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 (3)

Current (3)

• 

  IDRS: Illicit Drug Reporting System

• 

  Needle and Syringe Program (NSP) Snapshot Study

• 

  SuperMIX: The Melbourne Injecting Drug User Cohort Study

Publications (4)

2022 (2)

• Mortality in the SuperMIX cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia: A prospective observational study.
  Hill PL, Stoové M, Agius PA, Maher L, Hickman M, Crawford S, Dietze P.
  Addiction. 2022 Jun; 117(12):3091-3098
• Cohort Profile: The Melbourne Injecting Drug User Cohort Study (SuperMIX).
  Van Den Boom W, Quiroga MDM, O'Keefe D, Kumar D, Hill PL, Scott N, Agius PA, Higgs P, Kerr T, Maher L, Hickman M, Stoové M, Dietze P
  Int J Epidemiol. 2022 Jan; 51(3):e123-e130

2021 (1)

• Profile and correlates of colorimetric reagent kit use among people who use ecstasy/MDMA and other illegal stimulants in Australia.
  Peacock A, Gibbs D, Price O, Barratt MJ, Ezard N, Sutherland R, Hill PL, Grigg J, Lenton S, Page R, Salom C, Hughes C, Bruno R
  Int J Drug Policy. 2021 Jul; 97:103334

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 (4)

2019 (2)

• Focus on naloxone to prevent overdose
• Burnet Travel Awards

2018 (2)

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