Samantha Jane Dunne

Samantha is a lecturer and tutor in Human Sexuality at Victoria University's (VU), Footscray Park campus.

Samantha began her career as a registered nurse, having trained at St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne. Samantha worked at the Mackay Base Hospital (QLD) for 12 months, completed a Nursing degree and Midwifery Graduate Diploma through VU and then moved to Katherine, Arnhem Land (NT) for seven years.

During that time, she gained qualifications in sexual health and this became a specialty area for her. She has also worked  as a midwife, hospital educator and executive director at the Katherine Hospital. She held a 12 month position as a midwife and educator at Wurli-Wurlinjang Aboriginal Medical services in Katherine. She also taught at Batchelor College, training Aboriginal Health Workers in remote clinics.

Other role Samantha has held include:

• working for Family Planning, NT as a clinician and clinical services manager for the NT
• Wrote and taught unit Paediatric Health in the NT at the Northern Territory University.

Around 2002, Samantha was elected to the board of Family Planning Australia and spent 5 years as the International Representative for IPPF. Her work involved community development projects in 5 different countries in sexual and reproductive health throughout the East and South East Asia Oceanic Region (ESEAOR).

Samantha continues to work in community development through the formation of a humanitarian group of midwives and doctors called MOM’s (Midwives on the Move), who have worked mainly in Mongolia within the hospital and university supporting maternal health care education and clinical skills development.

Samantha currently:

• works two days a week in Maternity Services at St Vincent’s Private Hospital as a consultant
• works two days a week for the Macedon Ranges Maternal Health Service as a Maternal Child Health Nurse.
• volunteers readily to local community through rotary, works on youth programs in the main and is the president elect for the Gisborne rotary club.

Samantha also works one day a week in one of her greatest passions lecturing and delivering tutorials in Human Sexuality at VU, the same university that helped educate her. This dynamic human sexuality unit serves as an exemplary and solid benchmark for all Australian Universities educating primary and secondary school teachers across Australia. The end goal for Samantha is to help embed comprehensive human sexuality education into all teaching curriculums in this country.