Meet the Team

Prof Wolfenden is a Health Promotion Program Manager at Hunter New England Population Health, and Joint NHMRC Career Development Fellow and National Heart Foundation Future Leaders Fellow. He is the Director of the National Centre of Implementation Science, a NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence and Co-ordinating Editor of Cochrane Public Health. His research seeks to reduce the burden of chronic disease in the community by identifying effective interventions to reduce modifiable chronic disease risks and strategies to improve their implementation.

Luke Wolfenden (Chair)

Anna Lene Seidler (Methods Lead)

Anna Lene Seidler is a Senior Research Fellow based at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. Lene has qualifications and track record in psychology, research methods and mathematics. She specialises in systematic reviews, methods development, project management, and individual participant data (IPD) meta-analyses. She provides statistical support to three teams of 20 researchers and students, and has mentored and supervised many students/staff to complete influential research projects resulting in high impact publications, e.g. an IPD meta-analysis that was chosen as one of ten “maintenance certification articles” for all US obstetricians to read in 2019.

Sam McCrabb (Research Associate & Project Manager)

Dr Sam McCrabb is Postdoctoral Researcher for The University of Newcastle, School of Medicine and Public Health and Hunter New England Population Health. Sam is also a Methods Editor and Assistant Managing Editor for Cochrane Public Health. She is the Project Manager for SPARKE and will lead the day-to-day research activities involved in the collaboration. Sam has a strong passion for prevention of e-cigarette use and evidence synthesis.

Courtney Barnes (Senior Researcher)

Dr Courtney Barnes is a Research Fellow with the National Centre of Implementation Science and University of Newcastle. Dr Barnes’ research aims to investigate and evaluate scalable approaches to improving the implementation and evidence-based programs within community-based settings, including schools and childcare services. Prior to being awarded her PhD in Behavioural Science in 2021, Courtney was awarded a Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics (Honours).

Heidi Turon (Senior Researcher)

Dr Heidi Turon is a Postdoctoral Researcher for the University of Newcastle, School of Medicine and Public Health and working within Hunter New England Population Health. She has worked on projects involving chronic disease prevention examining the effectiveness of obesity prevention and workplace based programs. She has also collaborated on a number of knowledge translation research initiatives through her involvement with the National Centre of Implementation Science (NCOIS). Dr Turon spent a number of years with the Health Behaviour Research Collaborative, where she managed several state and nation-wide studies investigating psychosocial wellbeing in oncology patients. She also oversaw a large cluster RCT aimed at improving organ donation registration rates amongst vocational education students. More recently, she co-ordinated a CCNSW-funded systems based trial aiming to improve the quality of patient-centred psychosocial care in oncology treatment centres.  

Kylie Hunter (Senior Researcher)

Kylie Hunter is a Senior Project Officer for the Evidence Integration team at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney. She has a background in human movement, research methods, clinical trials registration and public health, and has worked on projects across various clinical areas including childhood obesity, neonatology and breast cancer. She has expertise in systematic reviews and individual participant data meta-analysis, and has been actively involved with the Cochrane Prospective Meta-Analysis Methods Group for over 10 years. She also has experience in deconstructing complex interventions using tools like the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy.

Jonathan Williams (Senior Researcher)

Jonathan Williams is a Research Officer for the Evidence Integration team at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney. He is currently completing his PhD in molecular biology, specialising in microbiology and human immunology, focusing on issues in vulnerable populations. He has experience in science communication, clinical sample processing and phlebotomy.

David Nguyen (Junior Biostatistician)

David Nguyen is a junior biostatistician for the Evidence Integration team at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney. He is currently completing his Master of Biostatistics, specialising in ‘next-generation’ research methods including prospective meta-analysis, network meta-analysis, and individual participant data meta-analysis.