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Catherine Fetherston

Associate Professor, School of Health Professions, Murdoch University

My early career, since graduating as a nurse in 1978, was spent working in acute care areas such as coronary care and cardiothoracics and then teaching bioscience and critical care at the WA School of Nursing. Following the birth of my children my professional interests changed direction and I subsequently qualified as a midwife and a lactation consultant in 1992. During the following 15 years I worked across the continuum of midwifery care and lactation consultancy in a variety of clinical, teaching and management roles, whilst also undertaking research into lactation mastitis. I have published a number of papers relating to this research and a book chapter on the immunological protection of the breast and have also presented both nationally and internationally in the areas of breastfeeding, physiology and pathophysiology of the lactating breast, ethics and evidence based care.

I initially came to work at Murdoch University as a Research Fellow in 2007. While my research interests still centre on women’s and family health, with a focus on breastfeeding related areas, I also have a special interests in research methods, quality teaching and higher degree research supervision in addition to being a member of the Murdoch University Human Research Ethics Committee

Experience

  • –present
    Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching, Murdoch University
  • –present
    Associate Professor, Murdoch University