Digital Health / Informatics
Digital health and informatics live at the intersection of health, wellbeing, and healthcare, viewed through a socio-technical lens
About this theme
The field involves the application of information communication technologies (ICT) to complex health challenges to improve the efficacy and efficiency of care.
The World Health Organisation lists digital health as a key area of strategic importance. At a macro level, it describes various hardware and software applications (i.e. web, telehealth, electronic health records, mobile devices, wearables, apps, and more) to improve the way in which information is used in health (informatics). Furthermore, these technologies provide opportunities to innovate models of care by supporting access, better tailoring treatment, and greater engagement of stakeholders to participate in the healthcare process.
Our School’s researchers are conducting research across a variety of digital health and informatics fronts across allied health and nursing aimed to improve how health is assessed, treated, and managed across the continuum of care. This includes, but is not limited to: provision of online health information/education, remote consultation and treatment via telehealth, peer to peer social networking, development of clinical decision-support aids, as well as leveraging hospital big data sets from electronic health records to better identify patients in need of intervention and predict outcomes.
Meet our researchers in digital health and informatics
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Audiology and Speech Pathology
Dr Elaina Kefalianos
Course Coordinator, Senior LecturerEducation and Research
elaina.kefalianos@unimelb.edu.au -
Nursing
Dr Suzanne Kapp
Senior Lecturer | Research areas include skin integrity, chronic wounds, patient engagement and self-treatmentsuzanne.kapp@unimelb.edu.au -
Optometry and Vision Sciences
Prof Allison McKendrick
Professor | Research areas include improving the understanding and clinical assessment of visual disorder of the eye and brain (specific interests in glaucoma, migraine, and ageing).allisonm@unimelb.edu.auA/Prof Laura Downie
Associate Professor and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow | Research areas include ocular diagnostics and therapeutics, tear biomarkers, clinical trials and research translation.ldownie@unimelb.edu.auDr Flora Hui
Research Fellow (Industry Engagement) and Optometrist | Research areas include neurodegeneration, diagnostics and therapies, research translation, improving health services.huif@unimelb.edu.auA/Prof Andrew Anderson
Associate Professor | Behavioural investigation of human vision, both in health and disease; Factors affecting decision-making processes in the brain.aaj@unimelb.edu.auDr Sumeer Singh
Postdoctoral Clinical Research Fellow | Research areas include dry eye disease, blue light and ocular health, evidence synthesis and translational research.sumeer.singh@unimelb.edu.auA/Prof Bang Bui
Assoc. Professor | Research areas include preclinical investigation of vision and the retinal vasculature in healthy ageing; mechanisms of age-related susceptibility to neurodegeneration.bvb@unimelb.edu.auDr Christine Nguyen
Senior Lecturer and Optometric Clinician | Research areas using the eye as a marker for brain disease (specific interests in Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease) in preclinical and clinical space.christine.nguyen@unimelb.edu.auDr Kwang Cham
Senior Lecturer | Research areas include digital technologies for feedback and assessment, inter-professional education, and inter-disciplinary object-based learning engaging with material culture.ckwang@unimelb.edu.auDr Bao Nguyen
Lecturer, optometrist and human visual neuroscientist | Research areas include understanding eye and brain changes with healthy and pathological ageing, childhood and adolescent development, vision anomalies in ophthalmic and neurological disorders.bnguyen@unimelb.edu.au
Senuri Karunaratne
Clinical Research Optometrist | Research areas include management of dry eye disease, childhood myopia and developement of myopia control devices.senuri.karunaratne@unimelb.edu.auA/Prof Michael Pianta
Associate Professor, 4th year OD Coordinator | Evidence-based practice.mjp@unimelb.edu.auAnna Lee
Senior Clinical Research Optometrist | Research areas include anterior ocular disease, therapeutic clinical trials and research translation.ji-hyun.lee@unimelb.edu.au
Janet Chan
Postdoctoral Researcher | Research areas include healthy ageing, migraine, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and visual snow.yu.chan@unimelb.edu.au -
Physiotherapy
Dr Jennifer Jones
Clinical Research Fellow | Research areas include critical care recovery and rehabilitation, frailty and digital healthjennifer.jones@unimelb.edu.auDr Mark Merolli
Physiotherapist, Senior Lecturer, Research Fellow | Digital Technologiesmerollim@unimelb.edu.auDr Kate Hayward
Senior Research Fellow | Research areas include the brain-behaviour nexus during rehabilitation after strokekate.hayward@unimelb.edu.auDr Stephanie Filbay
NHMRC Research Fellow | Research expertise includes anterior cruciate ligament injury and knee osteoarthritis outcomes and interventionsstephanie.filbay@unimelb.edu.auProf David Berlowitz
Chair in Physiotherapy at Austin Health | Research areas include sleep and breathing disorders in neuromuscular disease, health systems and data research, clinical trials of therapies and care modelsdjberl@unimelb.edu.auDr Michelle Hall
Senior Research Fellow, NHMRC Emerging Leader, Dame Kate Campbell Fellow | Research areas include osteoarthritis. exercise, biomechanics; meta-analyses, clinical trialshalm@unimelb.edu.auProf Rana Hinman
Research areas include improving the health of people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions, especially osteoarthritis, implementation science, and increasing access to care, including telerehabilitation and digital healthranash@unimelb.edu.auA/Prof Fiona Dobson
Deputy Head of Physiotherapy | Research areas include exercise for chronic musculoskeletal conditions, hip & knee osteoarthritis, outcome measurement, meta-analysisfdobson@unimelb.edu.auProf Alicia Spittle
Associate Dean (Research) Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences | Her research interest include infant and child development, early intervention, parent well-being, consumer engagement and implementation scienceaspittle@unimelb.edu.auDr Kelly Bower
Lecturer | Research areas include stroke rehabilitation, balance training, falls prevention, motion-tracking technologies and telehealthbower@unimelb.edu.au
Dr Amanda Kwong
Research Fellow | Research areas include early detection assessment and implementation of movement problems in high risk infantsamanda.kwong@unimelb.edu.auProf Kim Bennell
Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, NHMRC Investigator Fellow and Dame Kate Campbell Fellow. Director of the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine | Research focus is on the management of musculoskeletal conditions particularly osteoarthritisk.bennell@unimelb.edu.auDr Belinda Lawford
Research Assistant | Areas of research include telehealth and implementation of health services to help improve the lives of those with chronic musculoskeletal pain (e.g. osteoarthritis)belinda.lawford@unimelb.edu.auA/Prof Cathy Said
A/Professor Physiotherapy Western Health | Research interests include rehabilitation and fall prevention in older people and people with neurological disorderscsaid@unimelb.edu.au -
Social Work
A/Prof David Rose
Associate Professor in Social Work, Director of Learning and Teaching, MSHS | Research areas include impact of criminal justice system, trauma and mental health, alcohol and other drugs, domestic & family violence, children and families across borders and health/mental health in forensic systemsdrose@unimelb.edu.auProf Lynette Joubert
Professor - Direct Practice | Research areas include clarifying, measuring and evaluating the outcomes of social interventions in health and mental health, focusing on the contribution of formal and informal social network factorsljoubert@unimelb.edu.au