Jacqui Cameron, BA, BSW, MPhil Soc Sci Research
AAR Research Fellow

Jacqui has been working in alcohol and drug research for almost eight years. She is currently the research liaison for the Turning Point Clinical Services and holds the inaugural Allens Arthur Robinson Research to Practice Fellowship. A core role of this fellowship is to carry on the work of the Practice Research Network. Previous research that Jacqui was involved in identified an urgent need for AOD workers to address file note recording and management. She will now undertake a group of related activities during 2009 that will result in the development of a best practice toolkit that will assist practitioners within the Victorian AOD sector.

In 2008 Jacqui was awarded the Frank Murphy Travelling Scholarship. In 2007 she was appointed an honorary fellow with the Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne having completed a secondment with the Department of General Practice. Jacqui is a registered trainer with QSR International and regularly conducts NVivo training.

Areas of interest
Clinical evaluation studies of alcohol, drugs and co morbidity issues; mixed method research; the effects of research on clinical practice; gender issues.

Contact details
jacqui.cameron@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8433

Anthony Denham, BA(Hons)
Research Development Manager

Anthony has been at Turning Point since 2002. In his role as Research Development Manager he oversees the operational and administrative aspects of Turning Point’s research programs. Key areas of activity include broadening funding opportunities, raising Turning Point’s research profile, streamlining internal communication, processes and procedures, fostering internal and external collaborations and assisting in the alignment of the research agenda to strategic plans.

Prior to this position, Anthony was the Marketing and Communications Manager for the organisation. He has also run his own consulting business and worked in a management role at Oxford University Press.

Areas of interest
Emerging AOD issues; sourcing funding for research; research project management and administration; dissemination of research and its translation to practice; the use of new technologies.

Contact details
anthony.denham@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8417

Dr Madonna Devaney, BPsych(Hons), PhD
Senior Research Fellow

Madonna Devaney was awarded her PhD in 2002 in the field of psychology and has over ten years experience in alcohol and drug research. Madonna currently manages two large clinical outcome studies focused on methamphetamine treatment. 

Areas of interest
Alcohol and drug issues in the Pacific region; treatment for methamphetamine users; involving consumers in research.

Contact details
madonna.devaney@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8429

Jessica Halliwell
Personal Assistant

Jessica began working in Clinical Research in October 2006.  In her role as PA, Jessica provides administrative assistance to the Head of Research, which includes diary management, grant applications, literature research and support in coordinating book reviews for Drug and Alcohol Review the journal of the Australian Professional Society on Alcohol and Other Drugs (APSAD). Previously Jessica had worked as a Marketing Assistant at Oxfam Australia.

Jessica is currently in her fourth year of a Bachelor of Social Work degree and also works as a Support Worker at Crisis Accommodation and as a Network Against Trafficking Coordinator with the Human Rights Organisation.

Contact details
jessica.halliwell@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8439

Angela Harney, BSocSc
Research Fellow

Angela began work with the clinical research program in 2006.  She has been involved with various projects including the Psychostimulant Natural History and Withdrawal study and a randomised controlled trial of a psychological intervention for methamphetamine users experiencing depression. 

She is now co-ordinating a new cohort study, following young people’s experience of AOD treatment over time, and is currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts (Sociology) honours degree. 

Areas of interest
Co-occurring substance use and mental health issues; treatment pathways.

Contact details
angela.harney@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8446

Dr Nicole Lee, BSc(Hons), PhD, GradCertEd
Head of Research, Program Leader, Clinical Research

Dr Nicole Lee is Clinical Research Program Leader at Turning Point. Nicole’s primary interests are in the areas of methamphetamine treatment and intervention for concurrent substance use and mental health problems. She is a clinical psychologist with over 11 years practice experience in a range of settings, including acute and chronic mental health services, inpatient and outpatient substance use treatment services and sexual health services, and has been engaged in research in the alcohol and drug field for over 15 years.

