Burnet Institute
Elissa is a medical doctor and Advanced Trainee with the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine, with a Master of Public Health specialising in international health (Monash University). She has over ten years of experience in global public health, with particular expertise in adolescent sexual and reproductive health policy, programming and research in low- and middle-income countries.
Elissa has led and contributed to research examining adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health needs in various settings, including China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu. She has also conducted intervention studies and evaluations of programs aiming to improve adolescents’ access to sexual and reproductive health information and services. She is currently a collaborator and co-author of the Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, most notably contributing to the analysis of global burden of disease data to identify priority health needs of 10-24 year olds globally. Elissa also provides technical support to adolescent and maternal and child health policy and development projects in Asia, the Pacific and sub-Saharan Africa.