Hello!
Nice to virtually meet you and welcome to my website! Here you will be able to learn about me - whether you鈥檙e interested in my research outputs and curriculum vitae, specific R-related tutorials, or get a shortcut to the tools that I鈥檝e helped to develop.
Dionne is a Research Officer at WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research) and President of R-Ladies+ Melbourne. While her coding expertise often takes the spotlight, Dionne is also a renowned Eurovision diva and Tiramisu connoisseur.
Education
University of Melbourne | Melbourne, AU
PhD in Medicine, Densitry and Health Sciences | Feb 2020 - Aug 2025
University of Melbourne | Melbourne, AU
MSc in BioSciences | Feb 2018 - Dec 2019
University of Melbourne | Melbourne, AU
BSc major in Genetics | Feb 2015 - Dec 2017
Experience
WEHI | Research Officer | Nov 2024 - present
R-Ladies+ Melbourne | Organising Committee | Feb 2023 - present
Projects
The work I have devoted my education and post-doctoral career have centered around population genetics, molecular epidemiology, statistical epidemiology and machine learning. I am a keen codeR, primarily using the R coding language.
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Machine Learning Models to Classify Plasmodium vivax
MalariaPostdoc 路 Sero-Surveillance 路 Data Analysis
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About Me
I have always had a keen interest in science. From adding vinegar to baking soda in kindergarten to make a volcano, to spending two months in Mallacoota, Victoria at school learning about the environment and renewable energy, I became fascinated with how the world works, how humans work and how life works. While I enjoyed chemistry at school and university, my interest in biology - specifically evolution and genetics - ultimately led me to major in genetics in my Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Melbourne (2015-2017). More about my research journey is discussed here.
My PhD thesis focussed on the molecular epidemiology and population genetics of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in high-transmission settings with the Day Lab at the University of Melbourne. I completed a Bachelor of Science with a major in Genetics at the University of Melbourne. I then joined the Day Lab in February 2018 to start my Master of Science (BioSciences). I investigated the effects of perturbations on the population genetics of the reservoir of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Bongo District, Ghana. My PhD project extended this by considering various population genetics metrics on perturbations.
I am currently a post-doctoral Research Officer at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research (WEHI) where I am investigating how we can use serological markers to classify Plasmodium vivax exposure, as well as how we can track antimicrobial resistance in wastewater systems in Australia. I am upskilling in statistical modelling and machine learning approaches to broaden my skill tool-kit.
Throughout my research projects, I developed a deep interest in coding and have generated this website using R/Quarto! I have been an active member of R-Ladies Melbourne Inc. since 2023, serving as a committee member, Vice President and am now currently the President of the group. Coding in R always comes with challenges but the satisfaction when completing a task, in my opinion, is unparalleled. I have been continuing to seek new ways to up-skill in my coding, whether that鈥檚 developing a bookdown workshop, keeping up to date with functions in the tidyverse, creating new maps using packages such as MalariaAtlas and ggmap, or learning all the amazing ways quarto can be used to elevate documents, websites etc.