Rate My Professor Jo Antoniades

Jo Antoniades is an Associate Professor of Health Communication in Society in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University. She completed her PhD in 2017, with an academic background that bridges public health, psychology, primary care, and communication. Since her doctorate, she has contributed to national and international studies focused on dementia awareness, prevention, and care within culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Her research specializations encompass health communication, cultural diversity, dementia, mental health, and community engagement. Antoniades leads several major projects, including the MRFF-funded MindCare program and the Department of Health and Aged Care-funded MindCare4Women, which develop community-driven, culturally relevant dementia risk reduction education initiatives in collaboration with multicultural stakeholders. She is also a recipient of an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Level 1 (EL1) fellowship, supporting the co-design of a navigation and decision-making tool for aged care tailored to South Asian seniors.

Antoniades was inducted into the Victorian Multicultural Honour Roll in 2024 for her exceptional contributions to promoting dementia awareness and health equity among CALD seniors. She collaborated on the Moving Pictures project, which produced short films to raise dementia awareness in Arabic, Mandarin, Tamil, and Greek communities, incorporating input from carers, medical experts, and academics. As a core member of the MINDSET team led by Professor Bianca Brijnath, she co-developed online training modules for interpreters to improve dementia assessments for non-English speakers, covering cognitive and linguistic impacts, diagnostic tools, and interpreting strategies. This initiative has been completed by approximately 14% of Australia's active interpreter workforce and rolled out to seven countries in Europe, earning the team a finalist position in the 2025 Eureka Prize for Societal Impact in Science. Her work addresses key barriers in multicultural dementia care, including language reversion in later illness stages, cultural dietary and religious needs, and community stigmas, fostering equitable access to services and appropriate care planning.