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2. About the RCH National Child Health Poll

Dr Anthea Rhodes

Director

Dr Anthea Rhodes is a paediatrician, researcher and child health advocate. She has expertise in child development and behaviour and extensive experience in health education, media and science communication.

Anthea undertook her paediatric training at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, where she has worked since 2004. She has a masters in medical education and is a lecturer at the University of Melbourne and an honorary research associate at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Anthea is the founding Director of the RCH National Child Health Poll and Director of the Health Literacy Project.

Anthea is passionate about health literacy, health promotion and reaching families with accessible health information. She has four children herself, and understands first hand the challenges of the parenting journey. Through her work on the RCH Poll, Anthea seeks to put the voice of Australian children and families at the heart of the conversation about common and current child health issues and to empower and equip parents to support their children to thrive.

Dr Mary-Anne Measey

Senior Researcher and Project Manager

Mary-Anne has worked in the field of public health and epidemiology in a variety of settings including state health departments and academia. She has been involved in population health research and developing public health information to guide evidence-based health policy and practice at state and national level. Her research interests include the prevention of ill-health, paediatric and perinatal epidemiology, and the antecedents of ill-health across the life course. Mary-Anne is passionate about the communication and promotion of information to improve child health. She has a PhD in perinatal and paediatric epidemiology (University of Western Australia), a Master of Public Health (University of Sydney) and a Bachelor of Veterinary Science (University of Sydney).

Suzanna Vidmar

Biostatistician

Suzanna is a Senior Research Officer with extensive experience in the management and analysis of quantitative health-related research data. She has worked as a statistician on numerous projects processing data and as an investigator. Suzanna’s other research activities have included the development of software for calculating standardized anthropometry of children and adolescents using population-based reference data. She is also involved in the teaching of courses in clinical research, biostatistics, data management and Stata.

A.Prof Daryl Efron

Project Mentor

Daryl is a general and developmental-behavioural paediatrician at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Senior Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and Associate Professor in the University of Melbourne Department of Paediatrics. A/Prof Efron’s research areas include psychopharmacology, models of care for children with developmental disorders, and the mental health service system for children and adolescents. He is interested in health-education interface, and also novel clinical trials e.g. medicinal cannabis for children with developmental disorders.

Dr. Mihiri Silva

Project Mentor

Mihiri Silva is a paediatric dentist with teaching, research and clinical appointments in Melbourne, Australia: Senior lecturer and Director of Graduate Research at the Melbourne Dental School, University of Melbourne; Consultant and Research Lead in the Department of Dentistry at the Royal Children’s Hospital; Clinician-Scientist Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Mihiri is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Paediatric Dentistry and the Vice President of the Paediatric Oral Health Research Group of IADR. Mihiri’s research ranges from causal inference to qualitative research and seeks to understand and improve the oral health of children.

Alicia Norton

Content and Engagement Manager

Alicia is a Communications and Marketing professional with more than 12 years of experience across a broad range of sectors, from manufacturing and hospitality through to more recent work in the social impact space. She enjoys contributing to projects which involve elements of community engagement, human cantered design and co-creation. Alicia is a passionate advocate for the power of creativity to connect with audiences. She is excited to use her story telling skills to break down mis and dis-information in the health care space and deliver engaging content that helps to elevate levels of community health literacy.

Anneliese Henjak

Content Creator

Anneliese is a content producer and digital marketer with extensive experience across the public, higher education and not-for-profit sectors. With a passion for building inclusive and informed online communities, she has successfully crafted campaigns and collateral for organisations such as Monash University, RMIT University, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Amnesty International. Driven by an ethos to combat misinformation in the digital space, Anneliese combines skills in photography, videography, design, social and traditional media to share health information and community stories which encourage interaction with and meet the evolving needs of online audiences.

Emma Calley

Content Specialist

Emma is an experienced medical writer and plain English editor from Melbourne. Over the past decade, Emma has worked in communications across several industries before establishing herself in the health and medical field. Her passion is in creating evidence-based content accessible for all levels of English literacy – no matter how complex the subject. She has a background in languages and linguistics, with a special interest in using clear communications to bridge health equity gaps.

Emily Leins

Project Coordinator

Emily provides research and administrative support to the team. Originally from the United States and with a background in animal science, she moved to Australia to attend the University of Melbourne where she earned her Master of Public Health. While studying, she cultivated a keen interest in infectious diseases and social determinants of health. The highlight of her studies was her research on knowledge, attitudes and practices relating to avian influenza. Emily is eager to contribute her epidemiological research skills to health promotion initiatives targeting children and their families.

Carolyn Bedggood

Digital Engagement Advisor

Carolyn is a multi-award-winning designer with more than 27 years of experience, working in both advertising agencies and businesses. Since 2011, Carolyn has been a valued member of the Creative Services team at The Royal Children’s Hospital and transitioned to the Digital and Online team in 2019. She is a highly proficient designer with outstanding technical expertise, and has a passion for digital communications, supporting our digital and online team with web and app design and build. Carolyn has experience in both Australian and the U.K. markets across a wide range of print and electronic media, making her a valuable all-rounder on the RCH Poll team.