Our Team
The Brains behind the Hub
Our Team Leader
Dr Joyce Siette
Founder | Brain Health Hub
Western Sydney University
Team Leader, Research Theme Fellow, MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development
With a wealth of experience spanning over a decade in aged care, psychology, public health, and digital health, Dr Joyce Siette brings a unique perspective to her research endeavours.
Having worked in both academic and clinical settings, Joyce has honed her expertise in research design, methodology, data analysis, and program evaluation.
Her dedication to producing high-quality research is evident through her extensive publication record (>60 articles) and >100 presentations at national and international conferences, contributing to the wider scientific community.
Joyce’s passion lies in translating research outcomes into tangible solutions that can truly transform the lives of individuals with dementia and their caregivers.
This commitment to making a positive impact has garnered recognition, with accolades including:
- 2018 Researcher of the Year, Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research at Macquarie University
- 2020 Bupa Emerging Health Researcher Commendation Award
- 2021 Future of Ageing Awards (Research Category) Winner
- 2022 Research Impact Winner, MARCS Institute for Brain, Behaviour and Development at Western Sydney University
University Partners
Community and Organisation Partners
National Partners
Dr Carly Johnco
Senior Research Fellow and Clinical Psychologist | Macquarie University
Dr Carly Johnco is a Macquarie University Research Fellow and a registered Clinical Psychologist.
She completed her PhD and Masters of Clinical Psychology at Macquarie University in 2014, followed by two postdoctoral fellowships at the University of South Florida, Florida and at Macquarie University before beginning her Macquarie University Research Fellowship.
Her research is focused on understanding the cognitive and environmental mechanisms that underpin anxiety (and related disorders) in childhood and older age, and whether these factors impact on the efficacy of existing treatments. These interests include how fear, learning, cognition, attention and memory impact the development, maintenance and treatment of anxiety problems.
Dr Celia Harris
Western Sydney University
Celia completed her PhD at the Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, in 2010. In her PhD research, she studied ways of extending laboratory paradigms to study social aspects of memory in ecologically valid ways.
Celia’s’ research focuses broadly on memory, and particularly on autobiographical memory – memory for life events. She is interested in how memory retrieval can be supported by the external environment, including tools, technologies, and social interaction.
Celia wants to better understand memory retrieval processes so that we can develop new ways of making remembering easier.
Professor Deborah Richards
Macquarie University
Professor Deborah Richards is a Professor with the School of Computing in the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Macquarie University.
She is currently the school’s Industry and External Relations Director and Program Leader for the Information Systems and Business Analysis Major and previously the Business Information Systems major.
Dr Diana Karamacoska
Western Sydney University
Dr Diana Karamacoska is a cognitive neuroscientist researching the use of lifestyle and complementary therapies to improve or maintain brain health. In 2019, she was awarded her PhD in Psychology with Examiners’ Commendations for her work exploring the neuronal mechanisms of attention, cognition, and behaviour.
She is now undertaking a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at NICM Health Research Institute, and runs Australia’s largest clinical trial for vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease mixed with cerebrovascular disease.
Diana is interested in understanding how lifestyle interventions (physical activity, diet, education), herbal medicines, and alternative therapies affect neurocognitive functioning. She is passionate about connecting people with research opportunities and raising awareness for disease prevention, risk reduction, and strategies to improve quality of life and care.
Erin Mackenzie
Western Sydney University
Erin Mackenzie is a Senior Lecturer in Educational Psychology and STEM in the School of Education, Director of Academic Program of the Postgraduate Specialist Studies program, and a researcher in the Centre for Educational Research at Western Sydney University.
She has experience teaching in secondary schools, TAFE, and university settings. Erin currently lectures in educational psychology, secondary science pedagogy, and STEM education, working with both pre- and in-service secondary teachers. Erin’s research interests include adolescent online interactions, coping, and the role of psychological and social factors in adolescent girls’ participation in STEM.
She is a co-author of Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching (7th Edition).
Associate Professor Genevieve Steiner-Lim
Western Sydney University
A/Prof Genevieve Steiner is a cognitive neuroscientist and her research spans the early detection, prevention, and treatment of memory and thinking problems in older people with the aim of reducing dementia risk and improving quality of life. The research that A/Prof Steiner and her team conducts examines changes in the brain’s function and structure to discover biomarkers for dementia and test novel therapeutics that can provide early intervention.
