MsSteph Main

Steph is an applied epidemiologist, public health practitioner, and educator with broad experience across government, non-government, and academic sectors. She trained through Australia’s Field Epidemiology Training Program at the Australian National University, and joined Deakin in 2025 after a decade working within both global health and Australian public health contexts.

Throughout her career in Public Health Units, Departments of Health, and non-government organisations, she have contributed to communicable disease prevention and control, outbreak management and disease surveillance efforts. She has specialised skills in the epidemiology, research and management of infectious diseases, outbreaks and public health emergencies. Notably, she was involved in Australia’s responses to COVID-19, syphilis and mpox, and has worked in tuberculosis research and public health programming in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG).

Steph has a strong track record in teaching and learning. She is currently the co-course director of the Bachelor of Public Health and Health Promotion as well as a lecturer and unit chair within undergraduate and postgraduate public health programs. She has facilitated international training programs, including Australia Awards Indonesia and WHO's SORT-IT courses in PNG and Indonesia. At Deakin, Steph supervises masters research projects and unit chairs a range of public health subjects including Disease Prevention and Control (HSH102), Health Protection (HSH770) and Public Health Principles and Practice (HSH701). 

Steph works at the intersection of research, practice, and education, driven by a deep commitment to improving human, environmental and animal health outcomes through education and public health research and practice. Her experiences, both locally and globally, shape her approach to public health, where she prioritises inclusivity, cultural humility, and a deep commitment to the communitites she serves. As a public health practitioner, she strives to uphold justice, equity, and the right to self-determination.

Steph lives on Wadawurrung Country in Victoria's Surf Coast, and she honours the Wadawurrung peoples' profound connection to this unceded land, its seas, and waterways, places that have been nurtured for tens of thousands of years. She is deeply grateful to the community for their resilience and ongoing efforts to protect and care for Country, a Country that nourishes her, a Country she connects to and endeavours to protect as a visitor on these lands.