Spotlight on Emerging Leaders Fellowship (ELF) Program 2025
Dr Jenna Smith
Jenna is a Helen & Robert Ellis Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Sydney Health Literacy Lab, a research team in the Sydney School of Public Health at The University of Sydney. Her research interests are in improving health communication and decision making for older adults. Jenna is experienced in quantitative, qualitative, and experimental research methods and also works collaboratively across cancer screening, women’s health, and digital health information contexts. Jenna is currently leading a program of research to implement shared decision making resources for older women in breast cancer screening
Dr Jess Moulton
Jess is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University with interests in sexual and reproductive health and rights. Her doctoral studies at Monash University and NHMRC SPHERE Centre for Research Excellence involved codesigning a nurse-led model of care aimed at improving access to medication abortion and long-acting reversible contraception in rural and regional general practice settings. Jess also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Melbourne, specialising in gender and global health. She worked as a Policy Officer for family violence workforce development for the Victorian Department of Education and Training and in client services at MSI Australia before starting her PhD in 2020.
Dr Karen McLaughlin
Dr McLaughlin is an experienced Midwifery clinician, academic and researcher experienced in qualitative and quantitative research methods. She is passionate about evidence-based women-centred care and optimizing experiences for pregnant families and midwives. Her areas of research to date include a PhD obtained in 2020 that examined antenatal asthma management and the translational potential of Fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO)-based asthma management in pregnancy. Further to this her research foci has included the management of asthma during pregnancy from the perspective of health practitioners and consumers and the acceptability and feasibility of the introduction of novel asthma management techniques. She has also led research into the student midwife experience and as a postdoctoral research fellow continues to examine midwifery workforce challenges and solutions and the inclusion of students in models of midwifery care.
Dr Kaylee Slater
I am a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Sydney, currently 8 months post-PhD. My doctoral research at the University of Newcastle focused on postpartum cardiovascular disease prevention following hypertension in pregnancy. Specifically, I co-designed an implementation intervention aimed at improving the delivery of cardiovascular care to women after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy in primary care settings.
In addition to my research, I am an Accredited Practising Dietitian with three years of experience working as a Fertility and Pregnancy dietitian before transitioning to my full-time postdoctoral role in 2024. My professional journey is driven by a deep passion for leadership and mentoring. Since 2021, I have actively participated in various mentoring and training committees, fostering growth and development within the academic community. I am dedicated to advancing women's health through innovative research and empowering the next generation of healthcare professionals..
Dr Kitty-Rose Foley
Dr Foley is a Senior Research Fellow and Occupational Therapist with over 15 years’ experience clinically and in research roles. Dr Foley is leading the Health Services Development team in the National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health. Her work is aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities through working alongside people with lived experience to design and implement projects which lead to real-world change. Dr Foley is passionate about identifying innovative solutions and collaborations to ensure systems meet the needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
A/Prof Kylie Sandy-Hodgetts
Kylie is Associate Professor, Personalised Medicine Centre, Murdoch University and Hon Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine, Cardiff University. She is Founder and President of nonprofit association, the International Surgical Wound Complications Advisory Panel (ISWCAP), recipient of the Journal of Wound Care (JWC) Most Progressive Society Award 2025. Kylie is a Research Scientist and Chief Investigator of several clinical trials (Phase 1-IV) investigating early detection, prevention and management of surgical wound complications. She has Chaired and co-authored over 5 international clinical consensus documents, first authored over 30 original research papers and chaired the ISWCAP Global Guideline for Postoperative Incision Care. She is a regular reviewer and serves on journal editorial boards and industry advisory panels. Kylie is ranked #1 on the global Expertscape for surgical wound dehiscence. She was acknowledged internationally for her contribution to the field of surgical site infection prevention as the 2021 Winner of the JWC World Union Innovation in Surgical Site Infection Award.
Dr Larisa Barnes
Dr Larisa Barnes (PhD, BNat (Hons), BA) is a Research Fellow working through The Daffodil Centre, a collaboration between The University of Sydney and the Cancer Council NSW. A member of the Tobacco Behaviour Change and Implementation stream, she is based at the University Centre for Rural Health in Lismore NSW. Larisa works as a researcher and project manager for MOHMQuit: Midwives and Obstetricians Helping Mothers to Quit – a cluster-randomised stepped-wedge trial. MOHMQuit is a health-services, implementation research that aims to improve smoking cessation support in public antenatal clinics and is being trialed across nine sites in NSW. Larisa and the MOHMQuit team are also researching vaping in pregnancy and the postpartum year, and health professionals’ knowledge and perceptions of e-cigarette use and the facilitators and barriers they face in offering vaping cessation support.
Larisa completed her PhD in 2020 at the University of Sydney School of Pharmacy, focusing on health literacy and complementary medicine use in pregnancy and lactation. Larisa's research interests include implementation research, maternity care, health literacy, inter-professional research and practice, and complementary medicine use and education. Larisa also has over 20 years in clinical naturopathic practice, combined with teaching and working in complementary medicine research.
Dr Lauren Houston
Dr Lauren Houston is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health and a Conjoint Lecturer at the University of New South Wales. She is supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the National Heart Foundation of Australia. Dr Houston completed her PhD in 2021 at the University of Wollongong. Her PhD focused on data quality monitoring in clinical research. She is an expert in clinical trial management, with a focus on cardiovascular trials. Dr Houston works on several global trials. They focus on heart disease, type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and cardio-oncology. She leads a research program to prevent heart disease in women. The program has two key projects: 1) to find links between cancer and heart disease risks, and 2) to use routine mammograms to predict heart disease risk.
