Background

Penny commenced her PhD in 2017, under the supervision of Professor Paul Dietze. Her work focuses on health service utilisation of people who inject drugs. As part of her PhD, Penny is working on the SuperMIX study using record linkage.

She completed her Master of Science (Public Health) at Umea University, Sweden in 2015 with a research thesis titled “Preventing opioid overdose in Sweden: A cost-effectiveness analysis of naloxone distribution”.

Penny has a background in the community health and harm reduction sectors, working in needle syringe programs and primary health care facilities in both Melbourne and Sydney. She is the founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia, and current Australian youth civil society representative at the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime’s Commission on Narcotic Drugs sessions in Vienna, Austria.

Appointments

• International Drug Policy Consortium (Strategy Sub-Committee Board Member)
• Harm Reduction Australia (Board Member)
• Harm Reduction Victoria (Board Member)
• Change Agent Network (Appointed Member)

Qualifications

2017: GradDip IntDev (expected), Deakin University 2015: MSc (Public Health), Umea University, Sweden 2011: BHS, The University of Sydney

Projects (2)

Current (2)

• IDRS: Illicit Drug Reporting System
  A strategic early warning system identifying emerging trends related to illicit drugs.
• SuperMIX: The Melbourne Injecting Drug User Cohort Study
  A five-year study of the dynamics of cessation of injecting drug use and any subsequent relapse.

Publications (1)

2018 (1)

• Are there differences in individual-level needle and syringe coverage across Australian jurisdictions related to program policy? A preliminary analysis.
  Hill P, O'Keefe D, Dietze PM
  Drug Alcohol Rev. 2018 May; 37(5): 653-657

News Articles (2)

2018 (2)

• NHMRC grants for Burnet research
• Preventing and responding to opioid overdose in Victoria