Affiliates
CAR Affiliates are members of CAR who have received seed funding to undertake CAR relevant research projects or who are actively involved with CAR's capacity building activities such as training, meetings and workshops.
Dr Amanda Wheeler
Australian Catholic University
Amanda is a Senior Research Fellow in the Behaviour, Environment and Cognition Research program based at the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, Australian Catholic University. She is part of the team investigating the effects of the built environment, air pollution and noise on the cognitive health of older adults. Her other research interests include evaluating interventions to improve indoor air quality that is impacted by biomass smoke. Her published research interests include personal exposures to air pollution from residential and ambient sources, tracking activity patterns, and understanding the intra-urban variability of air pollutants using GIS tools and developing Land Use Regression (LUR) models. She has experience with a range of environmental pollutants including particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, phthalates and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. She is also an Honorary Fellow at the University of Tasmania and The University of Melbourne.
Dr Jennifer Perret
University of Melbourne
Jennifer is a physician-trained respiratory and sleep epidemiologist who is undertaking her postdoc fellowship under Prof Shyamali Dharmage at the Allergy and Lung Health Unit. She has built on and extended her doctoral work on the host and environmental determinants of reduced lung function in middle age to include aspects of outdoor air pollution to encompass the interplay between air pollutants, systemic inflammation and cardiorespiratory health.
Dr Christine Cowie
University of Sydney
Christine is an environmental epidemiologist with a research focus on quantifying the health effects of air pollution exposures and developing appropriate tools for exposure measurement. She has a special interest in the health effects of traffic- related exposures. She has a broad background in environmental health, encompassing research, teaching at the University of Sydney and policy implementation with the NSW Health Department for more than 10 years as well as work with a Public Health Unit.
Dr Rachel Tham
Australian Catholic University, University of Melbourne and La Trobe University
Rachel is a postdoc in the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research, ACU. Her research focuses on the associations between ambient air pollution and noise and cognitive health of older adults. Rachel completed her PhD at the University of Melbourne in 2017 – her research focused on the combined role of outdoor fungal spores, air pollution and human rhinovirus on asthma hospitalisations and lung function. She has a broad background in public health encompassing clinical education.
Dr Gavin Pereira
Telethon Kids Institute and Curtin University
Gavin is a perinatal epidemiologist, environmental health researcher and biostatistician in the discipline of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the School of Public Health, Curtin University. He has previously held an NHMRC Sidney Sax fellowship and is currently an Honorary Senior Research Fellow, Telethon Kids Institute. Previously, he has held positions in the Center for Perinatal, Pediatric and Environmental Epidemiology at Yale University and the Yale School of Environmental Studies. He has served on multiple National Health and Medical Research Council fellowship and project grant review panels. He is a member of the national scientific advisory committee for the Red Nose Foundation and chairs the Western Australian Perinatal Epidemiology Group. He leads large international studies to review clinical guidelines of the World Health Organization, to evaluate effectiveness of vaccination in pregnancy, to investigate the influence of air pollution and climate change on children's health, and to develop prognostic models for stillbirth and perinatal morbidity using machine learning and big data.
Dr Shandy Li
Monash University
Shandy is a research fellow in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and a recipient of the NHMRC Early Career Fellowship. Shandy is an epidemiologist and biostatistician with a special focus on atmospheric environmental health and child health issues. She has published broadly in high-ranked topic relevant journals and has worked with Chinese government agencies (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, and CDC), numerous universities/research institutes across the world and UNICEF.
Dr Grant Williamson
University of Tasmania
Grant is a landscape ecologist and spatial scientist whose research bridges the fields of ecology and human health. His previous research includes the impacts of mosquito control and climate change on mangrove communities, the climatic and human drivers of wildfires and fire danger, and the dynamics and human health impact of smoke wildfires and prescribed fires on human health. Grant was instrumental in the development of the AirRater app. He completed his PhD at the University of Adelaide, and is a senior research fellow in the Environmental Change Biology lab at the University of Tasmania.
Dr Mark Hibberd
CSIRO
Mark was previously a principal research scientist in air quality at CSIRO’s Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship as well as president of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand. Mark’s areas of expertise include air quality modelling of point source and urban air pollution, including odour using field, laboratory, and computer modelling studies; exposure modelling and health impact of air pollution; advice to state and federal authorities as well as industry and community groups.
Dr Richard Broome
NSW Department of Health
Richard is a public health physician specialising in epidemiology and environmental health. He is Director of the Public Health Observatory in the Department of Health’s Sydney Local Health District. His particular interest is in air pollution impact assessment and the development of tools to translate the results of epidemiological studies into information that is relevant for local policy makers.
Dr Bijan Yeganeh
Shahid Beheshti University
Bijan is undertaking a postdoc on developing novel methods for estimating the human exposure to air pollutants using satellite data in combination with land use, meteorological and traffic information. As a previous CAR PhD student, he applied machine learning methods for estimating the gaseous pollutants and particulate matter concentration in south-east Queensland. He has extended his PhD research on the application of wireless sensor networks in air quality monitoring.
