, and investigating the potential of a co-ops approach to improve fruit and vegetable intake of families from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Dr Mariam Mandoh
Associate Investigator
PhD, MND
Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney,
Charles Perkins Centre, the University of Sydney
Mariam Mandoh, an accredited dietitian and member of Dietitians Australia, the Nutrition Society of Australia, and the International Association of Adolescent Health, recently earned her PhD from the University of Sydney. With 14 years of diverse experience in clinical, community, research, and academic settings, Mariam's research focuses on optimising youth engagement for obesity and chronic disease prevention. Her extensive work with adolescents in private dietetic practice, community, and research settings has enhanced her skills in stakeholder engagement and culturally sensitive dietetic management. Notably, Mariam served as a nutrition leader for the Go4Fun program, supporting overweight youth and their families. During her PhD, Mariam co-led the Health Advisory Panel for Youth at the University of Sydney (HAPYUS) and led the Youth Engagement Study, recruiting over 500 adolescents nationwide. Mariam is dedicated to teaching in public health and nutrition and dietetics, while exploring digital tools to enhance youth health and wellbeing.
Health Promotion Coordinator Teisha Schirmer
Partner
Bachelor of Psychology and Master of Public Health
Mid North Coast Local Health District
Teisha Schirmer is the Healthy Children's Coordinator for the MNCLHD Health Promotion team. She has experience in public health higher education, health promotion and implementation science research. She brings a strong advocacy lens and a deep commitment to building trusted partnerships across systems, health equity, co-design, and size-inclusive practice—particularly in the areas of child nutrition, feeding, movement and positive-body practices. She is passionate about ensuring programs are designed with community, not for them—valuing lived experience, cultural knowledge, and community priorities as central to meaningful and sustainable health promotion. She supports and leads a multidisciplinary team who conduct research and implement children's feeding, nutrition and physical activity projects in community, clinical, early childcare and schools.
Dr Yvonne Laird
Associate Investigator
PhD, MPhil, BSc (Hons), GradCert
Prevention Research Collaboration, School of Public Health, and Charles Perkins Centre, The University of Sydney
Dr Yvonne Laird is a Lecturer in Prevention and Health Promotion based in the Prevention Research Collaboration at the University of Sydney. Yvonne’s research aims to amplify the voices of community members in chronic disease prevention research to identify acceptable and sustainable solutions to complex public health problems. She works closely with policy and practice stakeholders across Australia in the design and implementation of research, and advocates for authentic engagement of community members in research and decision making.