Our Team

Dr Karen May is the Head of THRF Group – Military and Emergency Services Health Australia (MESHA). Supporting the transition of The Repat Foundation to join The Hospital Research Foundation Group in 2015, she has worked to advocate for the past 10 years to grow services for current and former veterans, emergency service personnel, and their family members. Karen’s background is in social science, community development, public health, trauma psychotherapy, and academic research. Her experience includes organizational leadership, building team capability and scalable service delivery, including lived experience framework development, peer clinical governance models, and advocacy for policy, and practice.

Karen’s PhD research focused on examining the wellbeing of children of military and emergency first responder parents with PTSD and developed a wellbeing program to
support children and parents. Karen also brings her lived experience, in advocating for and supporting service personnel and families. She is a member of the Veteran Health Advisory Council, Senior Lecturer at Flinders University, Adjunct Fellow at Adelaide University, and mum of two teenagers and therapy dog Leo.

Henry 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 coordinator 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.

Hannah Bourne is the Operations Co-Ordinator for MESHA. She has a Bachelor of Health Sciences from University of Adelaide and has worked in various community development and not-for-profit settings. She is a defence kid from the UK and is always up for a chat about military family life. Hannah oversees operations of the research and programs teams, including our student program and lived experience workforce.

Since 2018, Dennis has been a facilitator of MESHA’s Group Emotional and Relationship Skills Program (GEARS). He is a Lead Facilitator and the Program Lead for GEARS, MESHA’s MindRight and StoryRight programs and is nationally accredited in Mental Health First Aid Training. Dennis manages the training and assessment of facilitators at MESHA to meet operational needs. He is a qualified Counsellor and holds various Leadership, Management and Mental Health qualifications. Dennis draws on 30 years’ service as a police officer with the SA Police and Senior Firefighter with the SA Metropolitan Fire Service.

Kath Whitson is a Research Officer at MESHA. With lived experience as a Defence spouse, Kath has a background in psychology, education, and music. At MESHA, Kath contributes to research on trauma in various populations, with a focus on military veterans, emergency service personnel, and their families. She also works on studies exploring suicide postvention strategies and the experiences of Defence children.

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Murray Nankivell is a Research Officer at MESHA. In 2021, he was awarded a Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) degree with a focus on men’s health. Murray has held numerous positions as a research assistant and most recently, course marker within the School of Psychology at the University of Adelaide. Murray comes from a service family with various members formerly and currently serving in the military and as first responders around the world.

Joining the MESHA team in 2023, Murray has led projects such as the virtual reality meditation for inpatient veterans at the Jamie Larcombe Centre and was part of the team developing, conducting study participant interviews, and analysing data from the Support After First Responder Suicide (SAFeRS) study. In 2025, Murray will embark on his PhD journey, focussing on improving the wellbeing of first responders by promoting help seeking behaviours and enhancing mental health awareness across South Australian fire, ambulance, and police personnel.

Leo McKenzie is a Research Assistant for MESHA. Leo holds a Bachelor in Psychological Sciences (Honours) and Bachelor in Criminology under the University of Adelaide. He has assisted in the formulation and analysis of various quantitative and qualitative research projects within MESHA. These projects accumulatively work toward the academic development and mental health betterment of current and former military personnel, emergency service members, and their families.

Oliver Andrews served in the Australian Army for nine years. In 2012, he deployed to Solomon Islands in a peacekeeping role. Following his discharge from the military in 2018, he has undertaken a Bachelor of Marketing and Communications, works as a Public Relations Coordinator for a veterans’ not-for-profit, and sits on the board of two veterans’ charities. Oliver dedicates his spare time to advocating for veterans transitioning from the ADF.