Elysa Roberts

Dr. Elysa Roberts is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle, specializing in Occupational Therapy. She moved to Australia from the USA in 2013 to join a team of active educators and researchers.

• Research Focus: Recovery from eating disorders, sensory processing in mental health, occupational justice, transformative learning in healthcare
• Teaching: Productive occupation, work rehabilitation, advocacy as intervention, occupational justice

Research Themes: Her work explores how lived experience informs clinical practice, particularly for eating disorder recovery and occupational science applications. She investigates sensory sensitivity's role in mental health and advocates for family-centered communication in pediatric surgery.

Recent Publications examine eHealth interventions for pressure injury prevention, hypospadias care pathways, and oral health barriers for autistic individuals, demonstrating interdisciplinary applications of occupational therapy principles.

• Scientific Awards: Fellows of Advance HE (2022), Merit List for Teaching Excellence (2018), multiple Golden Apple Awards

Supervision Roles include principal and co-supervision of Honours and PhD projects in occupational justice, pressure injury prevention, and hypospadias outcomes. She also contributes to national eating disorder frameworks and recovery-oriented practice guidelines.