Our Staff and Associates
Staff
Drew Aras Executive Director
BAppSci (Physiotherapy), MPH
Drew started his career as a physiotherapist working in public health settings across western Victoria, Melbourne, Sydney and the United Kingdom. He later completed a Master of Public Health and worked in health promotion and preventative health, health program and project management and extensively in health research and education.
Prior to commencing with Western Alliance in October 2018 as Executive Officer, Drew was the Associate Director of Education & Research at Northern Health, a large public health service in Melbourne’s north. Drew has a special interest in health services research, workforce development, preventative health, consumer and community involvement, health literacy and falls prevention.
As Executive Director, Drew is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Alliance’s strategy to improve the health and wellbeing of communities across western Victoria.
Email: drewaras@westernalliance.org.au
drewaras@westernalliance.org.auSarah Shaw Executive Officer (Acting)
BSc (Hons)
Sarah Shaw is currently acting in the Executive Officer role, which is responsible for day-to-day operations, financial and research management, communications and the annual Symposium.
Sarah began her career in research at the Royal Children’s Hospital before moving into research fundraising, marketing and communications roles in health organisations including Eastern Health and the Heart Foundation. Sarah has been with Western Alliance since 2022 and also holds a research communications role with Barwon Health.
Dr Olivia King Research Capability Building Program Manager
PhD (Health), Grad Cert Diab Ed, BPod (Hons)
Dr Olivia King is the inaugural Manager of Western Alliance’s Research Capability Building Program. The key focus of her role is leading the development of the STaRR (Supporting Translation of Research in Rural and Regional settings) Program.
Olivia has worked in a range of clinical roles as a podiatrist and diabetes educator, research roles and more recently as the Allied Health Research and Translation Lead with Rosalie Boyce, supporting allied health researchers at Barwon Health and South West Healthcare. Olivia’s research interests include health professions education, allied health workforce, and sociology of the professions.
In addition to her role with Western Alliance, Olivia is a Senior Consultant with AHP Workforce working on a research capacity building program and an Adjunct Research Associate with Monash Centre for Scholarship in Health Education. Olivia wears many hats, but all of her work relates to building research capacity and capability in the healthcare workforce – particularly in rural and regional settings.
Email: o.king@deakin.edu.au
Cassandra Hamilton Administrative Officer
Cassandra provides administrative support and advice to the Executive Director, Executive Officer, the Board of Directors and the Research Translation Committee members, as well as general office administration, financial assistance, website maintenance, correspondence and all events coordination.
Cassandra has over 30 years experience in office administration. Prior to commencing with Western Alliance in March 2018, Cassandra worked at various organisations in the public and private sector in a variety of roles including Executive Assistant, Office Management and management of secretarial teams.
Peter Kelly Consumer & Community Involvement Lead, Research Capability Building Program Officer
BA (Recreation)
Peter’s role is to support research capability initiatives of the STaRR programs, including strategy development, training content and evaluation.
Peter worked in several different sectors, including local government, family services and health services. The majority of his roles have been in project management, focussing on health promotion and community development. Specific areas of interest include prevention of violence against women, family violence identification and response and male health.
Email: p.kelly@deakin.edu.au
Dr Michael Field Research Translation Coordinator - Barwon/Colac Region
MBBS, BA (Psych), BCom
Dr Michael Field is the Western Alliance Research Translation Coordinator for the Barwon/Colac region. Michael grew up on the Bellarine Peninsula and studied at Deakin University on Geelong before moving to Adelaide where he attended medical school. Michael worked as a junior doctor in South Australia in both city and country settings then returned to Victoria taking up a position in population health research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at the Royal Children’s Hospital.
Michael’s research experience spans clinical trials, cross-sectional studies and cohorts, and his research interests include childhood allergy and addressing rural health outcome inequalities. He also maintains part-time clinical practice in surgical assisting.
Michael joined Western Alliance in February 2020 and aims to build research capacity in the Barwon/Colac region through supporting clinical and administrative staff at Western Alliance partner sites in the region.
Email: MField@cah.vic.gov.au
Dr Ella Ottrey Research Translation Coordinator - East Grampians & Maryborough region
PhD, BNut(Hons), BNutrDietet
Dr Ella Ottrey is the Western Alliance Research Translation Coordinator for the East Grampians & Maryborough region.
Ella grew up in Gippsland, before moving to Melbourne to train and work as a clinical dietitian. Ella’s research career began eight years ago, completing honours and then a PhD, exploring mealtimes in hospital. In addition to her role with Western Alliance, Ella is a Postdoctoral Fellow with Monash Centre for Scholarship in Health Education.
Ella enjoys building research capacity and capability within the health services in her region. She provides support to people conducting research, by reviewing protocols or ethics applications, accessing statistical support, navigating the pathway to publication, and in linking health services with universities.
Email: ella.ottrey@eghs.net.au
Dr Jessie Adams Research Translation Coordinator - South West region
BPubHealth&HealthProm(Hons), BComm, PhD
Jessie grew up in north east Victoria before moving to Melbourne to complete university. In 2018, Jessie moved to Hamilton to join the National Centre for Farmer Health, where she worked on numerous research projects aiming to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of farmers and their families. Since, she has completed her PhD exploring children’s safety on farms. In addition to her role with Western Alliance, Jessie will continue as an Associate Research Fellow at the National Centre for Farmer Health. Jessie aims to assist in building research capacity within the health services in south west Victoria.
Email: Jessie.Adams@wdhs.net
Alesha Sayner Research Translation Coordinator - Grampians region
Alesha Sayner is taking on part of the Research Translation Coordinator role covering Grampians Health.
Alesha will be undertaking this role alongside her existing position at Grampians Health as Allied Health Research & Knowledge Translation Lead. Alesha is also a pelvic health physiotherapist and PhD candidate.
If you are from Grampians Health and want to get in touch with Alesha to discuss your research or translation ideas, you can do so at Alesha.Sayner@gh.org.au .
Charlotte Molesworth Biostatistician
BSc, MBiostat
Following the completion of a Masters in Biostatistics in 2013, Charlotte worked with the Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit and the Emergency Research Group at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at the Royal Children’s Hospital for a number of years. Charlotte is now employed by Deakin University as a Casual Research Fellow within the Biostatistics Unit.
As a consultant with Western Alliance, Charlotte’s primary role is to support other researchers in applying the best research methods and statistical methodologies suitable within the wide range of member regional and rural health settings. Charlotte can help with all stages of a research project, providing advice from study design, data collection and data management, through to the final stages of statistical analysis and interpretation.
Associates
Professor Vin Versace Principal Research Translation Investigator
Vin is Director of Deakin Rural Health (DRH), a University Department of Rural Health (UDRH) funded through the Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) program. The overarching purpose of this program is to improve rural health outcomes by reducing workforce maldistribution of medical, nursing, and allied health professionals in rural Australia. This role also involves developing the researcher capacity and capability of health services within western Victoria and the Grampians region.
Vin completed all his undergraduate study and post-graduate training in Warrnambool and has since forged his academic career exclusively in rural Australia. Since becoming Director of DRH in 2017, he has actively fostered a culture of ‘grow your own’ and has worked closely with the Western Alliance on numerous projects to develop the local research ecosystem. Complementary to the belief that rural communities should have access to a vibrant clinical academic network is a commitment to research excellence reflected in his grant funding record.
Recently Vin has focused on access to essential services which led to the establishment of the Centre for Australian Research into Access (Home – CARA, he is a founding Co-Director). CARA has undertaken work for the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Aged Care, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as well as local projects focussed on health service access and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
