I am Professor of Public Health and Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University. I am also Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney.

ARCSHS aims to create and translate knowledge that enables inclusion, equity, health and wellbeing, particularly as they relate to sex, gender, sexuality and relationships. We work collaboratively with other researchers, communities, community-based organisations, government and professionals to advance knowledge and promote positive change in policy, practice and people’s lives, by advancing new knowledge and learning and maximising research impact. Our areas of expertise span five key thematic areas, including: HIV and other stigmatised conditions; alcohol and other drug consumption; LGBTIQ+ health and wellbeing; Sexual health and wellbeing; and family, domestic and sexual violence.

My own research expertise spans several focus areas for ARCSHS, especially with regard to LGBTIQ+ health and wellbeing as well as alcohol and other drug consumption. Projects in these areas explore a range of factors, including prevalence and predictors of experience of AOD, mental health and family violence, the social and cultural forces that are understood to shape each issue, professional and informal support-seeking, and intervention evaluation. I also maintain active involvement in HIV-related research, especially in low and middle-income contexts.

Across my career, I have authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as 80+ research reports, book chapters and briefing papers. I have previously guest-edited special issues on drug use among LGBT communities in the International Journal of Drug Policy and Sexual Health. I recently co-edited a book on HIV social science in the era of new prevention technologies with Dr Sarah Bernays and Professors Susan Kippax, Peter Aggleton and Richard Parker. I am a chief investigator on grants totalling more than $46 million and have received funding from the Australian Research Council (and UK and Canadian equivalents), Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF), as well as numerous Commonwealth, State and Territory Government departments whose work focuses on health, human services and equalities. I have supervised 12 PhD students to completion, many of whom have gone on to significant roles in academia, government and community organisations. 

I have always adopted a community-based and action-oriented perspective to my research and am fortunate to have worked in collaboration with a number of community-based, national and supra-national organisations as well as state and national governments. In January of 2020, I was appointed to the Victorian Whole of Government LGBTIQ Taskforce and, as of January 2024, serve as Co-Chair, alongside the Victorian Minister for Equality. In 2023, I was appointed to the Commonwealth LGBTIQ Health and Wellbeing Action Plan Expert Advisory Group. I also sit on the Board of Directors of Thorne Harbour Health (previously the Victorian AIDS Council), am a member of numerous ABS committees seeking to advance LGBTIQ inclusion (including in the 2026 Census), and have served as advisor to several UNAIDS, WHO and World Bank working groups. I am a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.