A/Prof Steiner is Director of Research at the NICM Health Research Institute where she leads the NICM Neurocognition and HEADBOX Lab, she is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow and Co-Director of the Age and Ageing Clinical Academic Group for the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research, and Enterprise (SPHERE).
Professor Greg Savage
Macquarie Health
Professor Greg Savage has been Neuropsychology Clinical Discipline Head with MQ Health since 2016. His research interests are broad in scope, but many projects have a unifying theme in terms of developing theoretically-informed tests of memory.
Another theme focuses on early detection of Alzheimer’s disease (mainly through his role as Co-Leader of the Clinical and Cognitive Stream in the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers & Lifestyle [AIBL] Study of Ageing).
Recently he has focused on understanding the impact of hearing loss on cognition, and particularly, how hearing loss relates to the risk of developing dementia.
Dr Hazel Maxwell
Western Sydney University
Dr Hazel Maxwell is the Director of Academic Programs for Health, Physical Education and Sport Development at Western Sydney University.
Her research and teaching focuses on physical activity, community sport, social inclusion and diversity management. She has been exploring social capital and diversity in non-for-profit organisations in sport and health promotion contexts.
Most recently she has been investigating the sporting experiences of Indigenous women in Australia using a strengths-based approach.
Associate Professor Jed Montayre
Western Sydney University
Jed is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing and Director of the Centre of Evidence-based Practice for Healthcare Policy.
Jed has a strong clinical background in gerontology and medical-surgical nursing. He is an experienced nurse academic, who has worked in the Philippines, New Zealand and Australia. Jed’s teaching areas include gerontology and aged care nursing.
Jed’s research focuses on age-friendly communities, ageing and health, cardiovascular health of migrant populations, nursing policy and workforce issues.
Dr Karla Seaman
Macquarie University
Dr Seaman is an experienced pharmacist and health services research fellow in the Aged Care Evaluation and Research Team at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. She has expertise in linked administrative data, mixed methods, evaluation, and stakeholder research projects. She has worked across a variety of health sectors including leading and coordinating research for a non-for-profit organisation, hospitals and within the community.
She focuses primarily on translation research in the areas of aged care, older adults, disability, medication utilisation and policy with an emphasis on dementia, acquired brain injury and consumer involvement.
Dr Kiran Ijaz
deakin university
Kiran is a Human-Computer Interaction Research Fellow and lecturer at Deakin University.
She has a background in Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and Human-Computer Interaction. Her specific research interests are to design, develop, and evaluate novel health technologies.
Currently, she investigates immersive VR, serious games and Human-AI interaction to support both physical and mental wellbeing. Her work has acclaimed both teaching and research awards.
Dr Kristiana Ludlow
University of Queensland
Dr Kristiana Ludlow is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Health Services Research, Faculty of Medicine, the University of Queensland, and an Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University. She completed her Bachelor of Psychology with first class Honours in 2015, her Master of Research in Medicine and Health Sciences in 2017, and her PhD in Health Innovation in 2020.
Dr Ludlow has expertise in co-design, qualitative research and Q methodology. Her research interests include co-designing interventions and digital health tools with end-users, frailty, aged care, person-centred care, the role of family caregivers in care, missed care/unfinished care, and care prioritisation.
She is passionate about collaborating with consumers, service users and health professionals to improve the delivery of healthcare and mental health services.
Ms Meredith Porte
Macquarie University
Meredith is a research assistant and computer programmer with over 10 years of experience working at Macquarie University on Virtual Reality, Game Engine technology, and Web-based projects.
Dr Michelle Catanzaro
Western Sydney University
Michelle is a lecturer in Design, Visual Communication within the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and has taught widely across the Design program.
Michelle is also a Research Fellow at the Young and Resilient Research Centre. Drawing on her practical industry experience, her work is outcome driven, with a focus on creating innovative approaches to engage and connect with young people, industry and the broader community.
Dr Paul Strutt
Western Sydney University
Dr Paul Strutt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University, and a Clinical Neuropsychologist working for NSW Health and in private practice.
His clinical and research interests are in the early detection and prevention of cognitive decline and dementia, as well as assessment and rehabilitation following acquired brain injury.
Professor Piers Dawes
The University of Queensland
Professor Dawes’ research concerns understanding causes and impacts of hearing impairment, particularly in the context of multimorbidity in older age, prevention and treatment of hearing impairment, and hearing service development and evaluation.
