Committee

President & Advocacy Coordinator

Teresa leads Education for Sustainability in the Health Nature and Sustainability Research Group, Deakin University. She has been a key researcher focused on the links between nature, climate change, health, and wellbeing. She also researches and publishes in sustainability pedagogy. She is the immediate past Course Director, Master of Health Promotion, Deakin University, and has taught in the tertiary education sector for over 25 years, recognised with multiple teaching awards, including the Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability Teaching Award and the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2022 she was successful in obtaining course accreditation for the Master of Health Promotion with the International Union of Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE).

Teresa has a health practice background in women and migrant women’s health where she worked for over a decade. She was Chair, Board of Governance, Women’s Health in the North, until 2021. Teresa is also the founding member of Ascolta Women, a collective of Italian affiliated women across Australia and London focused on creative works, academic research, community engagement and activism related to diasporic Italian communities. She is completing her PhD on Storying Distance: Lived Experiences of post-World War II Italian Australian Middle-Aged Women.

Membership Coordinator

David lives on Wurundjeri land in the leafy North East of Melbourne with his partner and two dogs. David has been a health promoter in community settings for more than 20 years and has a particular interest in Alcohol and Other Drug related harm, Sexual and Reproductive Health and the prevention of homelessness. Currently David is employed as the Executive Lead Community Impact at Access Health and Community – a community health service in Melbourne’s Inner East. David leads programs in Health Promotion, Community Engagement, Neighbourhood Houses, Men's Sheds, Emergency Relief and Family Services Programs.

Between 2010 & 2017 David was a member of the Victorian Branch Committee of AHPA serving as a general committee member and branch president. David also had three terms on the National Board, holding the role of National Treasurer. 

Communications Co-Coordinator

Melissa is the Health Promotion Specialist at Vision Initiative, a Victorian integrated eye health promotion program, training health professionals in eye health, to help build capacity and identify clients who may be at risk of vision loss.  She has also enjoyed engaging with members of various multicultural groups to help raise awareness of how to prevent avoidable blindness and low vision.

With extensive experience working in educational, welfare and health community organisations as well as with Carers, Melissa is passionate about health, prevention and wellbeing and committed to improving health outcomes for all.  She has a keen interest in mental health and nutrition, particularly in coeliac disease and diabetes and has written a book about Coeliac disease.

She is excited to join the AHPA Vic/Tas Committee and hopes to actively use her health promotion and education skills to advocate for improvements in areas of health prevention.

Events Coordinator

Siobhan lives and works on the Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung Peoples of the Kulin nation. Siobhan is currently employed as Senior Health Promotion and Community Engagement Officer at Bendigo Community Health Services. She leads health promotion programs across key health priority areas in accordance with the Community Health – Health Promotion 2021-25 Guidelines.

Siobhan holds a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Health Sciences majoring in Health Promotion, Sociology and Disability and Inclusion from Deakin University. She is the process of competing a Graduate Certificate in Counselling at Edith Cowan University. Siobhan has particular interests in Women’s Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health and mental wellbeing across the lifespan.

Tasmania Co-Coordinator

Anthea is an intergenerational health promotion practitioner who has had diverse work and lived experience in Tasmania, Townsville and Zimbabwe. Health promotion principles have provided a framework for Anthea to work with intergenerational communities in Tasmania, Aboriginal health, promoting holistic spiritual health, community nutrition and food security.  

Anthea is currently working in three roles: a Primary Health Consultant for Primary Health Tasmania, a team leader for Launceston City Baptist and a coordinator of Food Plants International.  These roles allow Anthea to pursue her passion for preventative health, intergenerational community, spiritual wellbeing, community nutrition and ecological sustainability.

Anthea has been a AHPA member since 2015. She lives in a rural village in northern Tasmania with her husband and daughters.

Branch Business and Governance Coordinator

Kate is a health promotion practitioner with over five years of experience working across a range of organisations including government, not-for-profit, and women's health sectors. Kate holds a Bachelor of Health Sciences (Hons) from Deakin University and Bachelor of International Studies from RMIT University.

In her current role as Local Government Development Lead at VicHealth, she has been overseeing the delivery of the VicHealth Local Government Partnership and building the capacity of local governments to engage in place-based, systems-driven approaches to prevention and health promotion.

Kate is particularly passionate about the application and practice of health promotion in the areas of health equity and climate change.

She looks forward to sharing her experience and enthusiasm for health promotion as part of the AHPA Vic/Tas Committee in 2022.   

Communications Co-Coordinator

Ellen is new to the health field, coming from an administration background, and recently started studying postgraduate studies in Public Health. She is interested in pursuing epidemiology, research and health promotion in the future. She currently works in medical administration.

She joined AHPA and the VIC/TAS executive committee early in 2023 to actively be part of a community that has the same passions as herself and connect with others in the health field. She is excited to take on her new role as co-Communications Coordinator and see where this takes her.

Tasmania Co-Coordinator

Gavin is a dentist based in Hobart, Tasmania, working in both private and public healthcare settings. As a passionate advocate for oral health, he strives to further his contributions to the field, including serving as a Councillor and Secretary for the Australian Dental Association Tasmania Branch. He also serves as Chair of its Oral Health Promotion Committee and as Vice-Chair of the Federal Oral Health Committee. These positions have allowed him to develop a better understanding of health promotion and the role it plays in improving overall health outcomes.

Regional/Rural Coordinator

Meg has recently returned to the beautiful North East Vic region, and is currently the Health Promotion Practitioner Lead at Gateway Health - a standalone community health centre servicing the Ovens Murray.

With an undergrad in nursing; post grad qualifications in community development and a Master of health promotion; Meg has broad experience across the health sector spanning acute, community, and population health settings.

Meg has been an AHPA member since 2006, involving herself with the Vic Branch and the NT Branch committees over the years.

Meg is particularly passionate about values-based approaches, and is committed to improving rural health outcomes through modern health promotion practice.