Michelle is a global health specialist who has enjoyed a varied career in international development, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.

She has worked extensively in global health advocacy, particularly with Results Australia (leading campaigns to secure Australian investment in several of the global health multilateral funds – the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative – and in global tuberculosis prevention and care) and the Stop TB Partnership (on initiatives to engage national and regional TB advocates and decision-makers both before and after the UN High-Level Meetings on TB in 2018 and 2023).

In 2021-22 she worked for the Specialist Health Service (managed by Abt Australia), which provides demand-driven technical inputs and logistic support to the health policy, planning and programming work of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) in Canberra and at regional diplomatic posts.

Gender-related projects earlier in her career saw Michelle write and edit several reports for the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights (2013 and 2014), as part of the Oxbridge Human Development Research Group, and work as a Gender Assistant at the Bangladesh Rural Development Board (as part of an Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development placement in 2004-05).

She also has several years’ experience as a consultant, completing assignments for clients including Results Australia, the Stop TB Partnership, Caritas Australia, FHI 360’s Asia-Pacific Regional Office and UNICEF Bangladesh.

Michelle holds a Master of International Public Health (with Merit) and a PhD in Public Health, both from the University of Sydney, and has worked in research here and at the University of New South Wales. She has an extensive academic publication record, particularly in health news and risk communication – including (as first author) on all six studies from her PhD thesis – with a special focus on qualitative (thematic, interview and focus-group) research.

Michelle is a member of the Specialist Health Service panel (maintained by Abt Australia on behalf of DFAT). She has served as a volunteer election observer in Myanmar (2015) and Timor-Leste (2012), as a Director of Oxfam Australia (2008-12), and also has a proud history of involvement with initiatives that connect and mentor women working in the sector (Women in Aid and Development) and that seek to improve the effectiveness of international development work (XSPI–the Cross-Sector Development Partnerships Initiative).