Monica Barratt, BSc(Hons)
Senior Research Assistant (Casual)

Monica has worked in drug research since 2002, for the National Drug Research Institute, Australian Drug Foundation, Deakin University, the University of Melbourne, and Turning Point. She is currently completing a full-time PhD scholarship with the National Drug Research Institute. The working title of her project is “Use of online forums by Australian party drug users: Making drug use safer or more dangerous?”. Monica’s current project at Turning Point involves collating alcohol and drug indicator data at a local area level (eg. hospitalisations, deaths, assaults, overdoses, use of treatment services and help lines), for use by local government bodies to guide their funding and resource decisions.

Areas of interest
Recreational drug use and harm reduction; impact of drug policies; drug user participation in research; technological change and communication and internet-based research methods.

Contact details
monica.barratt@postgrad.curtin.edu.au

Stefan Cvetkovski, BA, GradDipSoc, MPH
Research Fellow

Stefan has worked on a variety of projects related to both licit and illicit drugs at Turning Point over the last decade, including a range of local government consultancies, the Surveillance of Drug Related Events Attended by Ambulance in Melbourne Project (a database of ambulance service records), The Establishment and Analysis of a National Database of Non-fatal Opioid Overdoses Attended by Ambulances in Australia Project, and the Victorian Drug Statistics Handbook.

Areas of interest
Licit and illicit drug overdose; drug trends monitoring; safe injecting room feasibility; the socio-cultural and political processes related to drug use; community responses to harm and social theory and research methodology.

Contact details
stefan.cvetkovski@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8413

Annie Haines, Qualifications CertIVAOD
Research Assistant, Epidemiology & Surveillance Program
Client Liaison Officer, Clinical Services

Annie originally entered the AOD sector as a needle syringe program (NSP) volunteer worker in 1997. She was then employed by North Yarra Community Health as a Community Development Worker / Peer Worker at both the Melbourne Inner City Needle & Syringe Program and Next Door Primary Health Care Unit. Annie has also worked as a research interviewer for the Social Research Centre, primarily on public health population studies at local, state and federal levels. At Turning Point she has worked with the Epidemiology and Surveillance program on the Drug Trend Monitoring Studies. Annie also works in Clinical Services in the role of Client Liaison Officer.

Areas of interest
Harm reduction; peer education and support and service user participation in service provision and policy.

Contact details
annie.haines@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8508

Anne-Marie Laslett, BDSc, MDSc, MPH
Research Fellow

Anne-Marie joined Turning Point in 1995 as a Research Fellow and has worked in the Epidemiology Unit since that time. Prior to joining Turning Point, Anne-Marie undertook a Public Health Traineeship in the Department of Human Services, where she worked in protective services, alcohol and drug services, sexual health, mothers' and children's health, and cancer and injury epidemiology. Anne-Marie is currently the main investigator working on the Alcohol Statistics Handbook, the ninth in a series of Handbooks on alcohol availability, patterns of alcohol use and alcohol-related mortality, morbidity, road crashes and assaults.

Areas of interest
Population alcohol and drug use and alcohol and drug-related harm, in particular alcohol and psychostimulant use and harm; oral health; multicultural health; consumer satisfaction and influence of setting on drug related use and harm.

Contact details
anne-marie.laslett@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8420

Sharon Matthews, MSc, BSW, BA(Hons)
Research Fellow

Sharon has been conducting health-related research since 1994. In the UK, she worked on one of the major longitudinal cohort studies investigating social health inequalities and impacts to health across the life course. In Australia, she has specialised in substance use and has used a variety of large administrative data sets to examine trends in licit and illicit substance use and related-harms at the national, state and local government area level. She received funding to examine stability and change in women’s alcohol consumption using the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Currently she manages the local area analysis consultancies, as well as coordinating the Australian arm of a large international study examining cultural differences in alcohol use – the GENACIS project (Gender Alcohol and Culture; An International Study). In addition to her publications in the alcohol field, she has a strong publication record from her work on the UK 1958 cohort, as well as presenting at numerous conference and symposia nationally and internationally.

Areas of interest
Alcohol use and harm; social and cultural determinants of alcohol use; longitudinal analysis and local area analysis.

Contact details
sharon.matthews@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8410

Brendan Quinn, BA(Hons), BSc
Research Fellow

Brendan has previously worked at Gateway-Connexions, Jesuit Social Services on two programs based in Collingwood targeting young people with issues such as substance use and mental health issues. He has also worked for the Australian Drug Foundation 2005-2006, particularly on a project exploring settings of use of ecstasy and related drugs and as a volunteer at Port Phillip Prison. At Turning Point, Brendan has been involved with projects such as the Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS), Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System (EDRS; formally the Party Drug Initiative), Victorian Drug Statistics Handbook, Youth Drug Reporting System (YDRS), Earlier Identification of Drug Harms Project (EIDHP; formally the Early Warning System) and Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) projects.

Areas of interest
Harm minimisation; youth drug use; drug use and criminal behaviours and licit and illicit drug policies.

Contact details
brendan.quinn@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8427

Brian Smith, BA(Hons), Currently enrolled MPH
Senior Research Assistant

Prior to joining Turing Point, Brian was involved with HIV/AIDS education projects among migrant populations in South and North East Asia from 1999-2006. In Australia, Brian’s work has included examining alcohol indicators at local and state levels as well as participating in projects focusing on problematic gambling. Brian has also contributed to the Drug Trend Monitoring Studies, the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) Project and Earlier Identification of Drug Harms Project. In addition, Brian has worked on indigenous alcohol screening instruments, designing rapid assessment tools to measure amphetamine use among MSM users and contributing secondary data analysis to the Drug Statistics Handbook.

Areas of interest
Harm reduction among minority communities; influence of substance use on unsafe sexual practices; safe injecting room feasibility and social, political and cultural construction of drug use.

Contact details
brian.smith@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8428

Heidi Strickland, BAppSc(HealthPromo)
Research Assistant

Heidi has undertaken various roles in the community sector. She has worked in the areas of community health, homelessness and housing and community development and continues to work on an outreach needle and syringe exchange program. She has also worked in a voluntary capacity with the Australian Health Promotion Association, Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria and the Whitehorse Division of General Practice. At Turning Point, Heidi has been involved with projects such as the Illicit Drug Reporting System, Ecstasy and Related Drugs Reporting System, Youth Drug Reporting System, Earlier Identification of Drug Harms Project, Suboxone Diversion Study and Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS) Project.

Areas of interest
Harm reduction; injecting drug use, particularly in rural areas and custodial settings and pharmaceutical misuse.

Contact details
heidi.strickland@turningpoint.org.au
Phone 03 8413 8476