Research Advisory
DrinkWise has sought and obtained a high calibre expert panel to oversee its first major piece of foundational research. The Committee meets quarterly.
Professor Ross Kalucy - Chair Head, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Flinders Medical Centre
Professor Ross Kalucy graduated MB.BS with Honours from Sydney University in 1965. He then trained at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, firstly as a General Physician and then as a Psychiatrist. He pursued a postgraduate research career at the University of London St George’s Hospital Medical School over a five year period and had particular research interests in psychosomatic disorders, obesity, weight disorders and sleep disorders. He was appointed to the position of Senior Lecturer, University of London in 1974.
On returning to Australia in 1976, Professor Kalucy was appointed as Foundation Professor of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, Flinders University of South Australia, and became Dean of the School of Medicine at Flinders in January 1989, a post he held for two years, before returning to the Chair of Psychiatry. Currently, he is Head of Academic Dept of Psychiatry and Director, Emergency Mental Health; Senior Clinical Director of the Southern Regional Mental Health Services and the Rural Mental Health Services of South Australia; the Chairperson for the Impaired Doctors Committee Medical Board of South Australia, and Visitor C.R.C Aboriginal and Tropical Health.
Professor Kalucy has done many consultancies for State and Federal Health Services in the mental health area, Aboriginal health and Health Administration. Professor Kalucy’s areas of expertise include Ethics of Public Health Practice, Aboriginal Health, Weight Disorder and Medico-Legal Issues and a special interest in Alcohol-related Disorders and the Impact on Health and Disease
Professor Ian McAllister, Director, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
Professor Ian McAllister is Director of the Research School of Social Sciences at The Australian National University. His research interests are in the areas of comparative political behaviour, political parties, voters and electoral systems. Recent research includes Australian political parties and political behaviour; Russian electoral behaviour and democratisation; and political behaviour and violence in Northern Ireland.
His previous positions have included Professor of Government, Department of Government, University of Manchester; Professor of Politics, University College, University of New South Wales; Senior Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University; Research Fellow, Department of Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University; Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of Public Policy, University of Strathclyde; and Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast.
Mr Mark Cooper-Stanbury, Head, Population Health Data and Information Services Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Mark has held research and executive positions at the AIHW since 1993. For the past eight years he has run the Institute's outposted unit at the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, and for the past year has also been head of the Institute's Population Health Unit. This unit, among other things, is responsible for the Institute's general work in chronic diseases and associated risk factors.
Mark has prepared or contributed to over 30 of the Institute's major publications, as well as contributions to reports for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, and Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. He has also co-authored a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Mr George Phillips, Drug Strategy Branch, Department of Health and Ageing
George is a research psychologist who has worked in the private and public secotrs. As a data analyst at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare he contributed to publications covering cancer, housing, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. At the Family Court of Australia he conducted research on the counselling, mediation and conciliation techniques offered by the Court. Since 2004 he has worked on alcohol programs within the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. He has an honors degree in cognitive psychology from The University of Queensland and is committed to reducing the mortality and morbidity caused by alcohol misuse.
Associate Professor Shyamali Dharmage, Principal Research Fellow, Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic (MEGA) Epidemiology
Dr. Shyamali Dharmage is a medical epidemiologist with a MSc and MD in Public Health and PhD in Epidemiology. Dr Dharmage originally trained in Medicine and subsequently specialised in Public Health at The University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. She then pursued her doctoral training in epidemiology of allergens and asthma at Monash University, which was supported by a NHMRC public health research scholarship. She worked as a lecturer for five years at the University of Colombo and Monash University prior to joining the University of Melbourne as a senior lecturer in 2000. Dr Dharmage currently holds a NHMRC Career Development Award and appointed as a principal research fellow in the Centre for MEGA Epidemiology, The University of melbourne. She also has extensive prior experience as a clinical practitioner both in Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.
