Associate Professor Rachel Winterton is a principal research fellow and Deputy Director at the John Richards Centre for Rural Ageing Research, located in the La Trobe Rural Health School.
Rachel's research focuses on enhancing the health, wellbeing and participation of older people in rural, regional and remote communities, with a particular focus on the role of the volunteer and community sector. She is nationally recognised for her expertise in this area and was called as an expert witness to the Australian Royal Commission for Aged Care Quality and Safety in 2019. Her current work, conducted in partnership with government, health and community partners, focuses on developing community sector responses to building rural age-friendly health care literacy, and increasing rural capacity to deliver age-friendly health care. She holds, and has previously held, grants from the Australian Government, the Australian Research Council, and various philanthropic partners.
Rachel is a leading international scholar in the field of critical rural gerontology, and has published in leading international ageing, geography and rural studies journals on topics relating to rural ageing and volunteering, rural age-friendly communities and health systems, and active citizenship among rural older people.
Currently, Rachel is the convenor of the Australian Association of Gerontology's Rural, Regional and Remote Special Interest Group (RRR SIG), and the co-chair of the National Volunteering Research Network (Volunteering Australia).