Our People — Home2Health

Professor Lisa Wood has recently joined the Institute for Health Research at University of Notre Dame as a Professor and will continue to lead the Home2Health research team. Lisa is a tireless advocate for research being relevant and useful to the real world, and the need for academia to go beyond “the ivory tower”. She established the Home2Health team in 2018; a team that works closely with a breadth of health and homeless sector partners to build evidence of ‘what works’ to improve health and housing outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.

Lisa is also active in a number of other public health issues that often coalesce with homelessness, including family and domestic violence, Aboriginal health, mental health and reducing health inequalities.

Lisa Wood - Professor

Angela Gazey is a Research Officer with the Home2Health team, and PhD Candidate at UWA. Angela is committed to research that promotes social justice and reduces health disparities. Her research has real world relevance and has focused on improving services for people experiencing homelessness and family and domestic violence. She also has an interest in tobacco control and the disproportionate impact of tobacco on people living in low socio-economic areas. Her PhD research examines parents’ understanding of the impacts of trauma on children with a view to improving trauma-informed practice in schools.

To follow Angela on twitter: @AngelaGazey

Angela Gazey - Research Officer

Jake Turvey is a Research Officer, joining the Home2Health team in 2020. Jake has a background in public health and international aid & development, with much of his previous work focusing on the implementation and evaluation of small scale aid and development projects in Eastern Indonesia. Jake has a strong passion for addressing social health inequalities through participatory and evidence-based research. He has recently completed post-graduate studies in Public Health and Infectious Disease Intelligence at the University of New South Wales.

Jake Turvey - Research Officer

Donna Quinn is a Research Associate at the University of Western Australia. Donna has over 25 years of operational and management experience in Australia and in the UK, including work with people experiencing homelessness; young people in the care system; people in the legal system; people impacted by alcohol and other drugs; and people experiencing mental health issues.

Donna’s research is strongly informed by this service delivery experience and her work has a focus on the translation of policy and research into practice.

Donna’s current research focus is homelessness and health, with a particular emphasis on the impact of peer led approaches in the design, development, and delivery of homelessness services and policy.

To find out more about Donna’s research, grants, and publications see: Donna Quinn.

Donna Quinn - Research Associate

Maeve Hawkes is a Research Assistant, joining the Home2Health team in 2022.

Maeve has a background in nursing, working across medical and psychiatric settings. Currently, Maeve works in the not-for-profit sector with Homeless Healthcare, providing medical care and support to individuals experiencing homelessness. Maeve is working on the development of a new Drug and Alcohol service at Homeless Healthcare’s residential Medical Respite Centre, supporting individuals with substance use disorder who are experiencing homelessness and situational crisis. Maeve also works as part of the Royal Perth Hospital Homeless In-reach team.

Maeve is currently completing a Master of Public Health through Monash University.

Maeve Hawkes - Research Assistant

Shannen Vallesi is a Research Associate at the Institute of Health Research (University of Notre Dame) and PhD Candidate at UNDA. Shannen’s research is underpinned by a passion for reducing health inequalities through ‘real world’ relevant research, with a focus primarily around the complex and intertwined nature of homelessness, poor physical and mental health outcomes, social exclusion and the impact of intervention on these. Shannen co-leads the evaluation of Perth's first Housing First project; 50 Lives 50 Homes and various other health-led responses to ending homelessness and is a committee member of Perth’s By Name List/Advance to Zero Working Group through the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness.

To follow Shannen on twitter: @ShannenVallesi

Shannen Vallesi - Research Associate

Craig Cumming is a Research Fellow, currently undertaking a PhD at the School of Population and Global Health at the University of Western Australia. Craig has a background in Law and Criminology, and his research focuses on the health of vulnerable populations, in particular people who have contact with the justice system, and those experiencing homelessness. He consults with a number of consumer and community groups as well as government departments to ensure that his research is guided by community need and policy priorities. His work has included providing evidence to the West Australian Government’s Methamphetamine Task Force, as well as the Commonwealth Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement’s Inquiry into Crystal Methamphetamine.

To find out more about Craig’s research, grants and publications see: Craig Cumming

Craig Cumming - Research Fellow

Dr Matthew Tuson is a Research Fellow with the Home2Health team at the Institute for Health Research, UNDA. He has a background in Applied Statistics, with his PhD research focusing on methodologic contributions to address the long-standing modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) in the areas of disease mapping and geographic targeting of healthcare interventions. He has an interest and experience in the curation and analysis of various data, including the extensive WA linked data collections. Matt is the go to statistician and advisor on all things data for our team, and works closely with Homeless Healthcare and the RPH Homeless Team.

Matthew Tuson - Research Fellow

Dane Webster is a Research Assistant at Home2Health and an aspiring researcher in Physiology, commencing his work with the team in 2022.

Alongside his work at Home2Health, Dane is an aspiring physiological researcher beginning his PhD in 2024 at The University of Western Australia. Dane's work at UWA predominately revolves around physiology, such as the measuring of genic expression in biofluids to identify biomarkers for physiological stress and diseases.

Within the Home2Health team, Dane works on projects related to assisting disadvantaged populations. From a mixed background, Dane’s experience ranges from anatomy and physiology to the molecular sciences such as biochemistry and cellular biology, the sports sciences, and modern public health issues. To find out more about Dane on his LinkedIn, see: Dane Webster.

Dane Webster - Research Assistant

Jocelyn Tan is a research associate, joining the Home2Health team in 2023.

Jocelyn has a background in chronic disease research, working with clinicians within the hospital system. Starting as a genetic counsellor, Jocelyn has a particular interest in genetic and developmental conditions and is committed to the reduction of health inequalities to empower individuals to live a healthier, happier life. improve individuals to improving people's quality of life via improving health behaviours. Jocelyn has a background in genetic counselling and has a particular interest in working with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to help reduce health inequalities.