Concurrent Session 2A: Care behind the wire: prisons, harm reduction and re-engagement
Tracks
Track 1
| Thursday, August 13, 2026 |
| 11:45 AM - 1:15 PM |
Speaker
Ms Emily Lenton
Research Officer
La Trobe
New and emerging methods for improving the healthcare of people who use drugs: Results and recommendations from a national consultation
11:50 AM - 12:02 PMBiography
Emily has extensive experience in research, workforce development, and health promotion, particularly in the areas of BBVs. Her work is deeply rooted in harm reduction principles and ethical, research-informed approaches to improving the health and wellbeing of people who are affected by the criminalisation and stigmatisation of drug consumption.
Gamuchirai Shava
Senior Project Officer - Hepatitis C And Harm Reduction
Justice Health
Understanding and responding to Hepatitis C reinfection and retreatment among Aboriginal Peoples in custody: a culturally informed co-design approach
12:05 PM - 12:17 PMBiography
Chelsie Smith is a proud Kamilaroi woman and Aboriginal Project Officer with Justice Health and Forensic Mental Health Network. With experience as an Aboriginal Health Worker in custodial settings, she is passionate about culturally safe care and improving health outcomes for Aboriginal people in the justice system.
Mr Matthew Armstrong
Community Service Manager
HepatitisWA
Embedding live experience leadership: The Acacia Prison blood-borne virus peer education program
12:20 PM - 12:32 PMBiography
Harm reduction worker with 17 years’ experience advancing health, dignity, and human rights. Skilled educator and facilitator delivering evidence-based training and community programs. Passionate about needle and syringe programs (NSP) and prison health, driving practical, person-centred approaches that reduce harm, challenge stigma, and strengthen safer systems of care.
Ms Nicole Matthews
Research Coordinator
Burnet Institute
From lived experience to cure: Activating hepatitis C notifications
12:35 PM - 12:47 PMBiography
Nicole Matthews is Research Coordinator for Connect C project at Burnet Institute, leading collaboration with health authorities and community to strengthen use of notifications data for hepatitis C care. She previously led a Victorian hepatitis initiative enhancing surveillance and strategy indicators, and is committed to data-driven, collaborative health system reform.
Dr Duncan Campbell
PhD Student
Monash University
Hepatitis C point of care testing and treatment in people with serious mental illness: a cohort study of community outpatients (Reach Out)
12:50 PM - 12:53 PMBiography
Dr Duncan Campbell is a PhD candidate and clinician-researcher with a passion for improving systems and care models using adaptive approaches to healthcare inequities and inefficiencies. He is dedicated to improving health outcomes for key populations who have difficulty accessing traditional models of healthcare.
Ms Grace Jin
Project Officer
ASHM Health
Beyond the C: Findings from a national hepatitis C case finding project
12:55 PM - 12:58 PMBiography
Grace is Senior Project Officer at ASHM and Project Lead for Beyond the C. Grace is passionate about knowledge-sharing as a way of raising awareness and changing the norm to ensure person-centred and culturally-responsive care for all people living with hepatitis C.
Chloe Layton
Hepatology Cnc
St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne
Point-of-care Testing for Hepatitis C in Victorian Prisons: making progress towards elimination
1:00 PM - 1:03 PMBiography
Chloe is a Hepatology CNC working with the St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne Statewide Hepatitis Program providing hepatitis and liver nursing care to men incarcerated across Victoria's prison system. She coordinates the hepatitis C point-of-care testing program in Victorian prisons.
Ezaam Fraz
Gastroenterology Registrar
Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland Health
Addiction medicine involvement is associated with improved hepatitis C and blood-borne virus screening and reduced health care utilisation among hospitalised incarcerated people who inject drugs
1:05 PM - 1:08 PMBiography
Ezaam is a unaccredited Gastroenterology registrar working at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Queensland. He has a keen interest in viral hepatitis as well as working towards making healthcare accessible to traditionally marginalised and/or stigmatised groups.
James Runciman
General Practitioner
Department Of Justice Wa
A New Multidisciplinary approach to HCV (Hepatitis C) treatment at Casuarina Prison, Western Australia
1:10 PM - 1:13 PMBiography
Caitlin Minervini is the Blood Born Viral Clinical Nurse at Casuarina Prison, running nursing clinics facilitating management of Hepatitis C patients, on a background of nursing in general practice. Dr James Runciman is a General Practitioner with interests in caring for disadvantaged populations, including management of Hepatitis B and C.