His research involves epidemiological modelling with population data sets, clinical trials and hearing health policy.
He has authored over 130 publications in peer reviewed journals and books, and he frequently presents invited and keynote addresses at international conferences.
Associate Professor Quang Vinh Nguyen
Western Sydney University
Dr Vinh is an Associate Professor in Visual Analytics and The Director of Academic Program – Postgraduate ICT at the School of Computer, Data and Mathematical Sciences, Western Sydney University.
His research areas are in Visual Analytics and Information Visualization, including:
- Medical Data Analysis
- Graph and Network Analysis
- Graph Drawing
- Applications with Visualization and Visual Analytics
- Visual Collaborative System
- Human-Computer Interaction
- and related research areas.
Rachael Jacobs
Western Sydney University
Rachael Jacobs is a lecturer in Creative Arts Education at Western Sydney University and a former secondary teacher (Dance, Drama and Music) and primary Arts specialist. Her research interests include assessment in the arts, language acquisition through the arts and decolonised approaches to embodied learning.
Her PhD focussed on creativity in assessment. Rachael has facilitated arts projects in community settings all over Australia, including in refugee communities, in prisons and in women’s refuges.
Rachael is a community activist, freelance writer, aerial arts instructor, dancer and choreographer.
Professor Sue Hespos
Western Sydney University
Susan Hespos is Professor of Infant Studies at MARCS at Western Sydney University and a Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA. She leads a research program on understanding our earliest evidence of cognitive capacities in infancy and what changes over development.
Dr Suraj Samtani
University of New South Wales
Dr Samtani is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at University of New South Wales. He is the Study Coordinator for the SHARED (Social Health And Reserve in the Dementia patient journey) project. The SHARED project is an international collaboration designed to study how social, biological and psychological factors interact to predict the onset and course of dementia across the lifespan.
He obtained his PhD in Clinical Psychology and Master of Psychology (Clinical) from UNSW. His PhD research focused on the assessment and treatment of cognitive processes such as rumination and worry across disorders. He has worked extensively in clinical practice treating a wide range of conditions across the lifespan.
Professor Viviana Wuthrich
Macquarie University
Professor Viviana Wuthrich is a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University.
She is the Director of the Centre for Ageing, Cognition and Wellbeing at Macquarie University. Her research focuses on understanding the underlying mechanisms of anxiety and depression, and on the psychological treatment of these disorders in children, adolescents and older adults
She has developed a number of psychological interventions for children, adolescents and older adults through randomised controlled trials.
International Collaborators
Professor Chris Armitage
University of ManchesteR
Professor Christopher Armitage is a Health Psychologist registered with the UK Health and Care Professions Council, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and Director of Research at the Manchester Centre for Health Psychology in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Manchester.
He uses psychological theory and evidence to develop effective behaviour change interventions in multiple behaviours and among diverse populations. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed articles on these topics and has received funding to support this research from numerous sources, including the European Union and several of the UK’s Research and Innovation Councils.
Dr Irene Heger
Maastricht University
Ms Irene Heger is a Research Fellow at the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience and the Alzheimer Center Limburg, at Maastricht University (the Netherlands).
She is a trained psychologist with a background in medical psychology. Her PhD project is focused on raising public awareness of modifiable risk and protective factors for cognitive decline and dementia. The main focus of her project is the development and evaluation of a public health campaign, aimed at increasing awareness of dementia risk reduction in the general population.
Part of the campaign was the MijnBreincoach online platform, which gives people insight into their personal dementia risk profile and identifies room for lifestyle improvement.
Assistant Professor Kay Deckers
Maastricht University
Kay works as an Assistant Professor at the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience and the Alzheimer Center Limburg at Maastricht University.
He was initially trained as a neuropsychologist before becoming an epidemiologist. In his research, he investigates the effects of lifestyle factors on cognitive disorders, with most studies focusing on dementia. Additionally, he is very concerned with preventive strategies for a brain-healthy society (e.g. awareness campaign, development of a brain-health tool, implementation of dementia risk reduction in general practices).
Professor Sebastian Kohler
Maastricht University
Seb is an Associate Professor at the School for Mental Health and Neuroscience and senior researcher at the Alzheimer Center Limburg at Maastricht University.
