Our Team

Associate Professor Miranda Van Hooff is the Executive Director of Military and Emergency Services Health Australia and an experienced research scientist specialising in the mental health impacts of bushfires, adverse childhood adversity and occupational trauma. Completing her Bachelor of Arts (Hons Psych) in 1998 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine at The University of Adelaide in 2010 for her research examining the adult mental and physical health outcomes of childhood exposure to the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires.

Since 1999 she has held various academic appointments at the University of Adelaide under the direction of International PTSD Specialist Professor Alexander McFarlane and was formally the Director of Research at the University of Adelaide Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies. She currently holds adjunct positions at both the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. Associate Professor Van Hooff has authored 61 journal articles, 2 book chapters and 31 commissioned reports for the Australian Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service. Over the course of her career, she has conducted several large-scale longitudinal studies of childhood survivors of the 1983 Ash Wednesday Bushfires, children hospitalised for a significant burn injury, children exposed to the neurotoxic effects of lead in childhood and adults exposed to the 2006 Black Tuesday Bushfires on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Since 2009, she has specialised in the mental health and wellbeing of current and former Australian military and emergency service personnel, as the lead researcher on three landmark studies: Transition and Wellbeing Research Programme, The Military Health Outcomes Programme and the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service Health and Wellbeing Study. These studies were the first in Australia to ascertain the prevalence of ICD-10 Mental Disorder in current and ex-serving ADF members and South Australian Firefighters and have been strong drivers of change in relation to policy and service provision.

Over the last 10 years, Associate Professor Van Hooff has received over $10M in competitive and commonwealth grant funding, with the majority of this funding invested in research designed to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of current and former Australian servicemen, servicewomen and their families. Currently she is a chief investigator on two studies examining the health and wellbeing of emergency service personnel following the 2019/2020 bushfires.

Karen May is the Associate Director, Military and Emergency Services Health Australia and also currently working on her PhD at University of Adelaide focussing on a therapeutic model for children of a parent with service related Post-Traumatic Stress. Karen’s background is psychotherapy, participatory action research and community development.

Karen has worked with many communities who have experienced trauma in Australia and developing countries. Since 2015 Karen has worked on building capacity in the military, emergency service and families sector to improve health and wellbeing through research, advocacy and sector collaboration to establish policy, change, models of care and programs.

Holly joined MESHA in August 2020 as the Senior Research Officer. Their primary role involves the development, implementation and evaluation of interventions and preventative programs for trauma with Military and Emergency Services personnel and their families. Additionally, part of their role is ensuring that future researchers have the training and support to work within this industry as the co-ordinator and supervisor of the Placement and Internship program on site.

They have a history working with early childhood mental health, human-animal interactions, and adjunct treatments which have translational outcomes and implications. In particular, they have a keen interest in developing collaborative, multidisciplinary trauma-informed research which influences clinical practice, treatment delivery, and policy and legislative decision making.

Marie joined MESHA in May 2020 and is a Research Officer, bringing a wealth of knowledge as a registered psychologist with eight years’ experience working as a clinical psychologist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Child Adolescent Mental Health Service. Previous roles also include working in academic settings as a researcher, primarily within mental health, child protection and veteran health.

Her role supports all research activities at MESHA, primary project managing various studies on veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress. Marie enjoys sharing the enthusiasm and common goals with her colleagues in improving the health outcomes of veterans and first responders who give so much to our community.

Ella joined MESHA in August 2020 and is responsible for assisting with research projects that will benefit the health and well-being of veterans, emergency service personnel and their families. In her role as a Research Assistant, Ella is supporting research activities and administrative duties as she continues to grow professionally alongside the research centre.  Ella has a bachelors double degree of Health and Social Sciences from the University of Adelaide. In addition to an honours degree in Health and Medical Sciences (Public Health) where she conducted a systematic review on the prevalence of child maltreatment in Australia and New Zealand.

Dr Lane is a Psychiatrist, a member of the Army for over 30 years and an Afghanistan veteran. He is currently completing a PhD developing and evaluating the effectiveness of skills-based interventions for mental health problems for military, veterans, police and emergency services personnel. His supervisors for the project are Dr Miranda Van Hooff, Dr Ellie Lawrence Wood and Prof Sandy McFarlane AO from the Centre for Traumatic Stress Studies at University of Adelaide. Dr Lane’s role with MESHA is in lived experience psychoeducation and skills-based programs, and he was author of the Group Emotional and Relationship Skills (GEARS) program being delivered by MESHA.

Additionally, he is the Psychiatry Lead for the University of Tasmania School of Medicine, consults for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Tasmania Police, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and is a member of the Tasmanian Veteran’s Reference Advisory Group. He has been an invited speaker and presented at a wide range of clinical and educational conferences both internationally and in Australia due to his expertise in the field of military, veteran and emergency services mental health. He was a Churchill Fellow in 2014 and went to the US looking at programs for military and veterans and is a strong supporter of culturally informed and peer-led interventions that have a functional outcome. He was awarded the inaugural 2019 Society for Mental Health Research lived experience research medal for his work in this area for his PhD. He is a keen archer and has been the Australian Team Invictus Games archery coach for 2018 and 2020.

Dr Craig Hansen joined MESHA in March 2021 as the Manager of Research Data and Statistics. Dr Hansen brings to MESHA extensive experience managing and analysing a broad array of health data ranging from small prospective studies through to large health administrative databases. His main role at MESHA is to oversee and perform processes relating to data management and statistical analyses for research projects at MESHA.

Dr Hansen has over 16 years of experience in a variety of sectors (government, university, and healthcare) in both Australia and the USA. Dr Hansen received his doctorate in epidemiology in 2006 with his PhD studies focusing on environmental epidemiology where he examined maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes (also receiving the alumni of the year award). After a postdoctoral position at the University of Queensland, Dr Hansen was awarded an ORISE Postdoctoral Fellowship at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (North Carolina, USA). Furthering his interest in adverse birth outcomes Dr Hansen worked at the National Centre for Birth Defects and Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, Atlanta, USA) and Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (Atlanta, USA) where he was lead investigator on several project examining adverse birth outcomes associated with various exposures during pregnancy (including medications, alcohol, and H1N1).

After returning to Australia in 2013 Dr Hansen has worked mostly in research investigating veteran and first responder health. Dr Hansen was the primary statistician for the Transitional Wellbeing Program (a National Study of Veteran Health conducted by the Center for Traumatic Stress Studies, University of Adelaide)

Matt joined the MESHA team formally in November 2020 after volunteering as a Program Facilitator since 2018. Matt manages the service delivery component of MESHA, with oversight of the Group Emotional and Relationship Skills (GEARS) program, MindRight and StoryRight programs, as well as engaging key stakeholders within the Military and Emergency Services sector. Matt is also responsible for the growth and support of MESHA’s lived experience workforce.

Matt brings his lived experience of service, following 10 years as a Police Officer with the South Australia Police, and his lived experience of mental distress, help-seeking challenges and self-stigma, as well as his pathway to post-traumatic growth to his roles with MESHA.

Matt is a passionate mental health advocate in the community, particularly for Military and Emergency Services personnel.

Karin began using Art Psychotherapy at the Repatriation Public Hospital Rehabilitation wards specializing in Stroke, Brain Injury and Amputee patients. Karin has worked with individuals and groups with intellectual and physical disabilities utilising creative processes. She is currently facilitating Art Psychotherapy with Veterans, Emergency responders and their families living with Trauma, as part of the programs MESHA offers as a mental health strategy for the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress. Her role at MESHA as an Art Therapist and Counsellor has also collected data for research to further promote the benefits and credentialling of this field in Australia.