Clinics & services
NEPHU
North Eastern Public Health Unit
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About us
The North Eastern Public Health Unit (NEPHU) is one of nine public health units across metropolitan and regional Victoria. NEPHU is funded by the Victorian Government and works closely with the Victorian Department of Health.
The NEPHU team is made up of public health doctors, infectious diseases doctors, infection prevention nurses, epidemiologists, public health officers, public health planners and project managers, administration officers and communication and engagement advisors. Representing over 40 cultural backgrounds and speaking over 25 different languages, the diversity of our team proudly reflects the diversity of our catchment.
Our work
Located at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg with teams based at the Northern Hospital and Box Hill Hospital, we work together with our communities to improve the health and wellbeing of the NEPHU population through health promotion, prevention and protection activity, such as:
- Preventing and managing outbreaks of diseases
- Contact tracing and connecting cases to support
- Providing health and disease information and education to the community
- Collaborating on campaigns to promote healthy behaviours, choices and activities
- Coordinating vaccination services for diseases such as COVID-19 and mpx.
What areas of Melbourne do we serve?
NEPHU serves the northern and north-eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne, from the inner northern and eastern suburbs, extending north to include the Hume and Whittlesea local government areas, and north-east to include Nillumbik and the Yarra Ranges.
We serve a population of around 1.8 million people, across 12 local government areas and 277 postcodes.
We are proud to be part of one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse regions in Australia.
Our people
The NEPHU team is made up of public health doctors, infectious diseases doctors, infection prevention nurses, epidemiologists, public health officers, contact tracers, administration officers and communication and engagement advisors. Each team member is integral to the overall work of NEPHU.
Senior leadership team
Professor Paul Johnson - Director
Paul is an infectious diseases physician and the Director of the North Eastern Public Health Unit. He trained at the Austin Hospital Clinical School and Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital before moving to the Department of Microbiology at the Royal Children's Hospital where he obtained a PhD in Microbiology and undertook post-doctoral work in Epidemiology. In addition to his work at NEPHU, Professor Johnson continues his clinical role at Austin Health and is conjointly Director, World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Mycobacterium ulcerans.
Jo Kenny - Operations Director
Jo holds a Master of Physiotherapy, Musculoskeletal from the University of Melbourne. After working as physiotherapist at a number of health services, including interstate, overseas and at Austin Health, Jo moved into project and operations management. Jo has supported the Chief Operating Officer as Operations Manager for Austin Health and was Operations Lead COVID-19 Response at the Austin, before joining NEPHU in January 2021.
Dr Annaliese Van Diemen - Assistant Director
Annaliese is a specialist in communicable diseases. She graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Science, a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery from Monash University, going on to earn a Diploma of Child Health Pediatrics at the University of Sydney and then a Master of Public Health – Medicine, Emergency Management and Disaster Preparedness at James Cook University. She has previously held a number of roles at the Department of Health, including Deputy Chief Health Officer, before joining NEPHU in May 2021.
Contact us
For urgent medical assistance
Please call 000 if you require urgent medical assistance, particularly if you have or might have COVID-19 and your condition has got worse. Do not delay.
For other enquiries
Non-urgent or general enquiries
If you have a non-urgent or general enquiry about COVID-19, vaccination or current restrictions, please see the extensive information provided by the Victorian Department of Health's Coronavirus (COVID-19) Victoria website.
