Kate van Dooren

Meghan’s foreign mentor was Dr. Kate van Dooren, lecturer and primary qualitative researcher at the Queensland Centre for Intellectual and Developmental Disability, part of the University of Queensland’s School of Medicine in Brisbane. This was her first experience as mentor to an undergraduate researcher. It was, she said, “an amazing experience” during which “Meghan, Joan and I worked together as a cohesive team” to design and develop the project. Dr. van Dooren assisted Meghan in carrying out her research and found her “an extremely competent and autonomous researcher.” Together they conducted a thematic analysis of Meghan’s data and are preparing an article to submit to a peer-reviewed journal. Their collaboration will continue beyond this project. “As a team,” Dr. van Dooren said, “we have learnt a great deal about the health of a vulnerable and often overlooked population group.”