Rate My Professor Sue Outram

Dr Sue Outram serves as the Head of the Discipline of Health Behaviour Sciences in the School of Medicine and Public Health within the Faculty of Health and Medicine at the University of Newcastle, holding the title of Honorary Associate Professor. Her academic qualifications include a PhD from the University of Newcastle, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from the University of New South Wales, and registration as a Nurse with the NSW Nurses Registration Board. Dr Outram has led a substantial cross-disciplinary teaching program encompassing undergraduate and postgraduate levels, overseeing 6-8 academic staff, casual lecturing staff, 20 conjoint staff, and up to 20 research higher degree students. She transitioned to full-time employment in 2003 following part-time work during the period she bore and raised three children, with her PhD completed in 2002 marking her entry into research as an early career researcher.

Dr Outram's research specializations include the health and wellbeing of Australian Vietnam veterans, their partners, and families; reduction of alcohol-related harm in Aboriginal communities; Indigenous health; psychiatry; medical education; communication skills in psychiatry; grief and bereavement; health promotion; patient-health professional interactions; public health; sexuality; and women's mental health. She has initiated and managed significant projects, collaborating across disciplines and universities including the Universities of Sydney and Queensland. Key publications co-authored by Sue Outram include "Combat, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Health of Australian Vietnam Veteran Conscripts and Volunteers in the Three Decades After Return" (2019), "The mental health of sons and daughters of Australian Vietnam veterans" (2018), "Travels in Extreme Social Mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education" (2017), "Medicine: in need of culture change" (2016), "Interventions for improving medical students' interpersonal communication in medical consultations" (2016), and book chapters such as "Key Attributes of Patient-Safe Communication" (2014) and "Communicating with people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds" (2014).