Our Team
OCEAN co-leads
Dr Christopher Harrison
Dr. Christopher Harrison is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health and the Director of the MD Population Health Theme. With over 20 years of experience in primary care research, Dr Harrison is one of Australia’s leading experts in primary healthcare. His work focuses on primary care, health services research, and improving healthcare delivery through evidence-based practices. Dr. Harrison collaborates with clinicians and policymakers to enhance patient outcomes and inform public health strategies. He is dedicated to advancing Australia’s healthcare system through impactful research. He co-leads the OCEAN study with Dr Gordon.
Dr Julie Gordon
Julie is a health information manager and health services researcher. She has more than 20 years of experience working in general practice research and worked on the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health (BEACH) project for 16 years. Her primary area of interest is in the development and application of clinical classifications and terminologies in primary care settings. She is one of the technical co-leads for the OCEAN study.
Clinical leads
Professor Sue Randall
Prof. Sue Randall’s academic career focuses on community, PHC and rural health nursing. She has successfully gained $15 million of category 1 or 2 funding as chief or associate investigator. She is co-lead of the GPN and NP arms and lead of the cross cutting rural theme of the Occasions of Service Explained and Analysed project (OCEAN-GPN / OCEAN-NP).
Professor Liz Halcomb
An international award-winning nurse academic, Liz has a strong interest in Primary Health Care nursing, particularly around the nursing workforce in primary care, chronic and complex disease and lifestyle risk factor reduction.
In 2018, Liz was inducted into the Sigma International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame to the sustained positive impact of her internationally recognised work on the profession and the community. In 2019, she was the first nurse awarded the Bridges-Webb medal by the Australasian Association for Academic Primary Care. In 2020, Liz was named in 100 Outstanding women nurse and midwife leaders by the Women in Global Health.
Professor Roianne West
Dr. Christopher Harrison is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health and the Director of the MD Population Health Theme. With over 20 years of experience in primary care research, Dr Harrison is one of Australia’s leading experts in primary healthcare. His work focuses on primary care, health services research, and improving healthcare delivery through evidence-based practices. Dr. Harrison collaborates with clinicians and policymakers to enhance patient outcomes and inform public health strategies. He is dedicated to advancing Australia’s healthcare system through impactful research. He co-leads the OCEAN study with Dr Gordon.
Professor Sarah Dennis
Sarah Dennis is Professor of Allied Health in the School of Health Sciences. She will be leading the allied health adaptation and piloting of OCEAN. Her research focus is the diagnosis, prevention, and management of chronic disease in primary, in particular the role of allied health, equity and access to allied health. The OCEAN project will provide important information to support this work by shedding light on what clinical care allied health professionals are providing in primary care.
Project Management
Dr Kate Milledge
Dr Kate Milledge is currently the Project Manager of the Occasions of Care Explained and ANalysed (OCEAN) study. Kate has an Honours degree in Nutrition and Dietetics (2012) from the University of Wollongong, and a PhD in Nutrition Epidemiology (2021) from the University of Sydney. Her thesis was completed with the Concord Health and Ageing Men Project (CHAMP) project, focusing on nutrition and oral health in older men. Kate was the Project Manager for the CHAMP study between 2018 and 2021.
Dr Michelle Hancock
Dr Michelle Hancock is a physiotherapist with a doctorate in the field of spinal pain and translation of research evidence into clinical practice. Michelle’s PhD was awarded by the University of Sydney and was supported by a Postgraduate Award scholarship. With experience in both clinical and research settings, Michelle is passionate about evidence-based practice and is committed to advancing physiotherapy practices and enhancing healthcare systems. Currently, Michelle works part time as the physiotherapy project manager on the OCEAN project, and as a clinical physiotherapist in NSW Health.
‘Data in’ team
Asha Rose Beattie
Asha is a registered nurse currently completing her PhD at the University of Wollongong. She earned her Bachelor of Nursing with First Class Honours, where she conducted research on carers of people living with dementia. With clinical experience spanning aged care, emergency, and haemodialysis, Asha’s research focuses on primary health care.
Janice Charles
Janice has a BA (Music) and a Master of Science (Medicine). Janice was project manager for Beach and is the founder of CAPS. CAPS is a pharmaceutical classification system devised by the then Family Medicine Research Centre (FMRC) and was used in the Centre’s general practice research since the 1980s up to 2020. Its structure was developed and expanded over the years to allow identification of all products currently used in Australian general practice.
Janice is the only person who understands the background, structure and content of CAPS, and CAPS is an integral part of the GPN OCEAN study. Janice’s experience and unique skills are therefore vital to the success of the GPN OCEAN study.
Associate Professor Joan Henderson
Dr Joan Henderson is Associate Professor of Primary Care Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, and Editor of HIMJ, the international peer-reviewed journal of the Health Information Management Association of Australia (HIMAA). With 25 years’ research experience, she is passionate about valid, reliable heath data. A member of the BEACH (Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health) research team from its inaugural year for the duration of the program, she now brings that experience to the OCEAN (Occasions of Care Explained and Analysed) project.
Dr Ruth Alison Mursa
Ruth is a Registered Nurse and completed her PhD in 2025 at the University of Wollongong. Ruth has spent almost 30 years working in general practice and has extensive clinical experience (as both a general practice nurse and nurse practitioner) and postgraduate qualifications. She is currently working as a Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong and works casually as a nurse in primary care. Together with her clinical expertise, Ruth’s PhD, exploring men’s engagement with general practice, provides a strong foundation for her role within the OCEAN team.
Eric Tuchin
Eric holds a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and has extensive experience in research and data analysis, with a particular focus on disability services. Having worked in disability support through the NDIS, he has a deep understanding of the healthcare system and how data on individuals receiving health services can inform and shape policy development. Combining practical experience with a strong foundation in research methodologies, Eric brings valuable expertise to the OCEAN project.
Vacant Positions
Dr Yang Lu
Dr Yang Lu is a Research Fellow and the Lead Software Engineer for the OCEAN Project. He completed a First-Class Honours degree in Software Engineering at the University of Sydney in 2020 and obtained his PhD in Computer Science in 2024, specialising in data science, data mining, and business process management. He is also experienced in full-stack development, API design and database management.
Dr Jason (Yu) Zhang
Dr Yu Zhang is a Software Engineer at the University of Wollongong. In the OCEAN project, he is the developer of web-based platforms for healthcare data collection and analysis. He was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on machine learning and computer vision, with a particular interest in medical data analysis and AI-driven decision-making. He holds a Master’s degree and a PhD from the University of Sydney and has experience in deep learning and software development.
Currently Vacant
Currently Vacant
Project Administration
Imelda Noti
Imelda provides administrative support for the OCEAN and ICPC-2 PLUS teams and has been working across various University of Sydney teams for many years. Imelda has experience in event management, organising education workshops and focus groups.
