Meet the Health TG Co-Convenors:
Anthony KJ Smith is a Scientia PhD candidate at the Centre for Social Research in Health at the University of New South Wales. His research examines clinician perspectives on prescribing HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Australia, with a focus on the two distinctive contexts of New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA). The study uses a range of qualitative methods, including interviews, online story completion and observational fieldwork to allow for multiple lines of inquiry into different aspects of clinical prescribing. It includes an exploration of social norms in prescribing encounters, along with accounts from clinicians on the intricacies of prescribing PrEP. Anthony has published his work in leading international journals including Sociology of Health and Illness, and Health Sociology Review.
Dr Kiran Pienaar is a lecturer in Sociology at Deakin University. Before joining Deakin she was lecturer at La Trobe University, and before that a research fellow in Sociology at Monash University, where she retains an affiliate role. Kiran has a multidisciplinary background in Gender Studies, Sociology and Applied Linguistics. Her research explores connections between health, gender, sexuality and the body, with a particular interest in the sociopolitical dimensions of health, and the implications of particular health interventions for marginalised communities. Her research has appeared in leading journals including Social Science and Medicine; The International Journal of Drug Policy; Health; and Social Theory and Health. Her first book Politics in the Making of HIV/AIDS in South Africa was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2016.
Dr Jacinthe Flore is a Vice-Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT University. Her research focuses on the intersections of technology, health and society, and is situated in two interrelated areas: (1) the genealogy of psychiatric diagnoses, sexuality and medical techniques, and (2) pharmaceuticals, mental health and digital technology. Jacinthe's current work interrogates the nexus of digital technology, design and mental health, particularly artificial intelligence, wearable devices, wellbeing apps and fourth generation pharmaceuticals. She is the author of several articles published in international journals and her first monograph, A Genealogy of Appetite in the Sexual Sciences will be published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020.