Turning Point is pleased to welcome PhD candidate Isabella Papadopoulos, who has joined the Clinical & Social Research (CSR) team as part of a National Health and Medical Research Council project that is set to transform alcohol treatment for thousands of Australians.

A multilingual researcher, Ms Papadopoulos has a research interest in health equity and the design of accessible digital health technologies. She completed a Bachelor of Biomedical Science (First Class Honours) at Monash University, where her thesis examined communication challenges faced in general practice by older Greek patients with limited English proficiency.

“My interests focus on how evidence-based, technology-enabled interventions can support recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder, enhance treatment engagement, and reduce the inequities often experienced by culturally and linguistically diverse communities,” she says. “I am particularly motivated to understand how digital tools can strengthen withdrawal care and relapse prevention, ensuring that effective support is both accessible and clinically meaningful.”

Supervised by Professor Victoria Manning and Professor Patrick Olivier, Ms Papadopoulos’s project will integrate neuroscience, AI-powered personalisation and digital health design to create scalable, clinician-friendly Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) tools that enhance engagement and improve long-term outcomes.

Harnessing AI to transform relapse prevention

Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) affects one in five Australians and contributes to more than 105,000 treatment episodes each year. While inpatient withdrawal is a crucial first step in recovery, relapse remains common, with up to 85% of people returning to alcohol use within 12 months.

Although CBM is recommended in national and international guidelines, it is rarely used in routine practice due to software complexity, limited clinician training and infrastructure barriers.

The PhD project aims to address these challenges by:

• identifying barriers to CBM adoption
• evaluating patient experiences and outcomes, and
• supporting the development of a clinician-friendly CBM platform and implementation toolkit.

Overall, her work seeks to close the gap between evidence and practice and transform relapse prevention in Australian alcohol withdrawal care.

A passion for improving health outcomes for vulnerable populations

Ms Papadopoulos says she chose to undertake her PhD at Turning Point because of its reputation as a national leader in addiction treatment, research and digital health innovation.

“The opportunity to work within a large, multi‑site implementation trial embedded in clinical services and supported by interdisciplinary expertise made Turning Point the ideal environment for my doctoral work. I am looking forward to working in a team that is at the forefront of improving outcomes for people experiencing alcohol dependence and other substance-related harms,” she says.

Learn more about opportunities for research students at Turning Point.

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