I am a Professor of Clinical Psychology in the School of Psychological Sciences, Macquarie University and Director of the Macquarie University Lifespan Health & Wellbeing Research Centre.   

My research interests relate to understanding and treating mental disorders across the lifespan. I am particularly interested in understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying anxiety and depression (and related disorders), the symptoms of, and treatment of depression and anxiety across the lifespan. I have developed a number of psychological interventions for children, adolescents and older adults through randomised controlled trials. I have a particular interest in translating evidence-based practice into public and private mental health settings and schools. 

I am a Registered Psychologist with clinical endorsement (AHPRA Registration Board Registration No: PSY0001283368) and AHPRA Endorsed Supervisor for Psychology registrars.

My research program has predominating focused on two key age groups. 

OLDER ADULTS

This program of research has led to new knowledge of: barriers to mental health care in older adults, methods to assess and detect geriatric anxiety and depression, identification of psychological mechanisms that underpin these disorders, and development of evidence-based interventions to treat geriatric depression and anxiety in a range of settings and formats. More recently I have also conducted research to develop methods to detect and treat lifestyle risk factors for the development of cognitive decline and to assist people to age well. Most notably, I developed and led the evaluations of the Ageing Wisely cognitive behavioural therapy program for treating comorbid anxiety and depression in older adults across a range of populations and settings. You can find out about how to receive treatment with this program at this link: Ageing Wisely Treatment. Professionals can access training in how to use the Ageing Wisely program here: Ageing Wisely Professional Training, and access copies of the manuals here: Product Shop

My current major projects in older adults are:

The Ian Potter Foundation - Ageing Wisely in Aged Care: An Implementation Trial (2026-2030).

The Ian Potter Foundation - Improving adoption of evidence-based psychological treatments in residential aged-care settings: A system wide approach (2024-2028). 

NHMRC-EU Collaborative Grant - Strengthening resilience and mental wellbeing through the Support4Resilience toolbox for leaders in elderly care (2024-2028). 

MRFF project (Chief Investigator)- Chronic disease risk reduction in older adults with high dementia risk: CogCoach health trial (2024-2028). In this project we will evaluate the effectiveness of a program to reduce chronic diseases in people with mild cognitive impairment. You can see the project page here: CogCoach Health

MRFF project (Chief Investigator) - Secondary prevention of dementia through lifestyle risk reduction in cognitively at-risk older adults (CogCoach-Brain; 2024-2028). In this project we will implement an online dementia risk reduction intervention designed specifically for people with Subjective Cognitive Decline and Mild Cognitive Impairment to reduce further risk for the development of dementia.

NHMRC Project grant (Chief Investigator) - Targeting mechanisms underlying loneliness in chronic conditions in older adults (2023-2028). In this project we will be identifying and modifying the mechanisms underlying loneliness in older adults with chronic health conditions in the interrelated projects. You can see our project website here: Targeting mechanisms underlying loneliness in chronic conditions - Macquarie University

ARC Discovery project - Drivers of ageing and adaptive ageing in middle-aged and older adults (2023-2027). This project will follow up three generations in the Australian Temperament Study to examine mechanisms associated with adaptive ageing.

NIHR-NHMRC Collaborative Research grant (Chief Investigator)- A randomised CONtrolled trial of Tailored Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for older people with treatment resistant Generalised Anxiety Disorder (CONTACT-GAD) (2022-2027). This multinational, multisite clinical trial evalautes the clinical and cost effectiveness of acceptance and committment therapy for older adults with treatment resistant Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Professor Rebecca Gould (University College London) leads the UK arm and I am the Australian lead. 

The Ian Potter Foundation (Chief Investigator) project - "Primary care screening tool to detect, prevent and treat mental health issues for older Australians" (2022 - 2027). This grant supports the extension of the Ageing Well risk screening and early intervention tool for dementia to also screen and target risk factors associated with poor wellbeing in later life including loneliness, anxiety, and frailty.

MRFF Dementia, Ageing & Aged Care grant - EMBED: A stepped wedge cluster randomised trial of a tailored, integrated model of care to reduce symptoms of depression in home aged care. This project trials a new health model for screening and treating depression in older adults receiving home aged care.

