05/09/2025
The Poche Centre for Indigenous Health is delighted to announce that Dr. Simone Sherriff has been awarded one of the 2025 Indigenous Strategy and Services Project Grant for her initiative titled: “International Indigenous Knowledge Sharing to Develop Australia’s First Indigenous Lactation Training Program". This project will address a critical gap by creating a culturally safe and responsive lactation training program that is community-led and designed and will support building the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lactation workforce in Australia. Simone’s project responds directly to calls from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) for research and support to develop training grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. It aims to close the gap in health outcomes by ensuring Aboriginal women, children, and families have access to culturally responsive lactation support. Aligned with the University of Sydney’s One Sydney, Many People (OSMP) strategy, this initiative strengthens partnerships with national and state-based peak bodies and local ACCHOs. It also supports the career development of an Aboriginal early-career researcher and an Aboriginal PhD student, fostering Indigenous leadership in lactation research. Some of the researchers involved on the project are Dr. Claudia Alarcon, Deanna Kalucy, A/Prof. Summer May Finlay, A/Prof. Michelle Kennedy, PhD candidate Georgia Stewart, and Prof. Catherine Chamberlain.
By embedding sustainable, culturally appropriate lactation training within Aboriginal health services, this project represents a timely and impactful step toward reclaiming the lactation space in Australia. Congratulations again, Simone, on this well-deserved recognition and for leading such an important and transformative initiative!
