Rate My Professor Alyna Turner

Associate Professor Alyna Turner is a clinical psychologist and researcher based at Deakin University's Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation (IMPACT), within the Faculty of Health, School of Medicine. She obtained her BSc (Psychology) with Honours and PhD from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales. A fully registered psychologist since 2001 and endorsed clinical psychologist, she gained clinical experience in psychiatry, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation, and liaison psychiatry settings prior to joining IMPACT in 2013. Initially appointed as Senior Lecturer, she has advanced to Associate Professor and serves as Deputy Director of the TRIALS team at IMPACT. Turner also holds honorary appointments at the University of Newcastle, the University of Melbourne, Barwon Health, and the Australian Centre for Heart Health.

Turner's research expertise lies in the comorbidity of mental and physical health conditions alongside substance use disorders. She leads a research program focused on clinical trials evaluating novel pharmacological and psychological interventions for conditions including stroke with comorbid depression, bipolar disorder, heart disease, diabetes, psychotic illnesses, anxiety, and substance misuse. Recent initiatives emphasize supporting stroke survivors in returning to work, with projects such as Strive to Thrive and ReConnect after stroke. She has secured major funding, including National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials scheme grants exceeding $5 million for Deakin projects (2024) and the $75,000 Tim Glendinning Memorial Fund for Young Adult Stroke research (2021). With over 150 publications and more than 6,700 citations on Google Scholar, her influential works include 'A brief review of exercise, bipolar disorder, and mechanistic pathways' (2015), 'The long-term unmet needs of informal carers of stroke survivors at home: a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative studies' (2022), 'Development of a harmonized sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire for mental health research' (2024), 'An international, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of adjunctive trimetazidine to treat people with bipolar depression: the TIDE trial protocol' (2024), and 'The role of gender norm conformity in men's psychological help-seeking and treatment engagement: a scoping review' (2025). Her contributions shape evidence-based strategies for managing complex comorbidities.