Dr Dharmage has coordinated a range of undergraduate and post graduate teaching programs during her academic career. Currently, she coordinates and teaches ‘Epidemiology in Practice’ subject in MPH and M (EPI) courses, and supervises eight PhD students in Epidemiology. She has extensive experience in the design, conduct and analysis of large epidemiological studies, and a major collaborator with the European Community Respiratory Health Survey, comprising 58 countries including Australia. Her research interests are in the areas of Chronic Respiratory Diseases and atopic disorders. Dr Dharmage is the principal investigator of the 36 years follow-up of the Tasmanian Health Study and the 15-year follow-up of the Melbourne Atopy Cohort Study, which are currently funded by the NHMRC. She is also a chief investigator of several studies including an ecological study on air pollution and asthma, a cohort study on occupational dermatitis and a nested case control study on fungi and uncontrolled asthma.
Ms Jenni Livingston, Health Program Evaluator, Centre for Health Program Evaluation, Program Evaluation Unit, The University of Melbourne
Jenni Livingston is a Lecturer in Health Program Evaluation at the PEU. She has extensive experience in the education field as a teacher, lecturer and consultant. Since 1992 she has combined commissioned evaluation research, study and teaching at both the Centre for Program Evaluation (CPE) at the University of Melbourne, and more recently at the PEU.
She teaches and coordinates much of the PEU's on-campus, distance and short course teaching in health program evaluation, as well as supervising research students. She has managed evaluations in a range of education, welfare and health program areas, most recently working on evaluations of mental health service delivery and health promotion, education and training programs. She has strong interest in program logic modeling as the basis for program evaluation and program development, program and organisation improvement initiatives, innovation, flexible and active learning, qualitative research approaches and the teaching of program evaluation.
Mr Brian Kearney, Drink Wise Australia Board Member, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Hotels Association (Vic)
Brian was appointed to the position of CEO, AHA (Vic) in May 2004. AHA (Vic) is the pre-eminent Victorian hospitality industry association representing the rights and interests of pubs and hotels across Victoria. Prior to his current appointment Brian was Director of Liquor Licensing, State Government of Victoria (1999–2004) and its predecessor position CEO, Liquor Licensing Commission (1990–1999). These were statutory appointments with the responsibility for administration of Victoria’s liquor laws.
In 1990, following the significant liberalisation and deregulation of liquor law by the Cain Labor Government, Brian was given the responsibility for implementing those laws in a manner that effectively balanced the responsible supply of alcohol, the reasonable business interests of licensees and the concerns of the community and government regarding the abuse of alcohol. Brian undertook these responsibilities for the Cain, Kirner, Kennett and Bracks’ Governments in Victoria over a 14 year period.
Previously Brian held senior executive positions at the then Totalisator Agency Board of Victoria. Brian’s career has spanned the Federal, Victorian and Queensland Government sphere. Brian holds qualifications in accounting and general management.
Mrs Billie Atanasova, Manager Research and Evaluation, DrinkWise Australia
Billie Atanasova [BaHealthSc (Hons); MPH] has extensive research experience, both qualitative and quantitative in epidemiology, public health, and managing and evaluating health care programs. She has worked in various public health areas such as breast cancer, coordinated care in a hospital setting, diabetes, immunisation, health promotion and health program evaluation.
Billie has worked for the Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic & Analytic Epidemiology, School of Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry & Health Sciences, at The University of Melbourne on the Australian Breast Cancer Family Follow-Up Study, and as a project manager and internal evaluator on the Collaborative Care Coordination Project (CCCP) of Emergency Department Services at the Angliss hospital, Melbourne. She has also held positions at the Centre for Health Program Evaluation (Health Economics Unit) at Monash University on the Measurement of Quality of Life for Economic Evaluation and the Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL)—Mark 2 Project, and project officer positions at the Melbourne Division of General Practice Inc. on the General Practitioners Diabetes Service Project and the Increasing Immunisation Coverage through General Practice Project.
Billie has a strong interest in public health, evidence based practice, and health program evaluation. She holds a Master’s in Public Health from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor’s degree (with Honours) in Health Sciences from La Trobe University (Melbourne).
Billie joined DrinkWise Australia in January 2006 and manages the research and evaluation arm of the organisation.