Research Advisory Group
Meet the Research Advisory Group
Mentally Healthy WA is guided by a Research Advisory Group, which includes subject specialists from the fields of health promotion and psychology who provide content to the campaign. The group meets quarterly.
Associate Professor Christina Pollard
Director, Mentally Healthy WA,
Curtin University
Christina Pollard is Associate Professor of Public Health Priorities at the School of Population Health, and enAble Institute, Curtin University, Perth, and the Director of Act Belong Commit. Dr Pollard is a public health dieitian and has managed the development, implementation and evaluation of numerous government public health policies and interventions. She led the Gofor2&5 fruit and vegetable and Find 30 Physical Activity campaigns and the National Obesity Taskforce’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy. Ass/Prof Pollard developed, implemented, and has evaluated a wide range of health promotion interventions and policies for government over her career. She is a champion for public health, particularly for those who are rendered vulnerable to poor health due to their social, economic, or physical circumstances.
Professor Rosa Alati
Head of School, Population Health,
Curtin University
Professor Alati is Head of the Curtin School of Population Health. Before joining Curtin University, Professor Alati was a Professorial Fellow at the University of Queensland (UQ), from where she obtained her PhD. She was promoted to full Professor in 2014, ten years after the award of her PhD. During this time she was on a fast-paced trajectory for research, supported by a competitive funding base to the value of $16 million. She has an established track record in the epidemiology of substance use and mental health problems. She is lead investigator on large birth cohort studies in Australia and overseas and has been visiting professor at Oxford, Bristol and Bologna Universities. In recent years, she has worked towards linking familial administrative data in a longitudinal way to investigate causal pathways to mental health and diseases. Professor Alati has taken a keen interest in promoting good mental health to the whole community supporting a number of programs and collaborations currently in operation.
Associate Professor Moira O’Connor
Senior Research Fellow, School of Psychology, Curtin University;
Director, WA Cancer Prevention Research Unit
Associate Professor Moira O’Connor, PhD, is a Senior Research Fellow in psychological and psychosocial aspects of cancer and palliative care. She works with patients, families, carers, and health professionals. Moira has a keen interest in children, adolescents and young adults (AYA) affected by cancer (parental cancer, siblings of children diagnosed with paediatric cancer, and children and AYA diagnosed with cancer.) Moira uses several research methods including qualitative research, surveys and randomised controlled trials.
Professor Warren Mansell
School of Population Health,
Curtin University
Warren Mansell is Professor of Mental Health at the School of Population Health, and enAble Institute, Curtin University, Perth. His role with Act Belong Commit is the Chair of the Research Advisory Group of Mentally Healthy WA. Prof Mansell develops, trains and researches a range of universal mental health interventions including 4Ds for Dealing with Distress – an ultra-brief online stress management course; the Take Control Course – a six session group intervention for common mental health problems, and MYLO – an artificial therapist accessed via smartphone. He is a champion of user-led interventions, of perceptual control theory, and of the importance of scalable interventions for mental health.
Professor David Lawrence
School of Population Health,
Curtin University
David is Professor of Mental Health in the School of Population Health at Curtin University. His research focuses on mental health and wellbeing, particularly child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing, youth suicide prevention and mental health and wellbeing of first responders. He is currently leading After the Fires: a study of the impacts of the 2019-20 bushfire season on the wellbeing and resilience of Australia’s first responders. He was also project leader for Young Minds Matter: The second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Professor Peter McEvoy
School of Population Health,
Curtin University
Peter McEvoy is Professor of Clinical Psychology at the School of Population Health, and enAble Institute, Curtin University, Perth. He is also a Senior Clinical Psychologist and Research Director at the Centre for Clinical Interventions. Much of his research is in assessment, and mechanisms of maintenance and change, for anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. His focus has been on developing novel interventions that support people to manage their mental health challenges so that they can stay well and flourish. He recently co-led, with a consumer and community involvement advocate, the development of Western Australia’s first mental health research strategy, which involved extensive consultations across the mental health sector.
Professor Sharyn Burns
Co-Director, Mentally Healthy WA, School of Population Health, Curtin University
Research and Impact in the School of Public Health at Curtin University, Western Australia. She is Chair, Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee. Sharyn is a health promotion practitioner and researcher with a specific interest in translational intervention-based research. Her research includes a specific focus on children, adolescents, young adults and parents and has been conducted in a range of settings with key focuses on sexual health, mental health, alcohol and other drugs and obesity prevention. Professor Burns has a strong background in school-based health promotion research and has expertise in conducting evaluations, in mixed methods research and in implementing innovative health promotion interventions. She is CIA on the Relationships and Sexuality Education Project which has been funded since 2014. Sharyn also leads a range of other sexual and mental health-related research projects. Professor Burns teaches undergraduate and postgraduate health promotion and public health students and has a strong track record supervising PhD, Masters and Honours students. Sharyn is a long-term member of the Australian Health Promotion Association and is currently a member of the National Accreditation Organisation Assessment Committee.