معرفی
Dr. Catherine Viengkham is a Research Fellow at the Sydney Nursing School within the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. She joined the university in 2022, initially as a research administration officer working with Professor Ramon Shaban, and was later appointed to a full-time academic position. Her work is associated with the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute and the HIRAID Aged Care initiative.
Her educational background includes a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) and a PhD from the University of New South Wales, where her doctoral research focused on aesthetic processing and visual perception, examining factors driving individual differences in aesthetic preferences through studies of personality, visual sensitivity, sensory modality, and neuroatypical traits.
Dr. Viengkham's research spans infection prevention and control, communicable diseases, healthcare-associated infections, and public health, with a strong emphasis on aged care settings. She investigates behaviour change, outbreak management, and strategies to improve healthcare quality and safety. Her work integrates psychological principles with nursing and healthcare practice to address infection control challenges across diverse clinical environments including emergency care, mental health, and neonatal units.
Analysis of her recent publications reveals a dominant focus on infection prevention in residential aged care, with significant contributions to developing frameworks for infection control programs, outbreak management protocols, and nurse-led assessment tools. Her interdisciplinary approach combines psychology, nursing, and public health to translate research into practical safety improvements, particularly evident in the HIRAID Aged Care project's stepped-wedge trial methodology.
Dr. Viengkham actively collaborates through the HIRAID Aged Care team, which develops nurse-led frameworks to enhance safety in residential aged care. Her work extends to specialized settings including emergency departments, mental health facilities, and cosmetic practice environments, demonstrating comprehensive engagement with infection prevention across the healthcare continuum.
