Staff profile

Dr Naomi Ngo

Research Fellow

Faculty of Health Sciences

Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society

Melbourne (City)

 

Qualifications

BSocWk, PhD

Area of study

Public Health

Brief Profile

Dr Naomi Ngo is a Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society (ARCSHS), La Trobe University.  Prior to this new academic role, much of her professional work has been with refugees and migrants. 

After completing her Social Work degree, Naomi worked as the Co‑ordinator of the Western Young People’s Independent Network (WYPIN), which was established by refugee and asylum seeker young people to provide programs and activities in line with their needs and aspirations. Later she obtained the position of Program Co‑ordinator at the Melbourne Youth Justice Centre, working with young men who were sentenced by either the Children's Court or an adult court to a custodial sentence. Naomi was formerly the Co-ordinator of the Vietnamese Community in Australia – Victoria Chapter (VCA-Vic), a peak representative body for Vietnamese-Australians in Victoria. From 2005 to 2011, she was Manager of the Multicultural Health & Support Service (at the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity & Health), a state-wide service in Victoria working with culturally diverse communities and service providers on viral hepatitis and sexual health issues.  

Naomi has also undertaken research, training and consultancy work around the needs and issues of culturally diverse groups and their access to appropriate support services.  She completed her PhD (in Social Science) in 2010, which explored the experiences of young Vietnamese-Australians who travelled to Vietnam as a way of addressing their heroin related problems.

Recent Publications

Ngo, N. C. K. 2011, 'Returning to the homeland: a means of addressing heroin issues for Vietnamese-Australian young people and families', HIV Australia, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 36-38.

Ngo, N. & Griffiths, P. 2010, 'Returning to the homeland: a last resort for dealing with heroin issues', Anex bulletin, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 3.

Ngo, N. C. K. 2010, 'The white path: the experiences of young Vietnamese‑Australian heroin users returning to their homeland', PhD thesis, RMIT University.

 

Conferences

Ngo, N. 2012, ‘Barriers and enablers to effective management of people with chronic hepatitis B’, invited presentation at the 8th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference, Auckland, 10-12 October.

Ngo, N. 2011, ‘Returning to the homeland – The experiences of young Vietnamese-Australians travelling to Vietnam to address their heroin issues’, paper presentation at the 6th International Drugs and Young People Conference: Making the Connections, Melbourne, 2-4 May.

Ngo, N. 2010, ‘Returning to the homeland – The experiences of young Vietnamese-Australians who travelled to Vietnam to address their heroin related problems’, paper presentation at the Australian Drugs Conference – Public Health and Harm Reduction, Melbourne, 25 & 26 October.

Ngo, N. 2010, ‘Enablers and barriers working with CALD communities’, invited panel presentation at the 7th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference: Pre-conference Seminar for People New to Working in Hepatitis B, Melbourne, 6 September.

Ngo, N. 2009, ‘Hepatitis B – Engaging communities, strategies to improve screening and access’, invited panel presentation at the 17th National Symposium on Hepatitis B and C, Melbourne, 28 November.

Ngo, N. 2009, ‘"You don’t wanna mess with me": Creative health promotion about hepatitis C for young people’, invited presentation at the Making Links Conference – Where Social Change Action & Technology Converge, Melbourne, 16 November.

Ngo, N. 2009, ‘Transmission – a creative hepatitis C awareness project targeting culturally diverse and marginalised groups’, paper presentation at the National Hepatitis Health Promotion Conference, Hobart, 29 & 30 October.

Ngo, N. 2009, ‘Transmission – a creative hepatitis C awareness project targeting culturally diverse and marginalised groups’ paper presentation at the Australian Drugs Conference – Drugs in Hard Times, Melbourne, 1-2 October.

Ngo, N., Sheikhdin, H. & Muhamed, A. 2008, ‘Reducing the risk of transmission in the African-Australian communities’, paper presentation at the Building a Common Future – Africa and Australasia Conference, Melbourne, 26-28 November.

Ngo, N. 2008, ‘Transmission – A creative hepatitis C awareness project targeting Vietnamese-Australians’, paper presentation at the 6th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference, Brisbane, 21 & 22 October.

Ngo, N. 2008, ‘Bridging differences, enhancing understanding – a family centred health promotion strategy towards hepatitis prevention in Arabic-speaking and East African families’, paper presentation at the 6th Australasian Viral Hepatitis Conference, Brisbane, 21 & 22 October.

Ngo, N. 2007, ‘Engaging CALD communities through a partnership and capacity building approach’, paper presentation at the National Hepatitis C Health Promotion Conference, Melbourne, 5 & 6 June.

Ngo, N. 2007, ‘Engaging CALD communities through a partnership and capacity building approach’, paper presentation at the Psychosocial Perspectives of HIV/AIDS: Emerging Themes Conference, Melbourne, 15 May.

Ngo, N. 2006, ‘HIV/HBV coinfection cases for experts’, invited panel discussant at the 14th National Symposium on Hepatitis B and C, Melbourne, 18 November.

Ngo, N. 2005, ‘The egg, the banana and the FOB: youth and identity’, invited presentation at The Vietnamese Presence – Celebrating 30 Years of Settlement in Australia, Melbourne, 30 September.

Ngo, N. 2004, ‘Working with young Vietnamese Australians’, invited presentation at the Working with the Vietnamese Community Conference, Melbourne.

Ngo, N. 2004, ‘Accessing the Vietnamese Australian community’, invited presentation at the Working with the Vietnamese Community Conference, Melbourne.

Ngo, N. 2003, ‘Combating racial discrimination for young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, invited presentation at the Sharing the Future Conference, Adelaide.

Ngo, N. 2002, ‘Culturally and linguistically diverse communities: an innovative approach’, invited panel discussant at The Local Drug Strategies Conference – Behind the Front Page, Melbourne.

Ngo, N. 1998, ‘Collaboration in today’s youth, education & community climate’, invited panel presentation at the Victoria University National Conference, Melbourne, 2 July.

Ngo, N. 1997, invited presentation at the City of Maribyrnong Hoi Conference – A Celebration of 21 Years of Vietnamese Settlement in Australia, Melbourne, 7 February.

Research projects

Naomi is currently working on the following projects: 

  • A hepatitis B patient research study that seeks to determine barriers to optimal clinical management, with a focus on the perspectives of people with chronic hepatitis B; and
  • A dynamic contextual analysis to determine the essential components of an effective public health approach to reduce the impact of chronic hepatitis B in Tasmania.