Dr Ruth De Souza RN, PhD, FACN
Hello,
My name is Ruth and I’m the coordinator of the Alone Together project.
I am currently a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at RMIT University, based in the School of Art and Design and Creative Practice Enabling Capability Platform. I am a nurse, academic and community engaged researcher in gender, race, health and digital technologies. Prior to coming to RMIT, I was the academic co-convenor of the The Data, Systems and Society Research Network (DSSRN), a collaborative research network across the University of Melbourne. My Fellowship will engage health professionals in finding new ways to understand, co-design and implement sustainable cultural safety initiatives in a range of health contexts in response to health inequities. I also have an Honorary Senior Research Fellow role at The Centre for Digital Transformation of Health at The University of Melbourne and my own consulting practice.
My research work in progress includes: whether health technologies provide an opportunity for addressing health inequalities; a critical health agenda around the intersections of race, class, gender, neoliberalism and health technology; examining how wearable health technologies can enhance consumer participation agendas eg through co-design and shared decision making; the implications of new health information technologies for the health care workforce; implications of new health information technologies; and data ethics in the context of the secondary use of clinical data and aggregation of patient data.
Researchers and industry partners
Distinguished Professor Larissa Hjorth (RMIT University); Ms Maria Dimopoulos (Special Adviser, Multicultural Communities, Department of Justice & Community Safety); Associate Professor Bianca Brijnath (NARI); Ms Deidre Ellem (Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) Consumer -Collaborative Pairs Program); Dr Barbara Barbosa Neves (Monash University); Ms Kate Renzenbrink (Bendigo Health and Clinical Reference Lead for the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) and Collaborative Pairs Program; Dr Jenny Waycott (University of Melbourne); Dr Juan Sanin (RMIT University)
Alone Together 