Dr Vera Sistenich is a Specialist Emergency Physician in Australia and a Research Associate at the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research focus is on the development and implementation of clinical and public health care policies in humanitarian and low resource settings. In 2013-2014, she was Health Policy Advisor to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.

Vera's background is in Emergency Medicine: she practices as a specialist in Australia where her areas of interest are Aboriginal health, medical education and the development of physician training in the field of International Emergency Medicine. Outside Australia, she has clinical experience in China, Nepal, Peru, South Africa, Vietnam and the UK. She has also worked with asylum seekers at the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre in the Australian Indian Ocean Territories, as well as at the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea.

Vera is currently team leader for HandUp Congo’s Emergency Medicine Education Project, which has to date delivered education, practical skills training and medical equipment to over 400 healthcare providers across 8 different medical institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vera undertook her medical training (BMBCh) at the University of Oxford, UK, where she also gained a master degree (MA) in physiological sciences. Thereafter, she completed her specialist training and became a Fellow of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (FACEM). She holds a Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (DTM&H) from the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventive Medicine. She has a master degree (MPH) from the Harvard School of Public Health where her studies focused on humanitarian affairs, human rights and global health.