HEPP Staff

HEPP Home |Personnel | Publications | Reports | Studies

	Andrew Grulich MBBS, MSc, PhD, FAFPHM Head, Professor and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow Andrew is a medical epidemiologist and a Public Health Physician. He has worked in HIV research for more than twenty years. His two main research interests are first, the transmission and prevention of HIV infection in homosexual men, and second, the intersection between infection, altered immune function and cancer. Through his membership of state and federal ministerial advisory committees, he is centrally involved in the policy response in HIV prevention in Australia. agrulich@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Garrett Prestage, JP BA, PhD Associate Professor Garrett is a sociologist who works in both quantitative and qualitative social and behavioural research and is committed to community-based research. He mainly works in the fields of risk behaviour and sexuality. Garrett’s research interests include: HIV transmission and prevention among gay men; the roles of identity and community in understanding how individuals negotiate risk and pleasure in their lives; survey design and questionnaire development. Garrett has been actively involved in the gay community for over thirty years and has worked in gay community-based research since 1983. His first HIV-related research was in 1985. He currently leads the HIV Seroconversion Study and the Pleasure and Sexual Health (PASH) Study, and is an Investigator on the Gay Community Periodic Surveys as well as several other studies. Garrett is also associated with the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society at La Trobe University and is a member of the Board of ACON (AIDS Council of NSW). g.prestage@unsw.edu.au
	(Isobel) Mary Poynten MBBS, DCH, MPH (Hon), PhD Senior Lecturer Mary is a clinical epidemiologist and has worked at NCHECR for the past eight years and has been involved in the design and implementation of HIV prevention trials, both nationally and internationally. She completed her PhD on biomedical methods of HIV prevention in 2010. Her research interests include biomedical HIV prevention technologies, in particular post-exposure prophylaxis and their impact on HIV risk behaviour and also treatment modalities of anal dysplasia. Mary is co-project leader (with Dr Jeff Jin) of the Study of the Prevention of Anal Cancer (SPANC) investigating the natural history of anal dysplasia in gay men. She is currently involved in the implementation of the SPANC study, and is collaborating with international researchers on HPV seroprevalence, seroincidence and risk factors in HIV negative gay Australian men. mpoynten@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	David J Templeton MBChB, DipVen, MForensMed, PhD, MACLM, MFFLM, FAChSHM Senior Lecturer Staff Specialist, RPA Sexual Health, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney Dave is a Sexual Health Physician and medical epidemiologist who has been specialising in management of HIV and other STIs for over 10 years. He is Manager and Staff Specialist at RPA Sexual Health, based at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney's inner west, and Senior Lecturer at the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Dave completed his PhD in 2008 at NCHECR on STIs and HIV in the Health in Men study, and has published extensively in this field. He is an NHMRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Clinical Anoscopist for the Study for the Prevention of Anal cancer (SPANC) study investigating the natural history of anal human papillomavirus infection and pre-cancerous anal lesions in gay men in an effort to prevent anal cancer in this population. dtempleton@unsw.edu.au
	Iryna Zablotska-Manos PhD, MD, MPH Senior Lecturer Iryna is an epidemiologist with primary interest in behavioural risk factors and prevention of HIV and STI. During her research career she worked on sexual behavior and behavioural surveillance for HIV and STI, reproductive health, and evaluation of public health and health communication programs. Her current research interests include: social and behavioural aspects of HIV transmission among gay men, and the interaction of biomedical prevention strategies (antiretroviral treatment and prophylaxis before and after HIV exposure) with practices related to HIV/STI transmission. Iryna is particularly interested in new quantitative research methodologies in behavioural epidemiology. She currently leads the CONNECT study of norms regarding HIV risk and risk reduction in different networks of gay men, the Mapping of Gay Networks in Sydney Study, and is an Investigator on the Gay Community Periodic Surveys. izablotska@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Fengyi (Jeff) Jin MB, MPH, PhD Senior Lecturer and NHMRC post-doctoral fellow Jeff is an epidemiologist and a NHMRC Post-doctoral Research Fellow. He completed his PhD in 2006 on sexually transmissible infections in gay men based on the Health in Men study. He has extensive experiences in data management and data analysis of complex cohort data. He is the co-project leader (with Dr Poynten) of the SPANC study investigation the natural history of anal human papillomavirus infection in gay men in an effort to prevent anal cancer in this population. jjin@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Ben Bavinton BA (Hon), MPH, PhD Candidate Associate Lecturer Ben has worked in the field of HIV prevention and policy for over seven years both in Australia and internationally. He has been involved in many different community-based research projects focusing on HIV, sexual health, GLBT rights and gay