Lauren Kelada

Dr Lauren Kelada is a Research Fellow at UNSW Sydney's School of Clinical Medicine and Sydney Children’s Hospital. She holds a PhD in psychology from Monash University (2017) and focuses on improving psychosocial outcomes for families affected by rare and chronic childhood illnesses. Her work emphasizes co-designing healthcare interventions with communities. Dr Kelada has secured over $10M in grants from NHMRC, MRFF, and Luminesce Alliance. She leads studies like the SIBS-ONLINE program for siblings of children with developmental epileptic encephalopathies and DEER’s psychosocial substudy.

Her research spans siblings' caregiving roles, rare disease models of care, and family support systems. Awards include the 2021 Golda Meir Fellowship and Australasian Society of Behavioural Health and Medicine’s Early Career Researcher award. She collaborates with multidisciplinary teams and co-founded the Behavioural Sciences Unit (www.behaviouralsciencesunit.org). Dr Kelada’s work bridges clinical practice, community engagement, and policy to enhance family resilience in health crises.