Professor Irene Blackberry is the John Richards Chair and Director of the Australian Institute of Primary Care and Ageing (AIPCA) at La Trobe University. Professor Blackberry is a health services and implementation science researcher of complex multifactorial care. She has over 20 years of research experience across the care economy in Australia and abroad, predominantly in healthcare, aged care and informal care sectors. Her research examines access to care and models of care that are innovative, effective and sustainable, building skills in individuals and greater capacity of the whole-of-community to support people from diverse background and rural communities.

Her research focuses on addressing care crisis by breaking down the siloing of care sectors. She is the leading force behind Australian’s Care Economy research including developing an industry-led research partnership program on Care Economy, establishing the Care Economy Collaborative Network and becoming the Inaugural Director of Australia’s first Care Economy Research Institute at La Trobe University where she led a team of 174 mutidisciplinary researchers and collaborated with 130 industry partners. In 2025, she led the $129m Care Economy Cooperative Research Centre bid including $35m from the Commonwealth and $30m cash and $34m in-kind from 60 industry partners. She also established the John Richards Centre, the only multidiscplinary rural ageing research centre in 2017. 

Irene is the Past President of Australian Association of Gerontology Victoria, member of the NHMRC Council and Principal Committees 2021-2024 Triennium, on the editorial board of several international journals and expert advisors to government and not-for-profit organisations. She has attracted over $135M in competitive research funding and published 210 reports and journal articles. She has supervised 20 research students to completion and currently supervises 4 PhD students and mentors 10 academics. She holds a bachelor’s degree and PhD in Medicine and a postgraduate study in Program and Economic Evaluation.