Rate My Professor Milena Heinsch

Dr Milena Heinsch is an Honorary Professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health (Social Work) and Senior Research Fellow at the Priority Research Centre for Brain and Mental Health at the University of Newcastle, where she also holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Social Work. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy and Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Newcastle. Her career includes serving as Acting Head of Discipline and Program Convenor in Social Work in 2016, Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Sussex in 2018, Paediatric Gastroenterology Social Worker at The John Hunter Children's Hospital from 2010 to 2015, and Social Worker at The Maitland Hospital from 2009 to 2010. Heinsch is an implementation scientist specializing in the mechanisms influencing the uptake of evidence-based health interventions, with advanced skills in implementation and translation models, qualitative methodology, and mixed methods in health research. Her research interests encompass children and families, evidence-based practice, health social work, implementation science, knowledge utilization, mental health, research translation, and eHealth. Fields of research include social work (70%), implementation science and evaluation (20%), and psychiatry (10%). She has secured over $6 million in research funding across 36 grants, including the National Mental Health Pathways to Practice Program Pilot ($998,965, 2023-2025), eCliPSE Project ($734,892, 2022-2025), and Cracks in the Ice ($911,835, 2018-2020). Heinsch has supervised seven PhD completions and currently supervises seven PhD students, four with competitive scholarships. She received the Dean’s Award for Early Career Excellence in Research and Innovation Excellence twice (2016, 2017), and one of her HDR students won the Dean’s HDR Research Excellence Award in 2016.

Key publications include 'Social Spaces for Older Queer Adults: A Guide for Social Work Educators, Students and Practitioners' (2024), 'Implementation science theory as a foundation for health information systems research' (2025), 'Mental health practitioners’ perspectives on supporting transgender and gender diverse youth: A scoping review' (2026), 'The Mental Health and Wellbeing of Hazara Refugees in Australia: A Scoping Review' (2026), and 'Implementing digital interventions for comorbid mental health and alcohol and other drug use problems' (2023). Her work has garnered 1,390 citations across 69 publications, demonstrating significant impact in advancing eHealth implementation, telehealth equity, refugee mental health, and social work education. She contributes to collaborations such as the NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence in Prevention of Mental Illness and Substance Use (PREMISE).