Dean
Professor Sarah Lewis is the Dean of Health Sciences, a senior career academic and researcher, and registered diagnostic radiographer. Prior to joining Western Sydney University in December 2023, Sarah was the Associate Dean Research Performance, Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney overseeing researcher career development and performance in competitive funding and systems.
Professor Sarah Lewis holds research, education and health practitioner qualification, with a PhD in Medical Imaging, a Master of Education with Distinction and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Diagnostic Radiography) Honours. She has held important education and student facing roles such as Sub-Dean of Student Affairs and Program Director for 4 pre-registration medical radiation practice degrees. She is an Advance Higher Education mentor, a proud Franklin Women mentor and the past Deputy Editor of Australia’s only medical radiation practice journal, the Journal of Medical Radiation Sciences.
Leading large teams of multi-disciplinary researchers, Sarah has over 150 publications in Q1 medical imaging/oncology publications and education publications. She has been awarded $17 million AUD in funding since 2011, including $4.7 as CIA in funding from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health (DOH), NHMRC, National Breast Cancer Foundation, Cancer Institute NSW and as well as commission research from Bayer Radiology. Professor Lewis is the Director of the Breast Screen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST), funded by the DOH and BreastScreen Australia (BSA) as an official training program supporting the Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) in breast imaging. BREAST engages with 85% of BSA readers with an impact of improved radiologists’ ability to detect breast cancer.
Sarah has supervised 17 PhD students, 12 as primary supervisor, and 24 first class Honours students to date. For the last decade, Sarah has been highly influential in Australia’s medical imaging regulatory landscape, as Deputy Chair of the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia (MRPBA) Accreditation Committee (2015-2022), the MRPBA Examiner-in-Chief for Australia (2014-2018) and the Chair of the Australian Council of Deans of Medical Radiation Science (2016-2017). Professor Lewis’ has been awarded prizes for excellence in teaching, mentoring and research winning the Vice Chancellors Award for Outstanding Teaching and Research (2018) and Vice Chancellor's Award: Support of the Student Experience (2015).
Having been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012, Sarah continues to act as an ambassador and policy advisor for improving survivorship and early diagnosis, with engagement and keynote speeches for organisations such as Targeting Cancer, NSW Cancer Council and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. She is a regular media expert for breast screening. The first in family to complete tertiary education, Sarah has established numerous student mentoring programs to support success and retention at university as well as programs to offer early entry to health science degrees for students from less advantaged backgrounds.
sarah.lewis@westernsydney.edu.au
Dean's Unit
School Manager (Acting), Brett Richardson
Brett Richardson
B.Richardson@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4736 0329
Associate Dean Research, Associate Prof Elise Baker
Associate Prof Elise Baker is a Conjoint Associate Professor of Allied Health. She works collaboratively across Western Sydney University and South Western Sydney Local Health District (SWSLHD) developing, leading, and supporting programs of research with allied health clinicians, researchers, and industry partners. In working with multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional teams, Elise enjoys discovering innovative and feasible solutions to real-world challenges in the delivery of health care. She is passionate about translating knowledge into clinical policy and practice, and the measurement of outcomes of clinical care. With a background in speech-language pathology, Elise is particularly passionate about finding ways to optimize outcomes for young children with communication difficulties including children with speech sound disorders, and children who are late to talk.
Prior to joining Western Sydney University in March 2020 Elise held an academic position with The University of Sydney engaging in research and teaching. As a qualified and experienced speech-language pathologist, Elise has also worked in private practice and in the public sector for the NSW Department of Family and Community Services. As a Fellow of Speech Pathology Australia, Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and ASHA (American Speech Language Hearing Association) Fellow, and member of the International Expert Panel on Multilingual Children’s Speech, Elise’s research achievements and scholarly work are recognised internationally. She has a record of over $1 million in grant funding and more than 70 publications. Elise has supervised to completion 29 research students including seven PhD students, two research masters students, and 20 honours students. Her collaborators have spanned the fields of speech pathology, psychology, audiology, occupational therapy, medicine, education, linguistics, computer science, and engineering. Elise is an award-winning teacher and sought-after continuing education presenter. She has been an invited National Tour Speaker for Speech Pathology Australia and invited speaker at the American Speech Language Hearing Association Convention. Her co-authored book ‘Children’s Speech: An evidence-based approach to assessment and intervention’ has been used by undergraduate and graduate speech-language pathology students and speech-language pathologists across the globe as an authoritative guide on the management of speech sound disorders in children.
