Elizabeth Saunders

Elizabeth Saunders is an Adjunct Lecturer at the School of Population and Global Health, The University of Western Australia. She holds a PhD in Psychology from UWA (2024) and has additional qualifications including a Bachelor of Science with Honours (UWA, 2014), Graduate Diploma in Coaching (Curtin, 2011), and Bachelor of Commerce (UWA, 2003). Since 2016, she has served as Senior Research Officer at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).

Her research focuses on transgender health, severe obesity in childhood, and psychometrics. Key areas include mental health assessments for transgender youth, pediatric gender measures, and healthcare accessibility for trans families. She has contributed to studies on reidentification with birth-registered sex and peripubertal return rates in gender clinics.

Dr. Saunders has received awards such as the 2019 Perth Children’s Hospital Allied Health Prize and the 2016 UWA Postgraduate Students Association Conference Award. She has collaborated on projects like the NHMRC-funded BOD POD GS-X equipment grant (2021).

Her work addresses UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health and well-being, with a focus on vulnerable populations including transgender youth and families managing severe obesity.