Our people
The Centre for Human Anatomy Education brings together international expertise in evidence-based anatomy education.
Our teaching and research staff
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Professor Michelle LazarusDirector of the Centre for Human Anatomy Education
Professor Michelle Lazarus is an education-focused academic, whose research area includes evidence-based anatomy education. Alongside developing innovative anatomy curricula, she investigates methods for improving retention and transfer of anatomy knowledge from the classroom to clinical care, designing frameworks for vertical integration of anatomy curricula and improving the integration of basic science teaching in a manner fostering healthcare students’ professional development.
With a passion for science communication, Michelle also hosts the Ask Anatomist podcast, exploring interesting medical topics with expert guest discussion.
View Monash Researcher profile Visit the Lazarus Research Group
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Associate Professor Justin W. Adams
Associate Professor in Anatomy and Developmental Biology
Justin W. Adams, PhD has been an anatomy educator since 2003, and currently coordinates the Glasgow Scholarship program for the CHAE. He is also the Director and primary researcher in the 3D Innovation and Design Studio that is applying advanced imaging and manufacturing technologies into revolutionary teaching materials used in anatomy education.
A/Prof. Adams has been a field palaeontologist focused on the Plio-Pleistocene African fossil record and outstanding questions of human and mammal evolution in South Africa since 2001. His ARC-funded interdisciplinary research on South African fossil mammals and palaeoecosystems has yielded a comprehensive picture of the South African landscape during a period of significant climate change, faunal turnover, and events in human evolution; including publications in both Nature and Science.
In recent years A/Prof. Adams has expanded his research into wider issues of comparative mammalian biology and palaeontology to address outstanding research areas on living and extinct Australian marsupials. His lab brings together 3D data capture and quantitative methods, from surface scanning and traditional medical imaging (CT, MRI) through microCT and Synchrotron analysis, to answer outstanding palaeobiological and anatomical research questions on living and extinct mammal species from Australia and around the globe.
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Associate Professor Luca FiorenzaAssociate Professor in Anatomy and Developmental Biology
Associate Professor Luca Fiorenza is a biological anthropologist and Head of the Palaeodiet Research Lab. He coordinates Structure of the Human Body - An Evolutionary and Functional Perspective in the biomedical science program, and he also teaches in the medical and radiography programs.
Luca’s research interests mostly focus on a better understanding of the evolution of the human diet using an interdisciplinary approach, by combining advanced computer modelling with palaeocological and biogechemical data. His work has been published in prestigious journals such as Nature and Nature Ecology and Evolution, and his research on human evolution has been covered in the national and international media, including SBS, ABC, National Geographic and Scientific American.
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Dr David GonsalvezSenior Lecturer in Anatomy and Developmental Biology
Dr David Gonsalvez is an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow. He heads up a laboratory focused on how glia, the non-neuronal cells in the brain and spinal cord, develop, contribute to neuronal plasticity and respond following injury. David’s laboratory also focuses on identifying therapeutic targets that may promote the repair of the nervous system in autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis. His lab utilises a number of cutting-edge advanced microscopy techniques, supported by the Monash Micro Imaging and Cryo-Electron Microscopy platforms. In addition, the lab utilises molecular biology techniques and a range of tissue culture methods - including the use of human-induced pluripotent stem cells to generate 3D brain organoid systems.
David has a passion for anatomy education and extensive experience in teaching clinical anatomy to medical students.
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Dr Georgina StephensSenior Lecturer in Anatomy and Developmental Biology
Dr Georgina Stephens is an education-focused academic and medical education researcher.
Dr Georgina Stephens is an education-focused Senior Lecturer and health professions education researcher. She is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and an Associate Editor of Anatomical Sciences Education.
Georgina’s research explores the role of anatomy education in fostering professional skills development, uncertainty tolerance in education and healthcare, and the ethics of anatomy education and donor dissection. Her research into medical students’ experiences of ethics in anatomy education led to the development of an innovative ethics documentary, which now underpins the CHAE ethics training module. During her PhD, Georgina investigated uncertainty tolerance in medical students, including the psychometric properties of uncertainty tolerance scales. This work has resulted in publications in leading medical education journals including Academic Medicine and Medical Education, and the co-development of a grant-funded, open-access handbook, Preparing Learners for Uncertainty in Health Professions, which has attracted over 7,500 visitors. She also has a strong interest in qualitative research and has guest edited a special issue of Anatomical Sciences Education focused on qualitative research in the health professions and sciences.
