Ms Megan Williams
Associate Lecturer, Indigenous Health
Megan’s work life has been a combination of research, health promotion with drug users, and capacity building among service providers in the area of drugs and hepatitis C education. She has at times concurrently worked in community-based organisations and the School of Population Health. Megan is most motivated by integrating research and on-the-ground practice; evaluation being one such method for achieving this. This builds on the combination of her Bachelor of Social Science majoring in human services (QUT), and Graduate Certificate in Applied Social Research (UQ).Megan recently completed a process evaluation of the Lotus Glen Indigenous Peer Education Project funded by Queensland Corrective Services, and is currently enrolled in a PhD program examining the role of social support among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders post-prison release.
Megan’s PhD project links with SPH’s NHMRC-funded “Passports to Better Health” lead by Dr Stuart Kinner and others. “Passports to Better Health” is a longitudinal, randomised controlled trial, in which 1500 people exiting select Queensland prisons will be followed up over two years post-prison release. Megan’s PhD supervisors are Dr Stuart Kinner, and Dr Rosa Alati from SPH’s Queensland Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre (QADREC) [MAKE LINK]. Megan has a research scholarship through the CRC for Aboriginal Health.
Megan is actively involved in aspects of her local Sandgate community as a Management Committee member of the Sandgate and Bracken Ridge Action Group (SANDBAG) (LINK TO sandbag.org.au], and editor of the local independent newsletter.
Megan’s father’s family includes descendants of the Wiradjuri people of Mudgee/Cudgegong in central New South Wales, and her mother’s family came from England after World War II. Her family story includes Stolen Generations, a British brigadier who worked for the United Nations, a feminist from the forties, boats and rock'n'roll … a real mix that extends into current work life.
Ms Kym Kilroy
Associate Lecturer, Indigenous Health
Ms Kilroy is a graduate of the BAppHSc(IH) working as a lecturer and undertaking research higher degree study at UQ.Ms Lorian Hayes
Associate Lecturer, Indigenous Health
Ms Hayes is a graduate of the BAppHSc(IH) and MAE(IH) working as a lecturer and undertaking research higher degree study at UQ.Dr Susan Vlack
Senior Lecturer, Indigenous Health
Dr Susan Vlack is a public health physician and academic with clinical experience in both the government and community controlled sectors, including extensive child health program management experience in Far North Queensland and general practice in Inala. For the past six years, Dr Vlack has taught clinical and public health courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in maternal and child Health at The University of Queensland where she has also taken the opportunity to conduct research and evaluation. Dr Vlack’s professional societies and expert committee involvement includes the Indigenous Child Health Course Development Advisory Committee, Cunningham Centre for Rural and Remote Health (2006) Reviewer, Medical Journal of Australia; Australian Family Physician; NHMRC Grants (2004-2005) Chair, Queensland Training Committee, Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine (2000-2004) Indigenous Child Health Expert Group, Queensland Health (2004) Reviewer, Health Promotion Journal of Australia (2004-5) Member, Indigenous Projects Reference Group, National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (2003-4) Queensland Representative, Board of Censors, AFPHM (2000-2003).Dr Vlack currently holds a joint position between Queensland Health, where she is a Public Health Fellow, and UQ. She is currently undertaking a literature review as part of a project funded by the CRCAH: Feasibility Study: A nationally-accessible Master of Public Health program in Indigenous health.
Ms Samia Goudie
Lecturer, Indigenous health
Ms Goudie has recently returned from a year in the USA on a Fulbright Fellowship which allowed her to travel across the USA sharing and learning with Indigenous peoples. Her research and media-based work on the recovery from “Intergenerational Trauma” was shared with University based academics from the University of Arizona, New York University and California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
Before starting at SPH, Samia held various positions in Indigenous health, welfare and community as well as education. She was course co-ordinator for Indigenous health at Wollongong University and more recently spent three years around the Byron Bay area working on community projects.
Samia has made three television documentaries. One, “Us Deadly Mob”, was recently was screened through the Australian Film Commission in the Blackout, Croc FEST and Message Sticks series. She has won a number of awards for her films. Samia has a Masters in Applied Science with a major in Social Ecology (UWS), a counselling diploma (Australasian College of Sexual Health Physicians) and a Diploma in Natural Therapies (Queensland Natural Health Society). She also holds a black belt in martial arts and is a surf coach and lifesaver.