He was trained in neuropsychology and epidemiology and leads the research line Neuroepidemiology, which specializes in risk and protective factors for cognitive decline and dementia in the general as well as clinical populations. Seb’s group developed the LIBRA modifiable dementia risk score and the MijnBreincoach app, which is used in public health campaigns on dementia prevention in the Netherlands.
Students
Gilbert Knaggs
University of Sydney
Gilbert Knaggs, BA Hons, studied Sociology and Anthropology at The University of Sydney. In 2018, he joined the Aged Care Evaluation Research team, part of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, before transferring to the PCHSS in 2020. His projects currently include the HeartConnect study, a mixed-methods evaluation of a novel rapid cardiology clinic, and a review on the meaning of “sustainability” in healthcare literature.
Mr Knaggs is interested in the use of qualitative research methods in healthcare research and the sociology of ageing.
Jonathan Guion
Western Sydney University
Jonathan completed his B Psychology (Honours) degree in 2022 and joined the team to contribute to several dementia-related projects. With a background in gaming and psychology, Jonathan has experience in experimental design, data collection and analysis.
His passion for improving the lives of seniors drives his work.
Ms Laura Dodds
Western Sydney University
Ms Laura Dodds is a public health practitioner with a background working in aged care and disability sectors. She has previously worked with allied health professionals to deliver a range of programs to older adults living in residential aged care.
Ms Dodds is also undertaking a PhD in the areas of public health, disease prevention, intervention and health promotion. Her research focuses on implementing a behaviour change program Brain Bootcamp Frontiers that aims to increase dementia awareness and reduce dementia risk amongst rural and regional older adults.
Patrick Adam
Western Sydney University
Mr Adam is a PhD/MClinPsych student at Western Sydney University with a strong interest in clinical and developmental psychology. His professional goals are to be working in children’s clinical psychology and working in an academic role.
Samuel Dakey
Western Sydney University
PhD candidate, Marcs Institute for brain, behaviour and development
Samuel Dakey’s research endeavours benefit from his five years of experience in social work, community health, and healthy ageing research, which provide him with a unique perspective.
With experience in academia and community settings, Samuel has developed expertise in community engagement, research design, methodology, and data analysis.
His dedication to promoting healthy ageing is demonstrated through extensive collaboration with government and private sector organizations at community, national, and international levels, as showcased in his research articles and policy briefs.
Samuel is passionate about bridging the gap between lay and expert health knowledge to improve health outcomes for older adults and service by providers.
Shabnam Shafiq
University of Notre Dame
Ms Shabnam Shafiq is a second-year doctor of medicine student at the University of Notre Dame. She completed a Bachelor of Clinical Science from Macquarie University in 2021. She is deeply interested in medical research and is currently working on a project with MARCS that involves adapting Brain Bootcamp (Legacy) to support individuals with dementia.
In her free time, she enjoys writing, reading, and programming.
Siyao Cheng
Western Sydney University
Siyao is working with the team as a research assistant to co-design digital applications for Chinese seniors. At the same time, she is currently conducting her PhD research on how music notations can be understood theoretically and experimentally, hoping to improve and rethink existing music techniques.
Other members
Alysabit Alkhamees
Western Sydney University
Amrita Perera
MD, Macquarie University
Amy Nguyen
macquarie university
Andrew Georgiou
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
Anjani Meka
Macquarie University
Brittany Hames
Western Sydney University
Cheryl Saboune
Western Sydney University
Christopher Campbell
Western Sydney University
Connor Chandler
Western Sydney University
Elesha Gebran
MD, Macquarie University
Elizabeth Hope
Western Sydney University
Emily Anderson
Western Sydney University
Georgina Schnell
macquarie university
Hayoung Shin
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
Jaimie-Lee Xuereb
Western Sydney University
Joshua Yondjo
Western Sydney University
Kristina Smith
Western Sydney University
Lily Montague
Western Sydney University
Matthew Brown
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
Mia Simpson
MD, Macquarie University
Mikaela Jorgensen
Macquarie University
Mitchel Andrews
MD, Macquarie University
Nadia D’Souza
MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY
Nicaela Singh
Western Sydney University
Sayler Allen
Australian National University
Tanja Schroeder
PhD, Macquarie University
Tayla Chalhoub
Western Sydney University
Victoria Chong
Macquarie University
Victoria Frerer
Macquarie University