Chair 

Dr Niveditha Rajadevan
Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist, The Royal Women’s Hospital, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre

Before joining The Royal Women’s Hospital where she previously trained, Dr Rajadevan worked as a gynaecological oncologist at Auckland City Hospital. She has been involved in several research projects, including as Principal Investigator on a research project investigating the Molecular Profile of Endometrial Cancer in Young Women in New Zealand. While training at The Royal Women’s Hospital, she was a Principal Researcher investigating the role of serum HE4 levels in endometrial cancer, with the results published in the Australia and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Her PhD through the University of Melbourne and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is on Testing Therapies for Mucinous Ovarian Cancer in Novel Patient-Derived Models.

Speakers

Madeleine Clarke
Research Assistant, Evaluation and Implementation Science Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne

Ms Clarke is a disabled research assistant with a background in disability advocacy. Her work has had a particular focus on co-design initiatives relating to the Disability Standards for Education and other rights-based frameworks, as well as on participatory research activities relating to the NDIS, employment, and child safety policies and landscapes. Her work in this area has brought together the needs and perspectives of disabled people and the employees of sectors and systems in which people with disability are embedded. She now works at the University of Melbourne across projects that aim to increase access to cervical screening for people with disability.

Karleen Plunkett
Advocate with lived experience

Ms Plunkett is a dedicated advocate for systemic change, drawing on her lived experience of disability to champion inclusive healthcare, transport, and policy development. Since the early 1990s, she has led peer education programs, worked for and advised government and health bodies, and contributed to academic research with institutions including Deakin, Melbourne, and Sydney universities. Her work with Women with Disabilities Victoria, the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, and the Centre for Disability Studies continues to amplify the voices of people with disabilities, particularly in improving access to cervical screening. Her impact has been recognised through her induction into the Victorian Women's Honour Roll.

Dr Tessa Saunders
Research Fellow, Evaluation and Implementation Science Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne

Dr Saunders is a public health researcher specialising in health system improvement, program implementation, and translational research. She leads a program of research focused on improving access to and the experience of cervical screening for women with disability, working in partnership with lived experience researchers and project advisors. Her broader research portfolio advances equity in cervical screening through participatory methods including co-design, collaborative quality improvement, and implementation science. She established and facilitates consumer advisory groups focused on inclusive research engagement and, as a person with lived experience of cancer, is also an active member of the Cancer Council Victoria Consumer Advisory Network.