Lee Martinez is originally from Whyalla and has lived and worked in country South Australia all her working life, providing a lifelong experience and understanding of those residing in rural and remote areas. Lee holds a BA of Nursing and has worked in several areas of rural health. For the past 20 years, her work has focused on rural mental health.
Lee currently holds a part-time position as a mental health teaching academic with the University of South Australia Department of Rural Health. Within this role she has participated in several research and evaluation projects at the state and national level.
Lee is currently the Principal Investigator for a rural mental health Australian Telehealth trial, exploring the value of working alongside people who have a lived experience of mental health in education.
She has a strong interest in working with people who have a lived experience of mental distress, suicide prevention, and access to services for rural communities. Lee is committed to involving people with a lived experience at all levels of service delivery including governance, and strategic management, and working towards improving access to service for people in rural and remote South Australia. Lee also works alongside people with lived experience in tertiary-level education and research.
Lee holds positions as Director of the Country SA PHN Board, Country and Outback Health Board Director, Secretary for Whyalla Suicide Prevention Network, and membership on the Upper Eyre Local Health Cluster.
