HER Centre Australia

HER Centre Australia, established as a formal Monash University Centre in 2022 stands for Health, Education, and Research in Women's Mental Health. For more information about HER Centre Australia, visit the HER Centre Australia website - www.monash.edu/her-centre

Mental illness has many gender-specific aspects that clinical research has not always addressed. For example, in conditions such as schizophrenia, the age of onset and pattern of symptoms commonly seen is different for women and men. Women and men may also respond differently to medications or other treatments. In addition, changes in the level of sex hormones such as estrogen are known to affect symptoms.

The HER Centre Australia team is working on numerous aspects of women’s mental health, the experiences of women with mental illness and potential options for treatment. 

One particular focus of our research is the role of the neuroendocrine system in mental illnesses, and specifically the use of female hormones to improve the results of treatment. We are conducting ground-breaking research into the use of estrogen to improve symptoms in schizophrenia and the use of selective brain estrogens in postmenopausal women. We are also exploring possible links between the oral contraceptive pill and depression. 


To find out more about current projects click here. For information about our PTSD clinical trial, please click here


HER Centre Australia Team Members

 
Director
Professor Jayashri Kulkarni
 
Deputy Director
Dr Caroline Gurvich

Research Manager
Anthony de Castella
Emmy Gavrilidis

Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr Leo Chen
 
Research Medical Officer
Dr Lauren Dawes

NH&MRC Early Career Research Fellow
Dr Gemma Sharp
 
Post Doctoral Researcher
Dr Lizzie Thomas
Dr Eveline Mu
 
Research Psychologist
Emma Cholakians
Kathleen de Boer
 
Research Nurse
Emma Dumigan
Yasmin Malik
 
Research Coordinators
 
Navneet Legha
 
Participant Recruitment Coordinator
Marta Malicka
 
WMH Clinic Coordinator
Marie Iglesias 

 

 MAPrc Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Level 4, 607 St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004

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