Prof. Brian Oldenburg

BSc, MPsychol, PhD
Professor of Public Health & Implementation Science
Director, NHMRC CRE in Digital Technology to Transform Chronic Disease Outcomes
Director, Academic Research Collaboration in Health (ARCH), Alfred Hospital
Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute and LaTrobe University

Until early 2021, Brian Oldenburg was a Professor of Public Health and Head of the Noncommunicable Diseases Unit in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Brian and his NCD Unit team re-located to the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in early 2021. Brian has a joint position as Professor of Public Health and Implementation Science at the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute and La Trobe University. He has also just been appointed as the Director of the Academic Research Collaboration in Health (ARCH) at The Alfred Hospital. Brian is a chronic disease epidemiologist and implementation scientist and a global expert in the prevention and control of chronic diseases – in particular, cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes – in both high-income and low and middle-income countries.

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Dr. Morven Roberts

CEO, Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases

Dr Roberts started her research career with a PhD from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and thereafter worked as a researcher focussed on tropical infectious diseases in Africa, India, and South America for more than 15 years. On returning to the UK, she joined the UK MRC funding agency, where she was responsible initially for the extensive clinical trials portfolio and then latterly the global health activities of that organisation. It was during this time that she became more aware of the changes in global health burden with increasing rise in chronic non-communicable diseases. She joined the GACD as CEO in October 2019.

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Ms. Isobel Bandurek

Research Capacity Manager, Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases

Izzy is GACD’s Research Capacity Manager and leads on networking, capacity, and capability strengthening activities across GACD Research Programmes and cross-cutting working groups. Izzy is a UK-registered dietitian with a special interest in public health nutrition. Previously, she has worked for the World Cancer Research Fund in evidence interpretation and synthesis, with homeless young people at Centrepoint UK in food insecurity, and various clinical roles in the UK National Health Service. Izzy has an undergraduate degree in biological sciences from the University of Oxford and postgraduate degrees in nutrition and dietetics from King’s College London.

Dr. Zahra Aziz

Senior e-Hub Advisor and Senior Training Program Coordinator

Dr. Zahra Aziz (MPH, PhD) is a Lecturer at the School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University. She leads the online education innovation program for the fully online Graduate Diploma of Psychology Advanced (GDPA) course and is a leader of its associated online education research program. She is an implementation scientist and a research fellow at the University of Melbourne and the WHO Collaborating Centre on Implementation Research for Prevention & Control of NCDs. 

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Adjunct Prof. Pilvikki Absetz

Senior e-Hub Advisor

Dr. Pilvikki Absetz (PhD) is an Adjunct Professor of Health Promotion at the Tampere University, visiting researcher at the University of Eastern Finland, the Head of Research and Development at Provention Ltd, and the CEO and sole owner of Collaborative Care Systems Finland. She has over 20 years of experience in designing, implementing and evaluating behavioral interventions for prevention and self-management of chronic non-communicable diseases through lifestyle changes. The theory- and evidence-based interventions have utilized different delivery platforms and technologies and they have been implemented in different “real world” settings in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. Her specialty area is the application of theories, models and frameworks in implementation research.

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Ms. Allissa Desloge

e-Hub Advisor

Allissa Desloge (MPH) is a graduate of the Yale School of Public Health where she received her Master’s of Public Health in Health Policy with a concentration in Global Health. She has various experiences with the Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network of South Carolina, the Connecticut Commission on Women, Children & Seniors, and the World Health Organization. She worked on various projects for the WHO Collaborating Center with University of Melbourne, including developing implementation science website for University of Melbourne.

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Dr. Yingting (Tina) Cao

e-Hub developer and project manager

Dr. Tina (MBBS, MMSc, PhD) is a postdoc fellow at Noncommunicable disease unit within the Nossal Institute for Global Health, the University of Melbourne. Her research interest focuses on lifestyle factors related to noncommunicable diseases, including diabetes and cultural adaptations in populations from low- and middle- income countries living in high-income countries. Tina is also involved in implementation science e-Hub project development, as well as project management.

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Mr Kevin Mao

Research Assistant and e-Hub Project Manager

Kevin is an aspiring public health focused clinician-scientist working to integrate bench-to-bedside discoveries into the global community utilising population health measures. In 2021, he joined Professor Brian Oldenburg’s group to apply his theoretical training, work together with passionate students and public health practitioners. Kevin is both a Bachelor of Biomedicine graduate, and currently a Doctor of Medicine (MD) candidate with the University of Melbourne.

Ms. Yu Wen

e-Hub project officer

Yu Wen (B.A.) is a current Master of Public Health student at the University of Melbourne. She is experienced in planning and marketing online education products. She also has experiences in copywriting for many global consumer brands in China. Yu is involved in assisting implementation science e-Hub project.