DrCharlene Wright

Dr Wright is a clinician-researcher and Research Fellow in the Institute for Health Transformation at Deakin University, based in regional Victoria. Her work sits at the intersection of implementation science, digital health, and rural cancer equity, and is anchored by direct clinical and community proximity to the communities it serves.

Dr Wright is the Research Fellow and Communications Lead on the $7 million MRFF-funded Equitable Cancer Outcomes across Rural and Remote Australia (ECORRA) program, one of the country's largest rural cancer research initiatives. As lead author, they developed the Rural-Urban Classification System Harmonisation Framework, addressing a longstanding methodological barrier to the consistent national and international comparison of rural cancer outcomes. She has 30 peer-reviewed publications, including lead authorship in an invited five-paper Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific series, and holds competitive research funding exceeding $3.39 million as a chief investigator, including on a $2.5 million MRFF project.

Dr Wright's current research focuses on co-designing digital infrastructure that connects rural and remote clinicians to timely, case-based specialist advice at the point of care. She co-supervises higher degree by research (HDR) students, is a registered Deakin University HDR supervisor, and mentors emerging health and medical researchers through the Western Alliance STaRR Mentor Network. Her work also reaches broad public audiences, including a 2025 article in The Conversation on rural cancer survival that was covered widely across regional ABC networks.