Dr Melsina Makaza is a highly experienced Australian Health Practitioner Agency (AHPRA) and Australian Nursing and Midwifery Board (ANMB) registered Mental Health Nurse and Researcher. She is a Lecturer in Nursing in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle.

Melsina completed her Pre-registration Mental Health Nurse Education in the United Kingdom (UK) where she achieved the following qualifications: Diploma of Higher Education (Dip HE) in Mental Health Nursing and a Batchelor of Health Sciences with Honours (BSc) Degree in Mental Health Nursing.

Melsina completed her PhD in 2021 with the Institute for Health Research (IHR) at the University of Bedfordshire, England. Her PhD Thesis was entitled: “Exploring mental health nurses: experiences of a patient suicide in the community”.

Melsina is passionate about mental health nursing because mental health nurses support people from all walks of life when they experience distress. As a lecturer and researcher, she is invested in contributing to the development of our future nursing workforce who can take care of their own mental health first, which can empower them to compassionately care for the needs of others.