A trained medical professional, Georgina is passionate about teaching clinical anatomy in ways that promote students’ professional skill development alongside their anatomical knowledge. Her teaching and research interests include whole-body donor dissection and the professional development of anatomy demonstrator staff. She welcomes opportunities for research supervision and mentorship, particularly for higher degree and early-career researchers undertaking education-focused research projects.
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Dr Yasith MathangasingheDr Yasith Mathangasinghe is an anatomy educator, medical doctor, and neuroscientist with over eight years’ experience teaching anatomy, and currently leads the Graduate Entry Medicine Anatomy program at Monash University. He completed his MBBS (Honours) at the University of Colombo in 2016, and earned a PhD (2024) in Cell Biology and Neurosciences at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute, Monash University (Clayton). His doctoral work identified a novel primate protein-disaggregation activation pathway that reduces stress-, ageing-, and neurodegeneration-related cell death. After his PhD, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University, studying oligodendroglial plasticity and mechanisms of myelin repair, supported by an Early Career Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr Mathangasinghe has authored 50+ Q1 peer-reviewed publications (including in The Lancet, The Lancet Neurology, JAMA Neurology, and Nature Medicine) and his work has been cited in policy documents including three updates to WHO guidelines. He also develops open-access anatomy education tools (e.g., online escape rooms and assessor leniency adjustment applications) and has received multiple teaching awards, including the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence – Innovations in Learning and Teaching (2025).
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Dr Jack MayhewDr Jack Mayhew is a Senior Lecturer with over a decade of anatomy teaching experience. He completed his Bachelors and Biomedical Science Honours degrees, and a PhD in anatomy at the University of Newcastle. Jack leads the anatomy curriculum within the Bachelor of Biomedical Science and contributes to the leadership of the Graduate Entry Medicine Anatomy program at Monash University. Jack has a keen interest in large-cohort viva voce exams and technology-assisted practices to facilitate personalised teaching approaches.
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Emeritus Professor Paul McMenamimEmeritus Professor in Anatomy and Developmental Biology
Professor Paul McMenamin has taught anatomical sciences to medical students, science students and postgraduate surgical and medical specialists for around 40 years.
His lab research is diverse and includes the role of immune cells in the eye and brain and comparative ocular anatomy. He has published around 170 papers and co-authored one textbook. Paul has been the recipient of numerous teaching accolades including the Premier’s Award for Excellence in Tertiary Teaching (WA) in 2007. He has pioneered new approaches to anatomy teaching, such as body painting, 3D printing and virtual reality. He and a team from the CHAE have created a medical anatomy curriculum available worldwide on Sectra visualisation tables.
Professor McMenamin retired in February 2020 but continues to be engaged with the activities of the CHAE. He currently leads our outreach program in the Pacific, is creating a 3D pathology series and investigates the use of augmented reality in hand anatomy teaching.
Affiliate membership teaching and research staff
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Dr Jason MasseySenior Lecturer, Anatomy Cross-Campus Integration Lead
Dr Jason Massey is a biological anthropologist broadly trained in evolutionary anthropology with a focus on primate evolution and skeletal growth and development. He received training at the University of Minnesota in the United States, followed by a teaching-focused postdoc in the associated medical school.
Jason’s research interests lie in the interplay between ontogeny and evolution, whereby slight alterations in a population’s ontogeny can lead to divergent adult shapes – potentially leading to evolutionary change. To approach these broader questions, he uses three-dimensional surface scanning technology, landmark-based geometric morphometrics, and multivariate statistical analyses on population-level differences in growth and development.
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Associate Professor Chantal HoppeAssociate Professor Chantal Hoppe is an education-focused academic in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University, where she also serves as Head of Teaching and Deputy Head of Education.
Her work is centred on advancing teaching innovation that integrates deep disciplinary knowledge with the development of workplace-ready skills. She is particularly committed to constructive alignment, programmatic curriculum design, and authentic assessment, with a strong focus on preparing students for professional practice beyond university.
Chantal has led major curriculum transformations across Biomedical Science and Science majors, including the redesign of large core units and the introduction of nationally and internationally recognised assessment innovations such as large-scale viva voce examinations, competency-based laboratory hurdles, and science communication projects. Her work also incorporates emerging technologies, including generative AI, to reflect real-world scientific and professional demands and to address contemporary challenges such as planetary health.
