Rate My Professor Belinda Lewis

Dr Belinda Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, and Adjunct Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy. She holds a PhD and Bachelor of Applied Science with Honours in Health Promotion from Deakin University, as well as a Bachelor of Science and Diploma in Education from the University of Melbourne. Her research specializations encompass health promotion and health communication through participatory and culture-centred approaches, media, culture and public health, cultural politics of health, community empowerment and capacity building, international health and development including socio-cultural transitions, crisis, conflict, disasters, recovery, migration, mobility and violence prevention, sexual and reproductive health, drugs, prisons and rehabilitation, and inter-professional education. She applies qualitative research methods, action research and community-based participatory research, with recent emphasis on cultural politics of health in Indonesian communities facing development, tourism, mining and resource exploitation challenges.

In her academic career at Monash University, Lewis teaches health promotion, health communication, media and health, foundations of health in primary clinical care, community partnerships and capacity building, participatory community practice, and inter-professional education across departments of Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Emergency Health and the broader faculty. She has developed curricula internationally, including Health Promotion courses for female students at Princess Nora University in Saudi Arabia (2014) and Fatima College of Health Sciences in the United Arab Emirates (2012), and facilitates public lectures and workshops with community and activist groups. Major publications include the book Health Communication: A Media and Cultural Studies Approach (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, with Jeff Lewis), Bali’s Silent Crisis: Desire, Tragedy and Transition (Lexington Books, 2009, with Jeff Lewis), Women, Health and Exercise After Childbirth: Strategies to Support Physical Activity for Mothers of Young Children (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010), and refereed articles such as “Sex, Sexuality, and Intimate Relationships Among Afghan Women and Men of Refugee Background Living in Melbourne, Australia” (Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2023) and “Family Planning and Afghan Refugee Women and Men Living in Melbourne, Australia” (Culture, Health & Sexuality, 2020). She was awarded a research grant from the School of Primary Health Care Education Research Grant Scheme in 2015.