Committee

Gabrielle Fisher

President

Gabrielle graduated a Bachelor of Health Science in 2017, where she developed a particular interest in Health Promotion. She has been a part of the committee since 2015 through several roles, including treasurer, social media secretary, vice-president. Gabrielle has previously worked for the Alcohol and Drug Foundation as their National Knowledge Manager (Community of Practice). She is currently working at Wellbeing SA as Principal Project Officer, Physical Activity, and undertaking her Masters in Health Services Management at Uni SA. Her career goal is to help individuals live a healthier and safer life and to really make a positive impact within her community.

Talia Blythman

Vice President

Talia Blythman has completed a Bachelor of Health Science, a Bachelor of Social Science, a Graduate Diploma in Education Studies (Digital Learning) and a Master of Public Health. Talia has worked in the field of health promotion for over 10 years. This work has been based in South Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria and India. Talia has worked on a wide range of health promotion projects including OPAL promoting eat well be active for kids, tobacco prevention and control, emergency management, workforce development and parenting support. Talia is currently working at UniSA Online as an Online Course Facilitator teaching into the Bachelor of Public Health and Bachelor of Community Health degrees. As a long-term AHPA member Talia has previously acted as the Treasurer for the AHPA SA Branch and the Vice-President for the AHPA NT Branch.

Dr Belinda Lunnay

Advocacy Submissions Coordinator

Dr Belinda Lunnay is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Research Centre for Public Health, Equity and Human Flourishing, Torrens University Australia. She has qualifications in health promotion and public health sociology. Her expertise is in understanding how structural disadvantages impact health outcomes with a particular focus on social class. Her focus is on shifting health promotion attention away from the individual level toward the social contexts that shape health decision-making. She is currently exploring social class disparities in women’s alcohol consumption behaviour, breast cancer prevention and trust in risk messages.

Dr Joanne Flavel

Correspondance Secretary

Dr Joanne Flavel is a Research Fellow at Stretton Health Equity in the Stretton Institute at the university of Adelaide. She has qualifications in economics and public health. Her research focuses primarily on health equity and social determinants of health and she has worked on several projects examining the impact of the distribution of social determinants on health equity. She has expertise in quantitative analysis and leads Stretton Health Equity’s social epidemiology work. Joanne is a member of the international Punching Above Weight Network, formed to advance thinking and research about why some countries do much better in terms of health outcomes than would be predicted by their economic status. She is also a Global Burden of Disease Collaborator.

Tegan Jefferies

Correspondence Secretary

Tegan is currently studying health promotion at Flinders University. Formerly a personal trainer, Tegan is interested in all thing’s health and wellness related. She is now working for SA Health. This is her second year on the committee, and she is looking forward to working with AHPA to make positive change and promoting healthy lifestyles.

Jane Harford

Minutes Secretary

Jane is a lecturer in Health Sciences in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. She completed her PhD in public health policy at the University of Adelaide. Before arriving at Flinders in 2017, she spent 14 years researching and writing on dental public health. As a result of her work in oral health, Jane retains an interest in working to understand sugar consumption as a public health and health promotion problem, and to explore ideas for how to minimise the effects of sugar on health.

Georgia Middleton

General Member

Georgia Middleton is an Accredited Practising Dietitian with a passion for food and health research. Working as a private practice dietitian across South Australia was a life-changing experience for Georgia, with first-hand exposure to the fierce inequities in resources, services, and education available to foster health and wellbeing in the community. This experience led Georgia to undertake a PhD in Public Health, which she completed in 2021. Georgia currently works as an associate lecturer at Flinders University, and her research primarily focuses on community nutrition, food insecurity, and social and cultural aspects of food, with a special interest in shared eating occasions.

Caroline Adams

General Member

Caroline originally began her professional career as a Registered Nurse. She has completed further studies in social work, dance, and medical history. She completed her PhD through Monash University, researching nursing in the Boer War. She currently works as a lecturer in Public Health at the University of South Australia, where she teaches health systems and services, project management, sociology and health promotion. Her current research areas include Sporting Memories - reminiscence and older people and salutogenesis - looking at what builds people’s health.

Associate Professor Hannah Wechkunanukul

General Member

Hannah is the Associate Professor of Public Health at Torrens University Australia. Her background is a pharmacist and gained postgraduate degrees in community pharmacy, public health (primary health care) and health service management at Flinders University. Her PhD project at Flinders University focusing on inequity and accessibility in healthcare among culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD)populations. She has experiences in health promotions since 1993 in various aspects – health promotion programs, academics and research. Her research projects predominantly address health inequalities and inequities among disadvantaged populations and centre on integrating digital health and co design into health promotions. Hannah has strong passion for improving health and wellbeing in communities and is looking forward to contributing to the AHPA.

Liana Bellifemini

General Member

Liana is the Prevention Coordinator in the Prevention and Advocacy Team at Cancer Council SA. She has been a longstanding Committee Member of AHPA SA Branch in various roles since 2012. Liana graduated in a Masters of Public Health mid-2017, having already graduated in a Bachelor of Health Sciences majoring in Health Promotion and Education in 2013; both completed at Flinders University. She has also worked in various positions for the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, Flinders University (Casual Academic in undergraduate health promotion topics), Department of Communities and Social Inclusion and SA Health. In 2021, Liana was awarded the AHPA Leading Lights Under 30, Blazing Sun Award recognising her significant service to health promotion in Australia and to AHPA’s vision for a healthy equitable Australia. Liana enjoys upskilling in all things health promotion and in 2022 completed University of Canberra Public Health Advocacy Short Course.