Dr Nema Hayba

Nema’s recent postdoctoral work focused on Human Factors and Resilient Healthcare, where she lent her expertise to the $2.86M MRFF project Working Together: Innovation to Improve Emergency Department (ED) Performance (MyED Study) based at 3 metropolitan hospitals in Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD). Using Experience-Based Co-Design (EBCD) methodology, the project aims to develop new models of care to enhance ED experience for five consumer cohorts: Older Adults, CALD individuals, people with mental health conditions, those with disabilities, and Indigenous Australians. As Engagement and Recruitment Lead, Nema was successful in developing strategic partnerships and achieved early buy-in from stakeholders, such as 4 major residential aged care facilities (RACFs), disability service providers as well as mental health specialist teams (hospital-based) to ensure priority consumer groups were engaged with, and their stories listened to. 

Previously, she completed her PhD at The Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney which focussed on the development of a co-designed culturally responsive and locally engineered lifestyle (nutrition and physical activity) intervention to combat the obesity pandemic present in adolescents from Middle Eastern (ME) backgrounds. As the first to address this gap in New South Wales, this piece of research solidified her commitment to addressing health disparities within CALD populations and set the stage for her future endeavours.