MRFF Emerging Leadership Fellowship II (2021-2025). This investigator grant is focused on increasing the identification and treatment of mental disorders in older adults, including identifying and treating risk factors for dementia in primary care. As part of this project, we have codesiged the Ageing Well Tool for use in primary care to detect and treat risk for dementia. You can read more on our project page: Ageing Well Tool

NHMRC Project Grant (Chief Investigator)- Translating Evidence-Based Psychological Interventions for Older Adults with Depression and Anxiety into Public and Private Mental Health Settings Using a Stepped Care Framework (2018-2024). This multisite trial evaluated the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a stepped care intervention for treating anxiety and depression in older adults in routine care settings. This included training allied health staff in these services to deliver evidence-based interventions via telephone, internet and video conferencing methods, as well as face-to-face. The interventions were based on the Ageing Wisely program and the clinicial trial was cofunded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Beyond Blue. The trial was recently completed and is in the data analysis stage.

NHMRC Project Grant (Chief Investigator)- Improving Mental Health and Social Participation Outcomes in Older Adults with Depression and Anxiety (2018-2024). SPAA TRIAL: This clinical trial sought to examine the impact of increasing the frequency and quality of social interaction on treatment outcomes of cognitive behavioural therapy in older adults with mood and/or anxiety disorder. This trial was cofunded by the National Health & Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Beyond Blue. This trial has recently completed and is the in the data analysis stage. 

YOUTH

This program of research has led to new knowledge in understanding anxiety and academic stress in youth, developing and evaluating evidence-based interventions to treat these conditions across a range of settings and formats. I developed and evaluated the Study without Stress program in clinical and implementation trials. This stress management program has been used in hundreds of schools and by over 10,000 students. It is listed on the VIC Schools Mental Health Menu as an endorsed program. To access these materials or to receive eTraining follow these links: Study without Stress: Product Shop and eTraining

I have also been a coauthor on the Cool Kids suite of programs for treating child and adolescent anxiety. I have led and collaborated on a number of clinical trials evaluating this program in our Emotional Health Clinic as well as in routinue settings. The Cool Kids program is used in 25 countries and translated into 17 lanugages. To access these materials or to receive eTraining follow these links: Cool Kids: Product Shop and  eTraining

My current major projects in youth are:

MRFF Project Grant - Advancing Childhood Anxiety Treatment with Intensive Exposure Therapy (2025-2027).  We will examine in a clinical trial the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a two-session treatment using prolonged exposure to treat transdiagnostic child anxiety disorders compared to traditional cognitive behavioural therapy. This project seeks to make treatment more accessible, cost effective and acceptable for the many young Australians suffering from debilitating anxiety disorders, ultimately bridging the current treatment gap. This project is led by Dr Ella Oar (Macquarie University). 

Research Themes:Anxiety; Depression; Academic Stress; Prevention of Mental Disorders and Cognitive Decline; Psychopathology

Populations: Older Adults; Children and Adolescents

Research Methods: Clinical Trials, Psychosocial Therapy, Translational Research (public health, schools), Systematic Reviews, Experimental Methods.

I am the inaugural director of the Macquarie University Lifespan Health & Wellbeing Research Centre, and former director of the Centre for Ageing, Cognition and Wellbeing, Faculty of Medicine, Health & Human Sciences, Macquarie University. 

I was also Research Chair and Deputy Head (Research) in the Department of Psychology, Macquarie University (2017-2018).

I also serve on the following Editorial Boards (peer-reviewed scientific journals): Clinical Gerontologist (2016-current), Child Psychiatry and Human Development (2014–current).

Current HDR Students:

1. Primary Supervisor, Tina Huang-Smith,  MRes, (2025-current)

2. Primary Supervisor, Benjamin Petrovic, Ph.D., (2025-current)

3. Primary Supervisor, Daniel Einfeld, Ph.D., (2024-current)

4. Primary Supervisor, Xiaojing Lei, Ph.D., (2024- current)

5. Primary Supervisor, Wing Yin (Theodora) Leung, Ph.D., (2024-current)

6. Primary Supervisor, Sahana Narayan, Combined Ph.D/Masters of Clinical Psychology, (2022-current)

I am the current Secretary of the Australian Psychological Society Psychology and Ageing Interest Group (2025-current). I was previously the elected National Convenor (2019 - 2023).

I was an elected Board Member of WayAhead (formerly NSW Mental Health Association) (2016-2019).

I served on the Executive Committee of the Macquarie Univeristy Human Research Ethics Committee (2016), as well as being a core member (Clinical Care) of the full committee (2015-2016).