Staff profile

Dr Deborah Gleeson MPH PhD

Lecturer

Faculty of Health Sciences

School of Public Health and Human Biosciences
Department of Public Health

HS1 Level 1, Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

BAppSc (Medical Laboratory Science), Grad Dip Health Promotion, MPH, PhD

Membership of professional Associations

Public Health Association (Convenor, Political Economy of Health Special Interest Group)

Area of study

Health Administration
Health Policy
Public Health

Brief Profile

Deborah Gleeson is a Lecturer in the School of Public Health and Human Biosciences at La Trobe University. She teaches subjects with a health systems, health policy and public health focus in the Bachelor of Health Sciences.

Deborah's research interests include health policy making capacity in government, the impact of trade agreements on health and the capacity for engagement between health and trade sectors.

She is currently working on a comparative study of health policy capacity in three Australian jurisdictions and a study of the capacity for health sector engagement in trade policy in the Pacific island countries. Her PhD thesis was a study of policy capacity in the (former) Victorian Department of Human Services.

Deborah has worked in health promotion roles in the community health sector; as a project officer for the Centre for Development and Innovation in Health; and as a research fellow in the School of Public Health at La Trobe University. She has lectured in health promotion policy at the Australian Catholic University and tutored in health policy at La Trobe University.

Deborah holds the honorary role of Convenor of the Political Economy of Health Special Interest Group of the Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA). In this capacity, she plays a key role in PHAA's advocacy for healthy trade agreements. She is also active in the People's Health Movement, a global network of health activists and organisations that advocates for health equity at the global level.

Research interests

Health Services and policy reform

- Please contact me to discuss a topic.

Teaching Units

PHE1SDH Social Determinants of Health

PHE1HCS Health Care Systems

PHE5POL Public Health Policy

Recent Publications

Gleeson, D., Tienhaara, K. and Faunce, T. (2012) Challenges to Australia's national health policy from trade and investment agreements. Medical Journal of Australia, 196 (5): 1-3. Available from: http://mja.com.au/journal/2012/196/5/challenges-australia-s-national-health-policy-trade-and-investment-agreements

Gleeson, D. and Legge, D. (2012) Strengthening public health engagement in trade policy: PHAA's policy on Trade Agreements and Health. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 36(1); 7-11. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2012.00823.x/abstract

Gleeson, D., Legge D., O’Neill D. and Pfeffer M. (2011) Negotiating tensions in developing organisational policy capacity: Comparative lessons to be drawn. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 13(3) pp. 237-263. Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13876988.2011.565912#preview

David Legge, Tuohong Zhang, Deborah Gleeson, and Qunhong Wu (2010) Chapter 8: Policy theory. In: Vivian Lin, Guo Yan, David Legge and Wu Qunhong (Eds), Health Policy in and for China. Peking University Medical Press, pp. 409-422.

Legge, D., Zhang, T., Gleeson D., and Yang, H. (2010) Chapter 9: Policy analysis, policy development and policy capacity. In: Vivian Lin, Guo Yan, David Legge and Wu Qunhong (Eds), Health Policy in Transition: The Challenges for China. Peking University Medical Press, pp. 423-437.

Gleeson, D. (2009) Developing Policy Leadership: A Strategic Approach to Strengthening Policy Capacity in the Health Bureaucracy. Unpublished PhD thesis, La Trobe University. Available from: http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/thesis/public/adt-LTU20100513.120047/index.html

Gleeson, D. H, Legge, D. G. and O’Neill, D (2009) Evaluating health policy capacity: Learning from international and Australian Experience. Australia & New Zealand Health Policy 6:3, available from: http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/6/1/3  

Legge, D. G., D. H. Gleeson, et al.  (2007) Micro macro integration: reframing primary healthcare practice and community development in health. Critical Public Health 17 (2), pp. 171-182.

Gleeson, D. (2001) The Conceptual and Empirical Utility of Social Capital for Public Health. Unpublished thesis, La Trobe University. Available from: http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/thesis/public/adt-LTU20050509.131918/index.html

Gleeson, D. (1999) Social capital theory: Implications for public health. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 9 (3), pp. 183-187.

Gleeson, D. and Boston, V. (1999) A system for program evaluation in community health. Australian Journal of Primary Health Interchange, 5 (4), pp. 74-80.