Background

Dr Rehana Di Rico is a public health registrar, working within the Behaviours and Health Risks program at the Burnet Institute. She is a medical doctor and also works as a Consultant Physician in Rehabilitation Medicine. Rehana completed her undergraduate medical degree at The University of Melbourne in 2008 and went on to complete her Masters in public health from the University in Cambridge in 2012. Her clinical expertise is in treating patients with acquired brain injuries and traumatic spinal cord Injuries and her research interests in risk taking behaviours and harm minimisation strategies align closely with her clinical work. Rehana’s work at The Burnet Institute primarily focuses on people who inject drugs and exploring health system utilisation within this community (including ambulance, emergency department and inpatient care) using record linkage to statewide administrative datasets.

Appointments

• Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (FAFRM)
• Advanced trainee with Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (AFPHM)
• Representative on The Alfred Health reducing the harm from alcohol working group
• Researcher with Epworth Monash Rehabilitation Medicine Unit Research Group (EMReM)
• Guest Lecturer in Disability, Monash University
• Rehabilitation Medicine Society of Australia and New Zealand (RMSANZ) member
• Rehabilitation Medicine Trainees Victoria (RMTV) member

Positions

• 2019: Consultant Physician in Rehabilitation Medicine, Epworth Richmond
• 2019: Public Health Registrar, Burnet Institute
• 2012-2018: Rehabilitation Registrar, Victoria
• 2008-2012: Hospital Medical Officer, Victoria

Qualifications

• 2018: FAFRM (RACP)
• 2012: MPhil Public Health (with Distinction), The University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• 2008: BMedSci (Hons), The University of Melbourne, Australia
• 2008: MBBS (Hons), The University of Melbourne, Australia

Awards

• The RANZCOG Women’s Health Award
• The Katharine Woodruff Prize in Palliative Medicine
• Lucy Kilvington Prize for Academic Excellence

Publications (3)

2022 (1)

• Screening for risky drinkers among hospitalised inpatients using the AUDIT: A feasibility, point prevalence and data linkage study.
  O'Brien H, Di Rico R, Dean E, Smoker G, Lloyd-Jones M, McKechnie M, Dietze PM, Doyle JS
  Drug Alcohol Rev. 2022 Jan; 41(1):293-302

2020 (1)

• Patient-specific record linkage between emergency department and hospital admission data for a cohort of people who inject drugs: methodological considerations for frequent presenters.
  Di Rico R, Nambiar D, Gabbe B, Stoové M, Dietze P
  BMC Med Res Methodol. 2020 Nov; 20(1):283

2018 (1)

• Drug overdose in the ED: a record linkage study examining emergency department ICD-10 coding practices in a cohort of people who inject drugs.
  Di Rico R, Nambiar D, Stoové M, Dietze P
  BMC Health Serv Res. 2018 Dec; 18(1):945