After more than 30 years work­ing in pathol­o­gy lab­o­ra­to­ries, Melanie has tak­en her career in an excit­ing new direction—leading research sup­port for rur­al and region­al NSW.

As NSW Health Pathology’s Research Sup­port Lead for Rur­al and Region­al NSW, Melanie plays a key role in help­ing researchers nav­i­gate the unique chal­lenges of con­duct­ing med­ical research out­side major cities.

Med­ical research is vital for rur­al and region­al com­mu­ni­ties, where peo­ple often face high­er rates of chron­ic ill­ness, lim­it­ed access to health­care, and short­er life expectan­cies. Research tai­lored to these pop­u­la­tions helps iden­ti­fy local health needs, dri­ve inno­va­tion in care deliv­ery, and ensure new treat­ments are avail­able clos­er to home.

“What I love most about my role is sup­port­ing and empow­er­ing researchers across rur­al and region­al NSW,” Melanie says. “It’s incred­i­bly reward­ing to bridge the gap between sci­ence and community—working with pas­sion­ate teams to bring mean­ing­ful med­ical research to life.”

Embrac­ing this new chap­ter has been both a chal­lenge and a high­light for Melanie.

“Tran­si­tion­ing from a long-stand­ing lab career into research sup­port lead­er­ship has been excit­ing,” she says. “I’m proud to be help­ing build stronger research net­works across the state.”

When she’s not work­ing, you’ll find Melanie relax­ing with her dog or get­ting caught up in a good TV mystery—most recent­ly The Fam­i­ly Next Door on ABC iview.

Explore our Research Ser­vices pages to learn how our team sup­ports research through pathol­o­gy col­lec­tion, pro­cess­ing, test­ing, and report­ing across NSW.

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