Elise.Baker@westernsydney.edu.au
Deputy Dean, Prof Tony Rossi
Prof Tony Rossi
t.rossi@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4736 0546
Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, Associate Professor Rosalind Bye
Dr Rosalind Bye gained her undergraduate degree at Cumberland College of Health Sciences in 1989 and worked as a clinical occupational therapist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 1991 Ros commenced her Masters research study into occupational therapy in palliative care and began her academic career at the University of Sydney, teaching on the undergraduate occupational therapy program. Ros completed her masters study, and then moved to the University of Western Sydney in 1996 to become a lecturer in occupational therapy. Ros has since completed her PhD study into family adaptation following an acquired brain injury of an adolescent child. Ros is currently the Director of Academic Program in Occupational Therapy. Along with her occupational therapy management role, she plays an active part in the School Academic Committee as Deputy Chair.
Ros has continued to teach on the undergraduate occupational therapy program, including honours and PhD supervision. Ros has teaching interests in areas related to occupational therapy theory, process and practice. These important teaching areas help occupational therapy students to understand their profession and commence their professional socialisation into their future clinical role. She also enjoys one-on-one honours supervision, helping occupational therapy honours students to commence their research training in a supportive and guided way. Ros was a part of the occupational therapy team that was awarded two teaching awards: (i) Carrick Australian Award for University Teaching, 2006, citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (team award given to the occupational therapy program team); and (ii) Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Award Teaching and Learning, 2005, Highly Commended (team award given to the occupational therapy program team).
Ros became the Director of Academic Program - Occupational Therapy in 2010. Ros is also a referee for the Australian Occupational Therapy Journal and the Qualitative Health Research Journal.
R.Bye@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3353
Directors of Academic Programs
Physiotherapy, Professor Roy Cheung
Prof Roy Cheung received his physiotherapy undergraduate and PhD degrees in Hong Kong, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Spaulding National Running Centre, Harvard Medical School. Professor Cheung specialized in human gait biomechanics and retraining research, in particular biomechanical factors of musculoskeletal conditions, neural control of gait, and development of wearable sensors for gait retraining. Roy has supervised a number of Master and PhD students with a diverse background (e.g., physical therapists, physicians, and engineers). His research work has been continuously supported by major competitive grants, and his research deliverables include US patents and international invention awards.
Roy.Cheung@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3487
Occupational Therapy, Dr Kristy Coxon
Dr Kristy Coxen is a registered occupational therapist with a PhD in Public Health from the University of Sydney. She graduated from the University of Western Sydney Macarthur (UWS) in 1999 with first class honours and the university medal. Since graduation, Kristy has gained 20 years’ experience in clinical practice, education and research. Clinically, Kristy worked in Western Sydney across the health care continuum in acute, rehabilitation and outpatient occupational therapy services. Kristy has been involved in program development, program evaluation, and represented allied health on area wide collaboratives in clinical care.
Kristy began her academic career when she joined Western Sydney University in 2005, and secured a permanent position as lecturer in occupational therapy in 2006. Kristy became the Academic Program Advisor for the occupational therapy program in 2015. In this role, Kristy provides integrated academic advice and support to students at all stages of the occupational therapy program. She is committed to providing a student-centric service to help students identify and plan their educational needs and goals, while navigating administrative requirements, to promote success in their studies and a positive student experience. Kristy teaches first year students in core occupational therapy theory and practice skills, and co-ordinates first year practice education. She enjoys supervising and guiding PhD, Masters and honours students in their research. Kristy also holds a research fellow position in the Injury Division of The George Institute for Global Health, and is a member of the Translational Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University.
