Emily Lenton
Emily is employed part time as a Research Associate on the ARC-funded project, 'Under construction: the social and cultural politics of hepatitis C'. She has worked in the hepatitis C field for 4 years, and is also employed as an Educator at Hepatitis C Victoria, where her main focus is enhancing the capacity of community agencies to deliver hepatitis C interventions, and to prevent hepatitis C transmissions.
Previously, Emily worked as a Research Assistant at the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health. She was employed on the study ‘Supporting young people at risk of hepatitis C infection: A pilot of an individualised, structured intervention to reduce the negative health consequences for young people who have had contact with the criminal justice system’. This project explored the feasibility and key issues for a sustainable and ongoing hepatitis C prevention program in post release agencies and youth drug and alcohol services in Victoria.
Emily is currently undertaking a 100% Research Masters, supervised by Suzanne Fraser. Her thesis will clarify the connections individuals draw between hepatitis C and sexuality, looking at the representations and discourses of sexuality among people affected by hepatitis C; the relationship between ideas about HIV as a sexual epidemic and ideas about hepatitis C transmission and safe sex; the impact of hepatitis C on reproductive experiences, and the role of chronic illness in shaping relationship and intimacy decisions.