Dr Lee also has significant experience in training and capacity building with alcohol and other drug clinicians.

Areas of interest
Methamphetamine and other psychostimulants; comorbidity of mental health and substance use problems; alcohol intervention; evidence based practice; cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT); general AOD treatment; current research at Turning Point.

Contact details
nicole.lee@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8413

Dr Suzanne Nielsen, BPharm, BPharmSc(Hons) PhD, MPS
Senior Research Fellow, Senior Pharmacist

Suzanne began work at Turning Point in 2002. Currently, she is working in a combined clinical and research role dividing her time between Clinical Services and Clinical Research at Turning Point. Suzanne has been lead investigator in a series of pharmaceutical misuse studies. Current studies involve investigating over the counter codeine misuse, and a study examining experiences of youth in treatment services. Suzanne is also the clinical trials pharmacist at Turning Point and Chair of the Pharmaceuticals working group for ADCA.

In 2008 Suzanne completed a PhD examining concurrent opioid and benzodiazepnie use and safety in opioid substitution treatment. 

Areas of interest
Pharmaceutical misuse; cognitive effects of benzodiazepines and management of benzodiazepine dependence in opioid dependent people; smoking cessation in AOD treatment clients; contingency management.

Contact details
suzi.nielsen@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8470

Sanja Pahoki, BA, BFA, MFA
Senior Research Assistant

Sanja began working as a Research Assistant at Turning Point in 1995. Previously she had worked in Forensic Psychology at Monash University and on a cue exposure trial (QT Project) at Drug Services Victoria.

Sanja has worked on numerous projects at Turning Point such as the Illicit Drug Reporting Strategy, the Geelong Accord: Reducing pub hopping and associated crime in Geelong, the New Pharmacotherapies Project where she managed the Naltrexone Side-Effects Study, the Australian Treatment Outcome Study (ATOS) and the Australian Alcohol Treatment Outcome Measure (AATOM). More recently she has been involved in research into pharmaceutical misuse.

Areas of interest
Research interviews and follow-up methodology; harm reduction strategies.

Contact details
sanja.pahoki@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8423

Amy Pennay, BA(Hons)
Research Fellow

Amy began working in the Clinical Research Program at Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre in 2004. Since that time Amy has coordinated a number of projects on treatment outcomes for opiate, alcohol and methamphetamine dependence. Most recently she has coordinated a clinical pharmacotherapy trial for methamphetamine withdrawal.

Amy began her PhD at the National Drug Research Institute in 2005 on the social, cultural and economic contexts of alcohol and party drug use amongst young people in Melbourne.

Areas of interest
Social and cultural understandings of alcohol and drug use.

Contact details
amy.pennay@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8460

Melissa Reed, RN Div 2
Research Assistant

Melissa has a background in nursing, with direct care a primary focus over many years. She has been working at Turning Point since 2000 in various roles, including direct client contact involving managing the enhanced secondary needle and syringe program for three years.

Melissa is currently working on the evaluation of the specialist methamphetamine clinics established in 2008 that will outline the treatment interests of regular methamphetamine users, the service delivery model for methamphetamine users, and examine outcomes from the implementation of the clinics; this project is due for completion in 2010.

Areas of interest
Harm reduction and health promotion.

Contact details
melissa.reed@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8426

Angela Simpson, BA/BComm, PGDipPsych
Research Clinician

Angela commenced work at Turning Point in 2007 as a Provisional Psychologist in Clinical Services and as a Research Clinician on a project investigating CBT-based treatment approaches for amphetamine users experiencing depression.

Angela is currently reviewing the tools and questionnaires frequently used by researchers at Turning Point in order to compile a comprehensive summary of such measures for future reference. Currently, Angela is completing a Doctorate in Health Psychology at La Trobe University.

Areas of interest
Dual diagnosis; amphetamine use.

Contact details
angela.simpson@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 0 3 8413 8413