University of NSW
Donna was a founding member of the Climate Change Research Centre, UNSW and is an Associate Investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes. She leads a national researcher network, the Climate Health Network and a novel indoor air quality project. As an interdisciplinary environmental scientist, she conducts research on climate impacts, energy policy, public health and air pollution. Donna was a contributing author in the UN World Energy Assessment and for the IPCC’s Fourth and Fifth Assessment Reports. Her teaching focuses on linking energy policy, climate change and environmental impacts in Australia and internationally.
A/Prof. Donna Green
University of Melbourne
Caroline is a senior research fellow in the Allergy and Lung Health Unit in the University of Melbourne. Using her skills from a background in medicine and epidemiology, she leads a program on the molecular epidemiology of obstructive lung disease, focusing on early life influences including indoor and outdoor air pollution. A major focus is investigating early life microbiome, its modifiers, and how this may contribute to low lung function, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Dr Caroline Lodge
Dr Gayan Bowatte
University of Melbourne
Gayan is a research fellow within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Gayan completed his PhD in 2015 under the supervision of Prof. Shyamali Dharmage. He was previously a CAR postdoc. His work focuses on the impact of exposure to traffic related air pollution (TRAP) and allergy and respiratory outcomes by using the Tasmanian Longitudinal Health Study (TAHS).
Dr Farhad Salimi
University of Sydney
Farhad is a Postdoc Fellow at University of Sydney and conducts research in the field of air pollution and its impact on human health, with a specific focus on airborne particulate matter. He was a previous CAR postdoc. He received his PhD from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and was the recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award. He also has a special interest in novel statistical approaches in air pollution exposure assessment.
Dr Ed Jegasothy
University of Sydney
Ed is an epidemiologist and biostatistician working in environmental and planetary health at the University of Sydney School of Public Health. He is completing a PhD investigating environmental exposures, air pollution and temperature, and their health effects on vulnerable people in NSW. In 2018, he completed the NSW Health Biostatistics Training Program and Master of Biostatistics, which involved work in environmental health, road safety and perinatal health.
A/Prof. Thanh Nguyen
University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University
Thanh is a computer scientist and remote sensing specialist in the fields of air pollution, land cover and land use change at the University of Engineering and Technology, Vietnam National University Hanoi. She is leading groups that map air pollution using land-use regression, chemical transportation modelling and radioactive transfer modelling. She also works in using low-cost sensors to monitor air pollution and forest/biomass burning emission. Thanh obtained her PhD degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Ferrara, Italy, in 2012.
Dr David
Donaire-Gonzalez
Australian Catholic University
David is an environmental epidemiologist with a background in physical activity sciences, psychology and physiotherapy, and a lecturer with the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research. His previous research at ISGlobal (Barcelona) and IRAS (Utrecht) focused on developing novel methodologies to accurately assess personal exposures and behaviours (including physical activity, contact with natural outdoor environments and exposure to air pollution, noise and ultraviolet radiation). His long-term research goal is to understand the relationship and effects of environment and behaviour on health, and to design effective preventive health interventions.
Dr David
Donaire-Gonzalez
Dr Nhung Nguyen
Thi Trang
Hanoi University of Public Health
Nhung is a biostatistician and a senior lecturer and researcher at Hanoi University of Public Health. Nhung studies environmental health, focusing on air pollution research. She is leading two studies about the health effects of air pollution in Vietnam. Nhung has participated in a study on estimating the burden of disease and injury in Vietnam and has been working as a collaborator of the global burden of diseases team. Nhung also has around 15 years’ experience in teaching biostatistics and data analysis.
Prof. Sotiris Vardoulakis
Australian National University
Sotiris is a Professor of Global Environmental Health at the Australian National University, National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, where he leads the Environment, Climate, and Health Research Group. He co-leads the International Consortium for Urban Environmental Health and Sustainability (Healthy-Polis), the Clean Environment and Planetary Health in Asia (CEPHA) network, and the Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) network in Australia. Previously he was Director of Research at the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh, and Head of the Air Pollution and Climate Change Group, and of the Environmental Change Department at Public Health England. Over the last 20 years he has advised national and local governments and international organisations on the health effects of climate change and air pollution, and on air quality monitoring and modelling, health impact assessment, sustainable development, health protection and risk communication.
A/Prof. Camille Raynes-Greenow
University of Sydney
Camille is a perinatal epidemiologist, at The Sydney School of Public Health. Her research aims to reduce the burden of perinatal morbidity and mortality, and improve the health of women and babies particularly in low-income countries. She is leading an NHMRC funded large cluster randomised controlled trial in Bangladesh of an intervention to reduce household air pollution to assess the effect on pregnancy outcomes, particularly stillbirth and neonatal mortality. This trial has received further NHMRC funding to extend the intervention and follow-up to examine novel outcomes in children. Camille is Director of the Masters of Global Health program, and co-leads a research group that focuses on nutrition and health interventions for women and children.
University of Sydney
Mona is a public health professional with a passion for translating research and statistical analysis into data-driven healthcare strategies. Mona has worked in the Public Health Response Branch as a Reporting Data Analyst (Epidemiology and Surveillance) and has previous experience in a variety of research and teaching positions at the University of Sydney.
