ISCRR has two new research staff to welcome: Tesfaye Mekonnen and Pramila Rai!
Tesfaye is a public health academic with extensive expertise in Occupational Health and Public Health research. He is currently finalising his PhD with Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, investigating healthcare service utilisation and outcomes of musculoskeletal injury claims using a large, administrative, multijurisdictional dataset.
Tesfaye received a Masters of Public Health (MPH) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Health and Safety from University of Gondar, Ethiopia. He possesses solid skills in designing and implementing research projects, managing and analysing large-scale quantitative datasets, and conducting evidence synthesis, including scoping reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis.
Tesfaye’s work is driven by a strong commitment to improving healthcare service utilisation for individuals seeking workers’ compensation benefits for common musculoskeletal conditions such as low back pain in Australia. By employing a data-driven approach, Tesfaye seeks to enhance recovery, expedite return-to-work, and reduce the burden of work disability.
Pramila joins ISCRR as a Research Fellow, where she will contribute to evaluation projects. She is passionate about evidence synthesis and contributing to research projects that lead to the implementation of evidence-based, high-value care.
Before joining ISCRR, she was a research assistant with Cochrane Musculoskeletal, where she worked on Cochrane reviews and evidence synthesis. She also worked as a teaching faculty member in public health at the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, B. P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences. Pramila recently completed her PhD at Monash University, focusing on “Improving Healthcare System Sustainability in Nepal.