Before working at Victoria University, Caroline Clark worked in the alcohol and other drugs field for over 20 years, in community development, research and workforce education.

At Victoria University she has researched current drug use issues in Melbourne’s west, and in 2020 she started work in the multidisciplinary Applied Security Sciences Partnership (ASSP).

Her doctoral research investigated the early history of treatment for alcohol problems in Victoria. She explored the interaction of medical theories and practices with the social, cultural, political and economic contexts in which they arose, reflecting on how we understand current health theories and practices in this field.

Portfolios

Areas of expertise

  • Alcohol & other drugs policy
  • History of alcohol and other drug use and treatment
  • Medical and public health history

Contact details

+61 (3) 9919 7053
caroline.clark@vu.edu.au

Publications

Journal articles

Clark, C. (2012), Contrasting medical models of alcohol problems in Victoria around 1900. Addiction, 107(10), 1756-1764.

Conference presentations

Clark, C. and Roberts, B. (2012), A critical approach to alcohol and other drugs pedagogy: R on an interdisciplinary graduate program, presented at the Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD) Conference, Melbourne.

Clark, C. (2011), Alcoholism in nineteenth-century Melbourne: Who and what were treated? (plenary session) presented at the 1st Contemporary Drug Problems Conference, Prato, Italy.

Professional memberships

  • International Alcohol and Drugs History Society
  • Australian and New Zealand Society for the History of Medicine

Industry experience

At Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre, Caroline coordinated and taught in the Graduate Program in Alcohol and Other Drug Studies from 2006 to 2013. She has developed evidence-based training materials, guidelines for workers and information resources for a variety of professional audiences at Turning Point and at Nexus Dual Diagnosis Service at St Vincent’s Hospital.