An award-winning educational leader, Chantal has received multiple Dean’s Awards for Teaching Excellence, Monash BDI Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning, and the Vice-Chancellor’s Award in 2025. She is widely recognised for her leadership in building staff capacity, embedding professionalism frameworks, and fostering future-focused, ethical, and impactful learning experiences.
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Dr Kim CataniaDr Kim Catania is an education-focused academic with a passion for equity, inclusion, and student wellbeing. Her research and scholarship focus includes scaffolded development of scientific, academic and transferable employability skills within the non-vocational degrees, Biomedical Science and Science.
Since joining Monash University in 2017, she has led curriculum innovations embedding teamwork, professionalism and authentic assessment to create engaging, student-centred programs aligned with professional standards.
Dr Catania led the redevelopment of anatomy education in the Bachelor of Radiography and Medical Imaging and contributed to major curriculum renewal initiatives, including the co-development of the Biomedical Science Teamwork Scaffolding Education Framework. Dr Catania convenes large units in Science and Biomedical Science and also teaches into Medical Science and postgraduate-entry Medicine.
Committed to staff development, she has created training resources, mentors teaching teams and promotes evidence-based pedagogy across departments. Her work has been recognised by numerous teaching awards including the BDI Award for Outstanding Achievement: Innovation in Learning & Teaching and the Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Award for Occupational Health & Safety.
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Dr Reyhan AkhtarReyhan is an education-focused academic with a strong commitment to high-quality teaching and the professional development of teaching associates (TAs). Her teaching spans multiple programs, including the Bachelor of Biomedical Science, Bachelor of Science, and the medical course.
She coordinates units within the Biomedical Science degree and the Anatomy and Developmental Biology major, and is actively involved in curriculum design, assessment development, and teaching innovation. A key focus of her work is supporting and mentoring TAs through structured training.
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Dr Sonja McKeownDr McKeown teaches across multiple disciplines and degrees. She convenes units and teaches extensively in the Developmental Biology major, using her research expertise in the field of developmental biology to develop active learning and practical classes, and integrates transferable skill development across the units she leads. Dr McKeown leads the histology teaching in postgraduate medicine, and uses a variety of active learning approaches to engage students in the study of histology in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical degrees.
Dr McKeown's research focuses on two areas: 1. biomedical research, seeking to understand the development and cellular interactions of the nervous system in the gastrointestinal tract, and 2. educational research in teaching transferable skills, and identifying core concepts in the field of developmental biology.
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Dr Julia YoungJulia Young is a senior Lecturer/Research Fellow with the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, and an adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. Julia runs both undergraduate and post graduate Units in developmental and stem cell biology, while also maintaining a research interest in the fields of reproductive development and basic stem cell biology. Julia undertook her PhD at Monash, then moved to the IGBMC in Strasbourg, France for her post-doctoral training. She returned to Australia to join the burgeoning stem cell research field, before expanding her experience into the education area. Julia is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and is passionate about inspiring students through integrating real world research experiences into her teaching.
Our technical staff
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Smita MehtaSenior technical officer
Through her 15-year journey at Monash, Smita Mehta has been a research assistant, a teaching associate, an associate lecturer and now a senior technical officer. She has been associated with the Centre for Human Antomy Education for the past two years.
Smita enjoys working closely with the Centre Director and other academics to provide the required technical resources for anatomy teaching, including laboratory management and administration. She ensures all activities are compliant with the human tissue act and the University’s OHS policy.
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Stephen ThompsonTechnical assistant
Stephen Thompson has been part of anatomy at Monash for over 30 years. Stephen is responsible for anatomy class preparation for all our medicine, biomedical science, physiotherapy and radiography students. Stephen’s experience includes prosecting (specimen preparation), skeletal articulation (both human and animal) and plastination and he has worked with University donor programs at the University of Melbourne and the University of Adelaide.
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Dr Liz CuttingSenior Administration Officer
Liz Cutting has been part of the anatomy team at Monash since 2022. Liz is responsible for the Centre of Human Anatomy Education administration, including communication with anatomy students within medical teaching units. Liz’s role includes, student attendance keeping, Moodle updates, ensuring ethic requirements are adhered to, centre administration and teaching staff support including teaching staff associates.