Early in 2018, I was delighted to learn that I was one of two people in Australia to receive an Australian Rotary Health Postdoctoral Fellowship.
While this Fellowship will mean I will significantly reduce the hours I work at St John of God Burwood Hospital I am very excited to be able to dedicate the next four years to investigating how we can help prevent and effectively manage mental health illness in pregnant women and new mums.
Ultimately, my goal is that for my research to inform policies and clinical practice to help doctors, nurses and mental health clinicians better care for their patients.
There is a lot of work I have done with Professor Marie-Paule Austin at St John of God Burwood Hospital, as well as national colleagues, which I will continue and expand in this research.
This includes validating a revised version of the Antenatal Risk Questionnaire (ANRQ) which is a clinical took that supports the early identification of psychosocial risks during pregnancy.
I’m really looking forward to starting this Fellowship in March and progressing this research further.
