Maryke Steffens, mentee in the 2019 MedTech-Pharma program in NSW (Macquarie University)
Maryke is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Health Informatics at Macquarie University’s Australian Institute of Health Innovation. Maryke is investigating the challenges for public health communication and practice presented by poor quality information and misinformation in today’s changing media landscape. Her areas of interest include the impact of the loss of medical journalists on public health; how public health practitioners use social media to monitor and respond to immunisation information in the public domain; how to improve the communication of public health information to the public; and how to better translate new evidence from scientific and medical research.
Maryke completed a Master of Public Health at the University of Sydney in 2015 and has a background in science communication and the media. She previously worked at Neuroscience Research Australia as a media and communications officer, and at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a science and health reporter/producer, working on programs including Catalyst, The Health Report and for ABC Online. Maryke has also worked on research and communication projects at the Cancer Council NSW, the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, and Médecins Sans Frontières, among others.
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