Kristy's PhD research evaluated the effectiveness of an individualised program to promote safety and maintain mobility for drivers aged 75 years and older. This research has helped inform policy and practice in the area and bought about important insights into ways to assist older people maintain community mobility regardless of their driving status. Kristy has an ongoing program of research with older drivers including a four year follow up study of a large cohort of community-living older drivers and investigation into their use of seat belt and seat accessories. Kristy is also exploring the use of powered two-wheeled motorbikes in children. She has established a strong research profile in the areas of transport, community mobility, safety and injury prevention. Her research is driven by a strong interest in optimising participation and independence while preserving safety in community groups. Kristy has presented papers at conferences both nationally and internationally, and has over 26 peer-reviewed publications and reports.
K.Coxon@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3754
Speech Pathology, Dr Belinda Kenny
Dr Belinda Kenny is a speech pathologist and clinical educator with research interests in professional ethics, work integrated learning, clinical education and neurogenic communication and swallowing issues. She completed her speech pathology degree at Cumberland College of Health Sciences in 1985, receiving the graduand Private Speech Pathologists’ Association Prize for Clinical Proficiency.Belinda then acquired professional experience in acute hospital, rehabilitation, and community settings. In 1989 Belinda was appointed to a senior professional role as a clinical educator, within a Sydney teaching hospital, planning, implementing and evaluating clinical placement experiences for speech pathology students.During the following 12 years, Belinda developed strong interests in adult learning theories and clinical education research.
Dr Kenny completed a Masters by research program at Sydney University and was awarded the Speech Pathology Australia Association Master’s Thesis Prize in 1995 for her thesis investigating speech pathology students’ self-evaluation skills. Belinda’s professional, clinical education and research interests underpinned her active contributions to undergraduate speech pathology professional preparation programs at the University of Sydney. In 2002 Belinda was appointed to an academic position in the Discipline of Speech Pathology and comprehensively reviewed and innovated learning and teaching practices in the Professional Development streams of the undergraduate and graduate entry masters speech pathology programs.
Dr Kenny completed her PhD. in 2010 as a University of Sydney, Discipline Scholar. Belinda’s doctoral research program investigated ethical dilemmas and ethical reasoning in the speech pathology profession. A shared passion for ethical practice has led to Belinda’s active involvement with Speech Pathology Australia’s Board of Ethics where her research findings inform national ethics education programs for speech pathologists.
Following completion of her doctoral research, Dr Kenny successfully applied for a post- doctorate position at the University of Sydney and managed an NHMRC funded, five year, longitudinal project investigating communication outcomes for adults with severe, traumatic brain injury. Findings from this study provided new insights into the nature and timing of communication recovery following brain injury.
From 2016- 2019, Dr Kenny was employed as a lecturer in Work Integrated Learning. University of Sydney. This role involved facilitating quality clinical education experiences by developing innovative placement models, supporting clinical educators and students on placement and conducting research into best practice in clinical education.
In 2019, Dr Kenny was appointed as co-convenor and Director of Academic Program for speech patholog, Western Sydney University. She was awarded an Honary Affiliate role with the University of Sydney.
Dr Kenny’s research interests include professional workplace issues, ethics, communication and swallowing disorders in adults and student learning. Belinda has provided more than 30 publications and 70 conference presentations in ethics, work integrated learning and speech pathology practice. She has supervised a number of Higher Degree Research and Honours students to completion. With her research teams, Belinda is focussed on innovative health professional education, ethical practice and quality clinical care outcomes for people with communication and swallowing disorders..
