Rate My Professor Dhanya Palackathuruthel Kunjukunju

Dhanya Palackathuruthel Kunjukunju is a Lecturer in Nursing at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health, Adelaide University, based at the Mount Gambier Campus. She possesses a strong academic background with a Master of Nursing (Chronic Disease and Ageing) and a Master of Mental Health Nursing, both from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Further qualifications include a Graduate Certificate in Infection Control from Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology, New Zealand, a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment from TAFE NSW, and a Bachelor of Nursing from Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, India. Dhanya has worked in a variety of nursing specialties, with the majority of her clinical experiences in aged care, palliative care, and mental health.

Her career encompasses diverse clinical and now academic roles across India, New Zealand, and Australia. From 2007 to 2012, she worked in India. She then engaged in dementia care in New Zealand from 2012 to 2014, followed by positions at Maida Vale Retirement Village in Taranaki (2015-2016) and Te Rangimarie Hospice in Taranaki (2017-2020). In Australia, she served at Baptist Care Aged Care in Wagga Wagga, NSW, from 2020 to 2022, and in Community Mental Health with MLHD Wagga Wagga, NSW Health, from 2022 to 2024. Since 2024, she has held her current position as Lecturer in Nursing at Adelaide University, Mount Gambier Campus. In this role, she teaches several key undergraduate courses in 2025, including NURS 1061 Experiential Learning Activity: Preparation for Clinical Practice Practicum 1, NURS 1072 Foundations of Nursing Practice, NURS 1073 Health of Older People, and NURS 2041 Mental Health Nursing. Her teaching strengths are in aged care and mental health, aligning closely with her clinical expertise.