Adolescent and child health (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Health risk behaviours and young people (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Interventions (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Mental Health (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Mental Health care for young people and their families (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Primary care and general practice (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Risk factors for young people's health and wellbeing (young people's health, health risk behaviours, mental health and interventions)
Overview
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Associate Professor Lena Sanci is the Deputy Head of Department, Director of Teaching and Learning, and co-lead of the Children and Young People’s Research Stream, Department of General Practice (DGP), University of Melbourne. She is also a Research Program Leader in the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre (2011-2016) which is researching the potential of technology to improve the mental health and clinical service system for youth.
Lena is a GP with a commitment to improving the health and well-being of children and young people through primary care, and its integration with other parts of the health, education, and welfare sectors. She has run a large randomised trial in general practice of an intervention re-orientating primary care toward a young person-centred, preventive care model, using evidence based strategies for learning and change in practice-systems and clinicians’ practice. She is currently working on an online program to assist young people to navigate their way to appropriate services for their health and well-being concerns.
She oversees the Department’s Primary Care Network of around 1000 practices of which over 450 are actively teaching at any one time and over 200 are involved in research projects with the department; 100 of these practices are also part of the Victorian practice based Research Network (VicRen). She works clinically at Family Planning Victoria’s Action Centre (teen sexual and reproductive health clinic).
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Public Health Postdoctoral Training Research Fellowship awarded 2004
Awards
Education and training
DPhil,
University of Melbourne 2000
Dip RANZCOG,
Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists 1993
MBBS,
University of Melbourne 1988
Awards and honors
Orygen Youth Health Research Centre Early Intervention or Prevention Research Award for oral presentation, Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research Annual Scientific Meeting,
2013
The only non-American to win this award since its inception in the 1980s, Society for Adolescent Medicine, Mead Johnson, New Investigator Award (USA),
1999
For PhD study, Commendation for the Premiers Award for Medical Research (Vic),
1999
For PhD study (2.5 years), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) postgraduate medical scholarship,
1997
For MD studies, 1996 Melbourne University Medical Faculty scholarship,
1996
Fellow of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners,
1996
I am interested to hear from students wishing to undertake a research higher degree in the area of children and young people’s health in primary care. Interventions using technology are of interest. I do not usually have funding but students may apply for scholarships for example the APA scholarships through the University of Melbourne.