Cherie has ded­i­cat­ed over 15 years to work­ing in sex­u­al health, HIV, and viral hepati­tis, bring­ing a deep under­stand­ing of both front­line nurs­ing and broad­er health sys­tems. Dur­ing this time, she has worked as a Clin­i­cal Nurse Spe­cial­ist at a pub­licly fund­ed sex­u­al health clin­ic and has held a range of roles at ASHM where she is now the Nurs­ing Pol­i­cy and Advo­ca­cy Lead. ASHM is the peak organ­i­sa­tion for health work­ers and pro­fes­sion­als work­ing in HIV, blood-borne virus­es (BBVs), and sex­u­al and repro­duc­tive health. 

ASHM deliv­ers high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion and train­ing across HIV, viral hepati­tis, and sex­u­al health, avail­able face-to-face, online, and on-demand via their train­ing library. 

Cherie explains, ​“We also devel­op a wide range of resources, includ­ing pro­fes­sion-spe­cif­ic book­lets for allied health and oth­er pro­fes­sion­als who may encounter BBVs and STIs. Beyond train­ing, we advo­cate for our mem­bers, con­tribute to pol­i­cy devel­op­ment, host con­fer­ences and events, and offer a schol­ar­ship pro­gram to strength­en and sup­port the workforce.” 

Cherie cham­pi­ons the vital role of nurs­es in shap­ing evi­dence-based pol­i­cy and improv­ing health out­comes, say­ing, ​“My com­mit­ment to the sec­tor is dri­ven by a belief in the pow­er of nurse-led care and the impor­tance of build­ing strong, sup­port­ed nurs­ing workforces.” 

Below, she out­lines some ASHM cours­es of ben­e­fit to remote health professionals:

• NAC­CHO HTLV‑1 Guide­lines webi­nar: Focus­es on pre and post­na­tal care in HTLV‑1.
• Strength­en­ing STI and BBV Pre­ven­tion through Pri­ma­ry Nurs­ing Prac­tice: Unpacks the vital role of pre­vent­ing STIs and BBVs, with a strong focus on HIV pre­ven­tion and the use of pre-expo­sure pro­phy­lax­is (PrEP).
• Con­tra­cep­tion Essen­tials in Pri­ma­ry Care: Increas­es pri­ma­ry care providers’ knowl­edge and con­fi­dence in pro­vid­ing evi­dence-based and patient-cen­tred con­tra­cep­tive consultations. 
• NSW Intro­duc­tion to Syphilis for Mid­wives and Clin­i­cians Pro­vid­ing Ante­na­tal Care: Pro­vides mid­wives and clin­i­cians pro­vid­ing ante­na­tal care in NSW with the tools to iden­ti­fy pri­or­i­ty pop­u­la­tions for ante­na­tal syphilis test­ing in their prac­tice, and dis­tin­guish the stages of syphilis infec­tion based on a patient’s his­to­ry and clin­i­cal presentation. 
• STIs and BBVs: Nurs­ing and Mid­wifery Mod­ule: Pro­vides pri­ma­ry health­care nurs­es and mid­wives with an under­stand­ing of the most com­mon STIs (chlamy­dia, gon­or­rhoea, syphilis, hepati­tis A) and BBVs (hepati­tis B, hepati­tis C and HIV).