Organising Committee
Digital Health Week 2026 is supported by an Organising Committee with member representation from the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales, the University of Queensland and the University of Melbourne. The Organising Committee is a valued group, responsible for providing guidance across the scientific program and event organisation. The group members’ expertise include consultation on the scientific program, input from early career researchers and HDR student representatives, and large event and project management experience.
Conference Co-Chairs
Dr Julie Ayre
Co-Chair
Sydney Health Literacy Lab, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney
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Dr Ayre is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow and Health Equity stream lead within the Sydney Health Literacy Lab. Her research focuses on using digital technology to support health literacy initiatives, including development of easy-to-understand written health information.
Dr Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele
Co-Chair
Discipline of Design, The University of Sydney
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Dr Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele is a Lecturer in Design and Innovation within the Discipline of Design in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning, University of Sydney. Prior to this, she was a Research Fellow in Human Factors within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney where she led a research stream on consumer-facing digital health tools and virtual care technologies. Her research to date has focused on digital health intervention design, development, evaluation, and implementation to benefit clinicians, patients, caregivers, and health service organisations. Her current research interests include applications of inclusive design principles in technologies used by priority populations including older people and people who are culturally and linguistically diverse; user trust in artificial intelligence (AI-driven) tools; and the futures of patient-work. She completed a PhD in Information Technology from UTAS in 2018.
State Chairs
Dr Belinda Davey
Melbourne Lead
Centre for Digital Transformation of Health, University of Melbourne
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Belinda Davey is a data scientist and psychologist working primarily within digital and mental health research.
Dr Amalie Dyda
Queensland Lead
School of Public Health, University of Queensland
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Dr Amalie Dyda is a Senior Lecturer and infectious disease epidemiologist at the School of Public Health, University of Queensland. Her work links epidemiological field work with public health informatics and AI‑driven disease surveillance. She completed a Master of Applied Epidemiology from ANU in 2009 and a PhD in adult vaccination from UNSW in 2017.
Committee Members
Dr Petra Avramovic
Deputy Co-Chair and Scientific Committee
School of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney
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Petra Avramović is a lecturer, early career researcher, and certified practicing speech pathologist whose work focuses on co-designing digital health interventions for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their communication partners. She is passionate about working alongside people with lived experience to develop culturally sensitive, accessible interventions that support meaningful communication after acquired brain injury.
Dr Steph Kershaw
Deputy Co-Chair and Lead for Catering, Venue, Logistics, Technology, and Social Events Team
The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use
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Steph is a Research Fellow at The Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use. Steph leads an innovative program of research and translation to reduce the impact of substance use. Her research aims to improve the health outcomes for individuals, families and communities especially among vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. Steph is passionate about addressing the stigma and discrimination associated with alcohol and drug use.
Edel O'Hagan
Deputy Co-Chair and Lead for Keynote Team
Westmead Applied Research Centre, The University of Sydney
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Edel is a postdoctoral researcher focused on improving blood pressure control in older and underserved populations through innovative digital health approaches.
Dr Tessa Copp
Scientific Committee
Sydney Health Literacy Lab, School of Public Health, The University of Sydney
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Dr Tessa Copp is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Research Fellow in the University of Sydney School of Public Health. Her research focuses on evidence-based healthcare and overdiagnosis in women’s reproductive health, including assisted reproductive technologies, pre-conception healthcare, fertility testing and polycystic ovary syndrome.
Dr Amanda Hayes
Catering, Venue, Logistics, Technology, and Social Events Team
The ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales
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Amanda Hayes is the Research Business Manager of the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health, a collaborative initiative between universities and industry aimed at advancing Australia’s leadership in connected health. The Hub focuses on enabling innovative approaches to diagnosis, monitoring, and disease prevention. Amanda has a strong track record of working across universities, government, and industry—including health-focused start-ups. She is an in vitro toxicologist and an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemistry, UNSW.
Dr Meredith Layton
Catering, Venue, Logistics, Technology, and Social Events Team
Senior Lead, Strategic Development Centre for Digital Transformation of Health Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences The University of Melbourne
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Meredith has 40+ years experience in the health and medical research sector including 16 years as a postdoctoral biomedical researcher in London and Melbourne and 12 years in government and university roles as a research development professional facilitating collaborative translational research.