Dr Mona Elbarbary
University of Copenhagen
Tom is a Departmental Fellow, Environmental Epidemiology Group, Section of Environmental Health, Department of Public Health, at the University of Copenhagen, where he lectures in environmental (particularly noise) epidemiology and exposure assessment. Tom is also a Consultant in Air Pollution, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environment and Health, Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organisation in Seoul on matters of air pollution including health and climate change.
Dr Tom Cole-Hunter
University of Sydney
Josh Horsley is a research assistant in environmental epidemiology at the University of Sydney. His work focuses on air pollution and its health impacts with an emphasis of landscape fire smoke. Josh has a background in statistics and is a former CAR student
Josh Horsley
Monash University
Caroline is a biostatistician, machine learner and mathematical modeller. She is currently working as a senior biostatistician in the Centre for Young Mental Health, University of Melbourne and School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. She has statistical expertise in survey design and evaluation as well as the application of advanced statistical and machine learning methods on complex administrative and linked data. Her main research interest is in mental and environmental health, particularly in evaluating the physical and mental health impact of climate change and climate disasters.
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Dr Caroline Gao
CSIRO
Mahsan is a research fellow at CSIRO and a professional architect whose research bridges built environment and health disciplines. At CSIRO Mahsan is part of a team investigating building overheating and energy performance for Australian Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS). Mahsan’s research focus area is on adaptive strategies, energy efficiency, resiliency, and healthy built environment. Mahsan was a previous CAR Postdoctoral Research Fellow based at UNSW, where she investigated the impact of greening infrastructures on urban overheating and its associated health benefits. Mahsan achieved her PhD degree from the University of Sydney for a thesis looking at advanced natural ventilation strategies for residential thermal comfort.
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Dr Mahsan Sadeghi
University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Lowe is a NHMRC Career Development Fellow and Co-Head of the Allergy and Lung Health Unit, University of Melbourne. Adrian’s research aims to determine what has caused the rapid rise in the prevalence of allergic diseases in recent decades. The majority of his work uses cohort studies that explores modifiable risk factors for allergic disease, including both indoor and ambient air pollution. He also conducts clinical trials for the prevention of allergic disease in infancy.
A/Prof. Adrian Lowe
Monash University
Rongbin is a postdoc in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University. He works on health and epigenetic impacts of air pollution, outdoor temperature, and built environment. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed papers since 2018, including many as the first/co-first author published on NEJM, Lancet Planetary Health, JAMA Pediatrics, PloS Medicine, EHP, IJE, EI, EP. His work has been referenced by policy documents and media reports, and recognized by many competitive awards, e.g., PhD Excellence Award from Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia, ISEE Best Environmental Epidemiology Paper Award - Honorable Mentions.
Dr Rongbin Xu
University of Melbourne
Annabelle is a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Climate Futures initiative, the University of Melbourne. She completed her PhD in 2019, which investigated the role of health co-benefits in the development of climate mitigation policies in Australia, the European Union, China and the United States. She completed a postdoc at the University of Tasmania evaluating an environmental health smartphone app and worked as the CAR Knowledge Broker for much of 2021. Her research interests include climate change and health, the intersection between climate and air quality policies, and the just energy transition.
Dr Annabelle Workman
EPA Victoria
Suzanne is a spatial epidemiologist and Principal Health Scientist (Epidemiology) at the Environment Protection Authority, Victoria. Her current research focuses on 1) environmental determinants of health (incl. natural and built environment and pollutants), and 2) novel spatial methods and technologies to better assess outdoor environments, human behaviour and exposure. She leads the Generation Victoria Geospatial Group and holds honorary appointments at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Melbourne School of Population & Global Health (University of Melbourne), Centre for Urban Transitions (Swinburne), and the Mary MacKillop Institute for Health Research (ACU).
Dr Suzanne Mavoa
University of Technology Sydney
Nic is a senior lecturer in environmental engineering at the University of Technology Sydney. Since joining UTS, Nic has developed an emissions laboratory that has been deployed to study air pollution problems such as vehicle and bushfire emissions, cough aerosols and building filtration studies. Nic has interests in the health effects of combustion systems as well as emerging energy technologies and is keen to explore interdisciplinary research partnerships that can tackle these challenges
Dr Nic Surawski
Curtin University
Dr Ivan Hanigan is Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health Impact Assessment (www.ehia.curtin.edu.au) and Senior Lecturer in Climate Change and Health. His background is Environmental Epidemiology with experience across a wide range of environmental health issues, particularly Climate Change and Health research. Ivan trained as a data scientist and human ecologist at the Australian National University National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (NCEPH). Ivan is the principal investigator on the ARDC-funded AirHealthData Research-to-Policy Bridges project. He collaborates with an international network of colleagues on the Atmospheric Environment and health, including Droughts and Bushfires. He is the co-lead of the Data and Decision Support Systems theme of the NHMRC HEAL (Healthy Environments And Lives) National Research Network, and Convenor of the Institute of Australian Geographers Health Geography Study Group.