Research Staff
The Neurological and Mental Health Division's multidisciplinary team has many years of experience in clinical and epidemiological research, specialising in stroke, neurodegenerative illness and health outcomes. The team's expertise enables easy integration with the other research divisions of The George Institute and we plan to undertake a number of cross-divisional research projects. We also collaborate closely with health care providers within the acute stroke unit of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney
The Division adopts a holistic approach to research on the spectrum and evolution of neurological and mental health and disability in association with ageing, vascular disease and physical illness. Our aim is improve neurological and mental health, the overall care of individuals and promote active and healthy ageing for all.
Professor Craig Anderson - Director
Professor Craig Anderson is Director of the Neurological and Mental Health Division at The George Institute. He is also Professor of Stroke Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney and the Institute of Neurosciences of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Craig holds specialist qualifications in clinical neurology and geriatrics, and a PhD in medicine and epidemiology from the University of Western Australia. From 1997 to 2004, he was Professor of Gerontology and Co-Director of the Clinical Trials Research Unit at The University of Auckland.
Craig is a member of several specialist societies, is an Editor for the Cochrane Stroke Group, and is currently President of the Stroke Society of Australasia. He has published widely on the clinical and epidemiological aspects of stroke, cardiovascular disease and aged care, and is on the Steering Committee for several large-scale research projects including the Ongoing Telmisartan Alone and in Combination with Ramipril Global Endpoint Trial (ONTARGET) global trials programme in cardiovascular prevention involving over 30,000 patients in 40 countries.
Candice Delcourt - Clinical Research Fellow
Candice is a clinical research fellow at the George Institute. She holds a specialist medical qualification in Neurology from the University of Liege (Belgium) and two sub qualifications in Cerebro-Vascular disease (University of Dijon - France) and in Neurophysiology (University of Lille - France). She did a thesis with Professor Giroud in Dijon about: "Mortality in the Stroke Register from 1985-2004". She is a member of the Belgian and France Medical Council and the Belgian Neurological Society.
Maree Hackett - Senior Research Fellow (Mental Health)
Maree is a conjoint Senior Lecturer (course co-ordinator for MIPH 5127) within the Faculty of Medicine of The University of Sydney and holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine from the University of Auckland. Maree has previously worked as a Research Coordinator at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Auckland Healthcare from 1995 to 1999, and as a Research Fellow at the Clinical Trials Research Unit of The University of Auckland's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences from 1999 to 2005.
Maree's interests are in health outcomes research, particularly psychological problems associated with physical illness and she has been awarded an NHMRC Public Health (Australia) Fellowship to develop strategies to reduce the impact of vascular depression. She has publications in, and conducts reviews for, several key medical journals, is a reviewer for the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Health Research Council of New Zealand, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is a member of the Stroke Society of Australasia and the Australasian Epidemiological Society.
Maree is the principal investigator on the Psychosocial Outcomes in Stroke - POISE study.
Emma Heeley - Senior Research Fellow (Neurological)
Emma is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute and a conjoint Senior Lecturer within the Faculty of Medicine of The University of Sydney. Emma is an epidemiologist with 10 years experience in health related research. Prior to joining The George Institute in September 2006, Emma worked at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the United Kingdom. She obtained a PhD in respiratory physiology at the University of Southampton and a Masters in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Emma’s interests are in health outcomes research, pharmacoepidemiology and primary care research.
Hisatomi Arima - Senior Research Fellow
Hisatomi Arima is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow/Senior Lecturer in Medicine at the University of Sydney and Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute for International Health. He is a Cardiologist with 11 years experience in research on hypertension. After completion of medical training at Kyushu University in Japan in 1995, he spent 6 years working as an epidemiologist for the Hisayama Study, which is a prospective cohort study of cardiovascular disease, at Kyushu University, where he completed his PhD in Medicine. Then he completed specialist training in Internal Medicine, Cardiology and Hypertension at Kyushu University Hospital. Prior to taking up his position at the University of Sydney and at the George Institute in 2009, he spent 2 years as a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the George Institute in Sydney and then 2 years as an Assistant Professor in Environmental Medicine at Kyushu University in Japan.
Ivy Shiue - Research Scholar
Ivy is a Research Scholar in the Division of Neurological & Mental Health at The George Institute for International Health since July 2008. She is now focusing on the burden of subarachnoid hemorrhage and her research project: CHERISH is based in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China. She plans to compare study results across different populations after CHERISH. She’s also interested in studying relationships between urbanization and some potential risk factors across the globe.
Having completed her master degree in public health at National Yang-Ming University in 2007/2008 at Taipei, Taiwan, in mid-2008 she was awarded a PhD scholarship by The University of Sydney. Ivy’s special interest areas are stroke epidemiology & subarachnoid hemorrhage, neuro-epidemiology & primary health research, and clinical epidemiology and urbanization.
Jade Wei - Research scholar
Jade is a research scholar in the Neurological and Mental Health Division at The George Institute. Jade is a pharmacist who is currently conducting research on the epidemiology of intracerebral haemorrhage as part of her PhD thesis. Her research work is funded by the Australian Postgraduate Award. Jade’s areas of interest are stroke, cardiovascular disease, genetics and pharmaceuticals.
Deborah Blair - Senior Project Manager
Deborah is a Registered Nurse, with a BA in Anthropology and Women’s Studies. She also has postgraduate qualifications in Health Promotion, Adult Education and Diabetes Management and Education. After spending a number of years teaching she became involved in health promotion where she managed a number of qualitative research projects, mostly in the area of Sexual Health Education in the context of HIV prevention and with IDUs (injecting drug users). Deborah’s interests are in the areas of project management, training and development, equitable access to health care, health promotion and diabetes management.
Marianne Byrne - Research Assistant
Marianne is a recent science graduate from the University of Sydney and is currently completing post graduate studies in clinical trials management. Marianne is the project manager for the Psychosocial Outcomes in Stroke - POISE study and conducts structured telephone and face-to-face interviews and follow-up to collect research data on participants throughout metropolitan and rural NSW.
Ruth O'Reilly - Research Assistant
Ruth O’Reilly has a background in teaching and several years experience in market research and is currently completing post graduate studies. is conducting structured telephone and face-to-face interviews and follow-up to collect research data on participants throughout metropolitan and rural NSW participating in the POISE study.