B.Kenny@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3503
Traditional Chinese Medicine, Professor Xiaoshu Zhu
Professor Xiaoshu Zhu is Associate Dean of School (International) and Director of Academic Program of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). She is also key senior researcher in cancer field at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM) which is hosted by the University. Xiaoshu was member of the inaugural Chinese Medicine Board of Australia appointed by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council, serving as member of the Policies, Standards and Guidelines Advisory Committee. She also serves as Working Editor for the Gynaecology and Fertility Group, the Cochrane Collaboration, a well-regarded international healthcare information organisation. She is a member of Standards Australia committee (HE 031) for developing standards for TCM. She has numbers of important roles in the relevant international organisations including as Deputy Editor-in-Chief for series of unified textbooks organized by the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Society (WFCMS). She sits on the board of Overseas Expert of Advisory Committee, China Society of Geriatrics Oncology Rehabilitation. Dr Zhu graduated from Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (NJUTCM), one of the most prestigious TCM universities in China, with Bachelor’s Degree in 1984 and Masters' Degree in 1989. She completed her PhD (Health) study in 2008 at Western Sydney University.
x.zhu@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3338
Undergraduate Health Sciences, Dr Nicole Peel
Dr Nicole Peel is a Lecturer in Therapeutic Recreation in the School of Science and Health at Western Sydney University. Nicole holds a doctorate in philosophy from Western Sydney University and has completed a B. Leisure Studies M. Health Science and an M. Business Administration. Nicole is an established practitioner, and health educator with over 25 years of experience in working with people with an intellectual disability, people with a physical disability, people who are ageing, adolescents or marginalised individuals.
Her research and teaching focus on leisure and health, recreation therapy, creative approaches and innovative solutions. Nicole is interested in how systems operate and where the areas for change exist to optimise opportunities for healthy outcomes using leisure for marginalised individuals. Nicole is passionate about research, teaching and interventions aimed at improving the health and well-being of all, including those with a disability. Nicole honours a co-design approach working with the individual first and foremost. Nicole has been involved in projects funded to work in partnership with other Universities, Government and Non-Government Organisations. She has an enthusiasm for developing and implementing service models that effectively engage and provide support for marginalised individuals and their families. Nicole's PhD thesis utilised case studies and explanation building to understand leisure and its opportunities for young people in Out-of-Home Care for independent living.
Nicole is a registered HDR supervisor and welcomes inquiries from potential honours, masters and PhD students.
Nicole is actively engaged in the community with non-government organisations and professionals across NSW Area Health, disability services, children services and aged care providers. Nicole holds the following positions:
- Chair of Western Sydney University Children in Out-of-Home care Steering Committee
- Member, World Leisure Association Access and Inclusion Committee
- Australian representative on the International Therapeutic Recreation Coalition
- Board Member, Myrtle Cottage (not for profit service provider to the elderly and marginalised)
- Board Member, Diversional Recreational Therapy Association
- Executive Board Member, Cycling Without Age
N.Peel@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3232
Postgraduate Health Sciences, Associate Professor Arianne Reis
a.reis@westernsydney.edu.au
Health & Physical Education and Sport Development, Dr Hazel Maxwell
h.maxwell@westernsydney.edu.au
Sport and Exercise Science, Dr Peter Clothier
p.clothier@westernsydney.edu.au
Academic Program Advisors
Physiotherapy, Dr Rocco Cavaleri
Rocco Cavaleri
R.Cavaleri@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3994
Occupational Therapy, Dr Bronwyn Gill
bronwyn.gill@westernsydney.edu.au
Podiatry, Dr Kym Hennessy
Dr. Kym Hennessy completed her undergraduate degree at Western, and completed her PhD at Glasgow Caldedonian University.
k.hennessy@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3185
Speech Pathology, Dr Tai-Ying Lee
taiying@westernsydney.edu.au
Traditional Chinese Medicine, Dr Yu-Ting Sun
Yu Ting Sun
(02) 4620 3455
Paramedicine, Dr Robin Pap
r.pap@westernsydney.edu.au
Undergraduate Health Sciences, Dr John Bidewell
j.bidewell@westernsydney.edu.au
Postgraduate Health Sciences, Dr Sadia Hossain
sadia.hossain@westernsydney.edu.au
Health & Physical Education and Sport Development, Dr Nicole Taylor
nicole.taylor@westernsydney.edu.au
Sport and Exercise Science, Dr Shona Papalia
Dr Shona Papalia
S.Papalia@westernsydney.edu.au
(02) 4620 3756