Dr Dean Picone
Social Media, Comms & Marketing
School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney Westmead Applied Research Centre, The University of Sydney
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Dr Dean Picone is an NHMRC Emerging Leader Fellow and leads the Cardiovascular Monitoring Group in the Faculty of Medicine and Health at The University of Sydney. Dean's research is primarily focused on how to achieve the highest quality blood pressure measurements in different settings to support management of hypertension. He has a keen interest in emerging technologies and identifying ways to increase access to health services.
Dr Rebecca Raeside
Social Media, Comms & Marketing
Youth Well Lab, Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney
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Rebecca is a Research Fellow within Youth Well Lab, she has a background in Public Health. Her research focuses on maximising the benefits of digital technologies to improve the health and wellbeing of adolescents. She currently leads the Health4Me clinical trial, testing the effectiveness of co-designed text messages for improving health and wellbeing among adolescents.
Dr Samantha Robertson
Marketing
Queensland Digital Health Centre
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Samantha is a Research Fellow at the Queensland Digital Health Centre (QDHeC), a Senior Clinical Dietitian (APD) at Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service, and a Certified Health Informatician (CHIA). Her research focuses on digital health education and workforce capability, with a particular interest in digital health literacy, workforce training, and the implementation and evaluation of digital solutions. Samantha’s work involves multisite projects in collaboration with government, academia, and industry, supporting the digital upskilling of the clinical workforce and undergraduate health professionals to improve healthcare delivery across Queensland and nationally.
Zoe Stephenson
Communications
Manager of Strategic Communications and Change Initiatives Centre for Digital Transformation of Health, University of Melbourne
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Zoe has worked in communications across sectors including medical research and international development. She brings extensive expertise in developing and delivering integrated marketing strategies, digital campaigns, social media, and content creation, with a strong track record in driving engagement and supporting organisational change.
Eirian Stovell
Professional support for Digital Health Informatics Network
Faculty of Medicine and Healthy Networks, The University of Sydney
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Eirian is Project Support Officer with a strong background in media production management. She is supporting the Digital Health and Informatics Network at The University of Sydney.
Noah Sinac
Professional Support for Digital Health Informatics Network
FMH Networks
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I am Project Support Officer and a Professional staff member at University of Sydney. I support the Digital Health and Informatics Network.
Jacqueline Wells
Marketing and Communications, UNSW Representative
Tyree Institute of Health Engineering, UNSW Sydney
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Jacqueline leads communications and engagement at Tyree IHealthE, where she helps share the stories and impact of MedTech and health innovation. She has a background in strategic communications, content development, and stakeholder engagement across higher education and health sectors.
Dr Lee Woods
Scientific Member
Queensland Digital Health Centre, The University of Queensland
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Dr Woods is a Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Digital Health Centre, Fellow of the AIDH, Australian representative to the International Medical Informatics Nursing Informatics society, and registered nurse. She has 20 years experience working as a clinician in various health services in Victoria, NSW and Queensland. She worked at the Australian Digital Health Agency as part of her AIDH Fellowship by Training program and has completed a three year post doctoral fellowship funded by the Digital Health CRC.
Melody Taba
NSW Tech Team
Sydney Health Literacy Lab, The University of Sydney
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Melody is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Sydney Health Literacy Lab researching adolescent digital health literacy and digital health communication to young people. Her PhD involved mixed methods and participatory design to improve health organisations’ social media health communication to young people.
Aileen Zeng
Catering, Venue, Logistics, Technology, and Social Events Team
Westmead Applied Research Centre, Sydney Medical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney
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Aileen Zeng is an emerging clinician-scientist in the healthcare landscape, balancing her roles as a PhD candidate and research assistant at Westmead Applied Research Centre while also working as an allied health clinician specialising in podiatry. As someone deeply invested in improving patient care, Aileen’s research focuses on reducing the treatment burden for people living with chronic diseases through the use of digital tools. In her PhD work, Aileen seeks to design technologies that alleviate the strain of healthcare management, particularly for those dealing with long-term conditions.
Bow Wu
Keynote Team
The University of Sydney
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Design researcher in Social/Service Design, Codesign
Website Design and Development
Moe Qashlan
Li Wang