Our People &
Research environment

Professor Mariko Carey

Interim Director

Contact

mariko.carey@newcastle.edu.au

Mariko Carey joined the Central Coast Research Institute in October 2023 and was appointed Interim Director in April 2024. She has previously held research roles, including two NHMRC fellowships, at the University of Newcastle. Her research interests include applied health services research, person-centered care, and dementia and ageing research. Mariko is also currently Co-Director of HMRI’s Women’s Health Research Program, and holds a leadership role in the Program’s Health and Ageing priority theme.

Dr Zoi Triandafilidis

Research Fellow

Contact

zoi.triandafilidis@newcastle.edu.au

Zoi Triandafilidis is a Research Fellow with the Central Coast Research Institute, working to enable and support grant-funded research projects being led by the CCRI.

In 2021 she started work on the Central Coast, managing the MRFF Palliative Care Project, empowering clinicians to grow their research knowledge and develop clinical research skills, and support improvements in palliative care and end-of-life care.

She has more than 10 years’ experience conducting health and social care research in Australia and completed a PhD at Western Sydney University’s Translational Health Research Institute, exploring young women’s cigarette smoking experiences in 2018.

Dr Brok Glenn

Adjunct Professor

Contact

brok.glenn@newcastle.edu.au

Brok joined the Central Coast Research Institute in 2021 having held the position of Dean, Regional Campuses, at the University of Newcastle.  In this role he led the development of the Central Coast Clinical School and Research Institute, and forged strong relationships with the Central Coast Local Health District.  Prior to this, he was Executive Director, Administration & Planning at the Australian National University having responsibility for strategic initiatives and administration.  He also held senior roles at CSIRO and within the international finance sector.

While fortunate to be raised in Australia, and after an uncompromising adolescence, Brok’s formative years were spent in the UK where his neuroscience training included working at the Institute of Psychiatry, completing a PhD (Psychopharmacology) in 1988.  His research interests centred on the neurochemical investigation of the role of the amygdala in mediating the anxiolytic effects of benzodiazepines.

He is busy at a range of tasks, none of which he willing to admit to.

Dr Suzanne Lewis

Chief Knowledge Officer

Contact

suzanne.lewis@newcastle.edu.au

Dr Suzanne Lewis (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5250-7415) has a long-standing interest in the research evidence for integrated care. In 2018 she led a project to develop Integrated Care Search (ICS), a validated search filter to identify the integrated care literature in PubMed (https://integratedcarefoundation.org/ific-integrated-care-search), in collaboration with the International Foundation for Integrated Care. Suzanne was apart of the CCLHD Library team, mainly as the Library Services Manager, at the Central Coast Local Health District in NSW, Australia for 26 years. 

She is the co-author of a number of peer-reviewed journal articles, including: a review of the methodology used to create Integrated Care Search (doi: 10.1186/s12874-020-0901-y); a rapid review on interventions supporting the health and wellbeing of rural populations experiencing natural disasters (doi: 10.5694/mja2.50881); and a report on engaging carers in the co-design of a tool to assist them with readiness to provide care following hospital discharge (doi: 10.5334/ijic.5527/). 

Cate Dingelstad

PhD candidate

Cate Dingelstad is a PhD candidate with the University of Newcastle, studying under Professor Nicholas Goodwin, Director of the Central Coast Research Institute. As Hunter New England Central Coast Primary Health Network’s (HNECC PHN) Strategic Initiatives, Research and Prevention Lead, Cate undertakes analysis and provides advice on strategic positions relating to changing political and policy landscapes, leads the management and monitoring of research and preventive health activities within the PHN, and builds partnerships with external organisations.

With over 15 years of experience working within the health system, Cate is experienced in health system improvement, organisational development, adult learning, innovative ways of working, research translation, management systems, leadership of change, partnership development, and consumer and community engagement. Her experience working across the health sector, including primary care, NSW Health state-based organisations, and tertiary health organisations, has equipped her with a holistic understanding of population health needs.

CCLHD Strategic Research Plan 2022-2026

The CCLHD Strategic Research Plan 2022-2026 has been developed over many months following wide consultation with District staff and researchers and our external research partners. This Plan paves the way forward for research to exploit our state-of-the-art local research facilities and expanding research expertise to address the health priorities of our community. In many ways, this is a new beginning for research on the Central Coast.

Read the Plan here

CCLHD Caring for our Community Plan 2021-2031

The Central Coast Local Health District (CCLHD) Caring for Our Community Plan 2021-2031 outlines the priorities and future directions for CCLHD community health services over the next 10 years to 2031. A comprehensive range of community health services are operated by CCLHD. These services cover a range of health conditions, people’s needs (from urgent and/ or acute care through to less intensive care) and age groups (from antenatal to children and young people through to adults and older people).

Read the Plan here

Looking Ahead. The University of Newcastle Strategic Plan: 2022-2025

This strategic plan is our framework for creating a future where Australia’s First Peoples are empowered and enjoy true equality. A future where anyone who has the drive and talent to succeed is given the opportunity to study. A future where our research benefits our local communities as well as our fellow global citizens. A future where our environment is safeguarded and at the heart of all of our big decisions.

Read the Strategic Plan here

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Research Framework

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education and research are a whole of university commitment – it is everyone’s responsibility. It is how all of us, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, can learn, research and apply Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing and being. This Framework will see the University, our communities and our region work together to achieve excellence.

Artist: Jasmine Craciun

Read the Framework here

CCLHD Caring for the Coast strategy 2019-2024

Our Caring for the Coast Strategy 2019-2024 looks at the next five years. It sets out a blueprint for what we want to achieve, a roadmap for how we might get there, and the elements that we will need to adapt to.

Read the Strategy here

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Strategy for the Hunter and Central Coast region

Undertaking translational research in ways that can improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes is a key priority for the CCRI.

In all our work, we seek to be coherent with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Research Strategy for the Hunter and Central Coast region, and its value framework and Governance structure, which are being developed and facilitated with the University of Newcastle.