Leda Sivak

Leda has been with Wardliparingga since March 2014. Currently she is working across a number of projects in the Population Health, Health Systems and Services, and Sexual Health research programs. Recently, she was the Study Coordinator for the Barngarla Language and Wellbeing Study, a five-year National Health and Medical Research Council funded project grant (2017-2021) that aimed to systematically assess the social and emotional wellbeing impacts of Indigenous language reclamation with Barngarla community members from the Eyre Peninsula. Prior to this, Leda worked on a range of projects within Wardliparingga, including as Project Manager for the development of a Model of Care for Aboriginal Prisoner Health and Wellbeing for South Australia, which was launched by the Minister for Health in early 2018 (http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/d9e831ff-6332-4cc7-95c2-0e3d8e282315/SA+Prison+Health+Service+MOC+for+Aboriginal+prisoner+health+and+wellbeing+for+SA.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=ROOTWORKSPACE-d9e831ff-6332-4cc7-95c2-0e3d8e282315-m5B2uMt). Leda also has contributed to a variety of evaluation projects both within South Australia and other Australian jurisdictions. In 2018, she was engaged as Principal Investigator to lead the co-design, implementation and evaluation of a peer support program for young people living with Rheumatic Heart Disease in urban Darwin. And in 2014 she was part of a national study team who developed a Wellbeing Framework to assist primary healthcare services to improve the quality of care and health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living with chronic conditions (). Before joining the team at Wardliparingga, Leda worked as a consulting anthropologist in the field of Aboriginal cultural heritage management, undertaking fieldwork throughout South Australia, including the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands, and the Pilbara and Kimberley regions of Western Australia between 2008 and 2014. Leda recently completed a PhD at the University of Adelaide, which explored the topic: ‘Researching Research: Redressing power imbalances in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research’.