Background

Michelle is a Paediatrician and International health specialist experienced in health system strengthening, health worker training, maternal, newborn and child health, and implementation research. She is also a Principal Investigator on Burnet’s flagship Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) program based in East New Britain, Papua New Guinea (PNG), and a PhD candidate.

Whilst Michelle was the Research Program Manager for HMHB based in East New Britain, she established the HMHB field site which included the cementing of all key partnerships, the establishment of a physical office, the building of a research laboratory and the hiring, training, and management of an administrative and technical research team. She managed the successful completion of a large longitudinal cohort study, which is the first of its kind in PNG, following women and their infant from early pregnancy through to twelve months postpartum.

Michelle’s research focuses on improving poor newborn and child growth, especially in PNG, and understanding how nutrition and infection in pregnancy impacts on infant health.

Michelle’s clinical work currently focuses on caring for children and young people with long COVID, and together with Dr Suman Majumdar, Dr Emma Tippett and a team of collaborators, she has received funding from the Medical Research Future Fund to pursue this important area of research.

Qualifications

• Fellow Royal Australasian College of Physicians (Paediatrician)
• Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), Monash University
• Masters in International Health (MIH), Monash University/Burnet Institute
• Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (DRANZCOG)

Appointments

• The Royal Australasian College of Physicians
• The Royal Australian and New Zealand of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Positions

• 2023–current: Paediatrician, Long COVID Specialist, Clinic Nineteen
• 2023–current: Senior Research Fellow, Maternal Child and Adolescent Health, Burnet Institute
• 2017–2023: Senior Research Officer, Burnet Institute
• 2014–2016: Research Program Manager, Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies project, Burnet Institute, Kokopo, PNG
• 2013: Clinical Fellow, Centre for International Child Health (CICH), University of Melbourne, Lao PDR
• 2013: Early Essential Newborn Care (EENC) Steering Committee, Lao PDR Ministry of Health and World Health Organization
• 2013: Senior Paediatric Registrar, Townsville, Queensland
• 2010: Maternal and Child Health Project, Ilahita Melbourne Community Association (IMCA), East Sepik, Papua New Guinea
• 2009–2012: Paediatric Registrar, Royal Children's Hospital and Sunshine Hospital, Melbourne
• 2007–2008: Intern and Residents, Western Health, Melbourne
• 2006: Nonga Base Hospital, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea
• 2006: Aboriginal Health Clinic, Amoonguna, Northern Territory