community, and recently coordinated the first behavioral study of men who have sex with men in Fiji in over a decade. At the Kirby Institute, Ben has worked on the Sydney Gay Community Mapping Study aimed at exploring the size and structure of the gay community in Sydney, and the CONNECT Study of gay men’s social norms and networks. He is currently the Project Leader of the Opposites Attract Study, a four-year cohort study of HIV transmission and HIV treatments in gay men in serodiscordant relationships. bbavinton@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Michelle McKechnie BMedSci (Hon), PhD Associate Lecturer Michelle completed her PhD at the STI Research Centre in 2010 on multiplex PCR testing for the diagnosis of STIs. Her main research interests include diagnostic and molecular methods for STIs and social and behavioural aspects of STI/HIV transmission among gay men. She has been involved in a number of studies focusing on non-gonococcal urethritis, cervicitis and female sex worker populations from Indonesia. She is currently the Project Manager of the CONNECT study which explores social norms regarding HIV risk and risk reduction strategies among gay men in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. mmckechnie@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Ian Down MPH, PhD candidate Associate Lecturer Ian works primarily on the HIV Seroconversion Study - a study exploring factors associated with HIV transmission in Australia, and the experiences of people who have recently been diagnosed HIV-positive. His research interests include gay men's understandings of risk of HIV, and the ways in which they negotiate sexual risk. idown@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Brian Acraman Research Assistant Brian is currently involved with the Study of the Prevention of Anal Cancer (SPANC) assisting in the questionnaire development and implementation. The aim of SPANC is to determine whether regular testing for gay men should be introduced to prevent anal cancer. Brian began work with the National HIV Centre in HIV Epidemiology & Clinical Research (NCHECR) in 2001 and has worked on cohort studies such as the Health in Men Study (HIM) & Positive Health (pH) bacraman@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Jack Bradley Projects and Research Officer Jack Bradley has lived and worked in Australia since 2000. He has worked at NCHECR with Garrett Prestage since 2002 as a Projects Officer and Research Assistant, as well as conducting both qualitative and quantitative interviews for a wide range of studies. Jack has worked as a qualitative and/or quantitative interviewer on the HIM (Health in Men) Study, PH (Positive Health) Study, TOM (Three or More) Study, PASH (Pleasure and Sexual Health) Study, and the Online Seroconversion Study. Jbradley@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Patrick McGrath BA, Dip. Ed, Grad. Dip Research Assistant Patrick joined NCHECR in 2001 as an interviewer with the HIM (Health in Men) and pH (Positive Health) Studies, and was Project Officer (HIM) and Data Manager (VHCRP). He works in the Study of the Prevention of Anal Cancer (SPANC), taking enquiries from men interested in joining the Study and liaising with enrolled volunteer participants and clinical staff. He is interested in what motivates volunteers in HIV-related research, and what influences participant retention rates in longitudinal studies. pmcgrath@nchecr.unsw.edu.au
	Matthew O'Dwyer BLibStud, MPH (Hons) Research Assistant Matt joined the HEPP team in April 2011. He is currently working as a Data Collection Officer on both the CONNECT and the Sydney Mapping Studies. Matt is interested in the HIV epidemic, health issues and health promotion in gay communities, particularly among young gay men. Matt completed his MPH at The University of Sydney and focused on the HIV related sexual testing and drug practices among young gay men in Sydney for his Honours dissertation. modwyer@kirby.unsw.edu.au
	Lara Cassar Cert IV Business Administration Research Assistant Lara has worked with Garrett Prestage since 1993 as a Social Research Interviewer, on a wide range of studies including SMASH, Health In Men and Positive Health. Roles have included Receptionist, Project Worker and Administrative Assistant, and Lara now works as a Research Assistant with the Opposites Attract Study of serodiscordant gay male relationships. Her particular interest is understanding the impact of HIV on the gay community. lcassar@kirby.unsw.edu.au
	Dorothy Machalek BSc(Hons), MPH PHD Student Dorothy is a PhD student on the SPANC study looking at the epidemiology of anal human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and anal cellular abnormalities in homosexual men. Dorothy comes from a research laboratory background and has worked in basic research into HIV, Influenza and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease as well as translational breast cancer research. Her research interests include infectious disease epidemiology and translational medicine. dmachalek@kirby.unsw.edu.au
	Anna Checkley BA (Hons) Program Coordinator Anna joined HEPP as Program Coordinator in 2011. Originally from the UK, Anna has lived and worked in Australia since 2005 and has extensive experience in administrative roles within the community sector. Anna has an interest in blood borne viruses, particularly how they impact on specific communities. She has previously worked at ACON and, most recently as Organisational Services Manager at NSW Users and Aids Association. acheckley@kirby.unsw.edu.au

The CFI Building
Corner Boundary and West Streets
Darlinghurst NSW 2010

T +61 (2) 9385 0900
F +61 (2) 9385 0920