Rate My Professor Shawana Andrews

Professor Shawana Andrews is a Palawa Trawlwoolway woman from Tasmania and serves as Director of the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health and Associate Dean Indigenous in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne. She is also Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work within the Melbourne School of Health Sciences. With over 25 years of professional experience in social work, Indigenous leadership, and public health, Andrews has worked extensively across Aboriginal communities in Victoria. Her career includes roles as a clinical social worker in hospitals, policy influencer, academic lecturer and adviser in higher education, Senior Lecturer in Aboriginal Health at the Melbourne School of Health Sciences since 2012, Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Social Work from 2019, and Associate Director of the Melbourne Poche Centre for Indigenous Health from 2019. She has led university-wide Indigenous health teaching and learning initiatives, focusing on Indigenous doctoral advancement and health leadership.

Andrews earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Social Work from the University of Melbourne, where she was the sole Indigenous student in her master's cohort. She completed her PhD in the Department of Social Work in 2021, with the thesis titled 'Cloaked in Strength: An exploration of Aboriginal mothers’ experiences of family violence and the role of cultural practice as a tool of engagement, resilience and resistance,' which earned the Chancellor's Prize for Excellence in the PhD Thesis in 2023. Her research specializations encompass Indigenous health and wellbeing, Aboriginal mothering, family violence in the context of children's ill health, psychological violence among Aboriginal women, and cultural practices such as possum skin cloaking for engagement, resilience, and resistance. Key publications include 'Enabling higher degree pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students' (2023), 'Cloaked in Strength—how possum skin cloaking can support Aboriginal mothering practices' (2020), and 'Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future: trauma-aware, healing-informed care' (2024). Andrews contributes to public discourse through articles in Pursuit, addressing topics such as Indigenous women's leadership, cultural recognition, and support for at-risk Aboriginal women and children during crises. As Chief Investigator on projects like the Oak Foundation-funded initiative on psychological violence and the Safer Families Centre of Research Excellence, she advances access to health services for Aboriginal women experiencing family violence.