Nursing and Midwifery experts

Dr Kristina Medigovich

Acute care nursing, nursing practice, educational experience of international nursing students

Dr Kristina Medigovich is a registered nurse with a broad range of interests in clinical nursing and many years of experience, predominantly in acute care nursing.

Her research interests include acute and chronic care, nursing education and practice, professionalism and the educational experience of international nursing students.

She currently lectures in postgraduate studies in the School of Nursing and Midwifery and teaches evidence based practice and research. Dr Medigovich is the Academic Chair of Postgraduate Coursework Programs in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Gabrielle Brand

Community Youth Health, Primary Health Care, Nursing Education

Gabrielle Brand is currently part of the Peel Child Health Study exploring how adolescent mothers experience pregnancy and motherhood and how their everyday lives are shaped or constrained by the broader socio-cultural community conditions in the Peel region of Western Australia.

An award-winning teacher, Gabrielle Brand helped to develop the curricula for the Bachelor of Nursing course at Murdoch University and she has coordinated and lectured in Family and Community health and Developmental Health assessment.

In 2008 she piloted a cross-cultural international community clinical placement to India with Murdoch University nursing students.

Associate Professor Heather Gluyas

Nursing policy and professional; patient safety, healthcare failures, clinical governance

Professor Paul Morrison

Mental health, managing medication side-effects, psychology, health promotion

Professor Paul Morrison is the Dean of the School of Nursing and Midwifery. His research areas include the evaluation of care in mental health and interim secure forensic settings, the management of medication side-effects, and more recently, the evaluation of health promotion activities.

Professor Morrison has worked in health care and university settings in Ireland, the UK and Australia. He is a registered nurse and a registered psychologist with more than 80 publications. Some of his books have been translated into German, Norwegian and Indonesian.

He is Associate Fellow (AFBPsS) and Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol) with the British Psychological Society and a Member of the Australian Psychological Society (MAPS).

Dr Cathy Fetherston

Breastfeeding, lactation, midwifery

Dr Cathy Fetherston is a midwife and lactation consultant with special research interests in breastfeeding and lactation.

She lectures in midwifery and has also presented widely in Australia and internationally in the areas of physiology and pathophysiology of the lactating breast.
Dr Fetherston has published 10 papers in referred journals and a book chapter in this area and in addition to lecturing at Murdoch University she has a weekly clinic for women with breastfeeding problems, at a private community hospital.

Professor Cassandra Berry

Viral disease and innate immunity

Professor Berry’s primary area of research is to investigate vaccines and other immunotherapies for clinical disease such as the influenza virus, cytomegalovirus and other herpes viruses. She has pioneered exploration of the mechanisms of inflammatory responses to virus infection.

Her other research interests include autoimmunity following virus infection, immunotherapy for chronic inflammatory disease and innovative biomarker surveillance for vaccinated animals. The biomarker has direct application for control of avian influenza virus (bird flu).

Professor Berry is the Director of the Integrated Health Research Institute of Western Australia at Murdoch University. The major objectives for the Institute are to enhance research activities and outcomes of health and wellbeing for improved quality of life for all Australians and people around the world.