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.

Our plan at a glance

Strategic outcomes

The Plan has five key strategic outcomes:

• Our patients receive the right care in the most appropriate place
• Our people are well supported and encouraged to reach their full potential
• We are national leaders in specialist care
• Our partnerships enable a comprehensive system of care
• We are leaders in environmentally sustainable healthcare

Our purpose

Helping people live healthy, productive and fulfilled lives.

Our vision

Shaping the future through exceptional care, discovery and learning.

Our values

Our actions show we care

We are inclusive and considerate. We appreciate one another, always listening and interacting with compassion.

Together we achieve

Our culture of collaboration means we work openly with our people, our community and beyond to achieve great outcomes.

We bring our best

We are guided by the needs of our patients, bringing commitment, integrity and energy to everything we do. We are passionate about delivering excellence.

We shape the future

Through research, education and learning we innovate, exploring new opportunities that will change healthcare for the better.

Our guiding principles

• Timely access to high quality care
• A great place to learn, work and grow
• Research activities that improve patient outcomes
• Listen to what our patients and community say
• Culturally safe services for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples

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.