Meet the team

Founder & Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Nathan is an Accredited Exercise Physiologist. He has 20 years of experience working as the coordinator of specialist inpatient and outpatient programs at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne and at the Royal Free Hospital in London in the area of chronic fatigue syndrome as well as in cardiac, respiratory and orthopaedic rehabilitation.

In 2008, Nathan established Active Health Clinic based on his values of long-term self-management through knowledge, compassion and trust. Through his dedication and experience, Active Health Clinic is now a leader in its field.
Nathan also lectures Master's students at La Trobe University and Victoria University.

Nathan lives with his wife, Lori, and daughters, Siena and Ella. He has a passion for travel, friends and sport.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Growing up in the country with three brothers, Jacqui has always had a passion for sport and the outdoors, playing a range of different sports. 

After suffering an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture at 17, Jacqui developed a passion for rehabilitation through exercise and pursued this through her sports science degree. Jacqui was always a keen sports person until she was diagnosed with pericarditis in 2007 from over-training, which resulted in her developing chronic fatigue syndrome. 

With her world turned upside down and being unable to work or to play sport, Jacqui had to transform her life and set new goals. This learning experience has enabled Jacqui to help clients going through similar experiences to achieve their goals, no matter how big or small.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Greer has been working as an exercise physiologist for over 10 years and joined the team at Active Health Clinic in 2013. 

Greer wanted to to do more to facilitate and improve clients’ understanding and management of their conditions and encourage their move to self-management. Greer values the clinic’s ethos to build insight, sustainability and independence. She has a desire to foster real and lasting change in the lives of others.

Greer is passionate about the use of yoga as part of treatment and has completed her Level 1 and 2 yoga teacher training with over 1000 hours of practice and education. 

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Raeya has over a decade of experience with CFS which has played a very big role in her life. For the first 5 years of that time, Raeya lived with the illness herself, and since then has been working as a health coach for people with CFS and associated illness’.

Following her CFS journey, Raeya then went on to study Personal Training/Group Fitness, Yoga, Pilates and finally commenced her studies at Victoria University in Exercise Science- Clinical Stream, and then her Masters in Exercise Physiology.

Having lived with chronic illness herself, and to feel so severely debilitated by it, she vowed to help as many people as possible through the pain and frustration of having an invisible illness, through awareness, education and support.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Leanne has always been passionate about helping people to reach their goals and feel confident and safe with exercise.

Leanne has always been an advocate for exercise and the many benefits it can bring, and using movement to improve health and quality of life. So studying exercise science and clinical exercise physiology was an easy choice.

Leanne has worked in health and fitness for many years, ranging from personal training and group fitness instructor to allied health assistant and now as an Exercise Physiologist. Leanne has experience working in many settings including gyms, hospitals and private practice. 

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Emily has a Master of Clinical Exercise Physiology, a Bachelor’s Degree in Sport and Exercise Science and is an ASCA Lv. 2 Strength & Conditioning Coach

Growing up Emily was very passionate about sport and exercise, playing basketball from a young age and also running. Because of these interests Emily decided to begin her studies at TAFE where she earned several Certificates and a double Diploma in Fitness so that she could develop herself and others as athletes.

At 21 years young, Emily developed Orthostatic Intolerance (OI) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) after an infection and suffered debilitating symptoms that left her house bound. After spending quite some time in the public health system, Emily was eventually referred to Active Health Clinic where she received full support with her health and was able to continue with her tertiary studies.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Rob’s long-standing passion for helping people experiencing persistent and complex pain started during his studies in Myotherapy. This led him to continue studying a Bachelor of Exercise & Sport Science as well as a Masters in Clinical Exercise Physiology at Deakin University.

His dedication and special interest in treating invisible illnesses is why joining the family at Active Health Clinic was a no brainer.
Rob aims to provide a relaxed, welcoming and supportive space at Active Health Clinic, where his clients can feel empowered to achieve their goals and live happier and healthier lives.

In his spare time Rob loves to stay active by exploring the local mountain-bike trails, stay smart through reading and listening to podcasts, stay relaxed by listening to music, binge-watching Netflix and meditating, and stay happy by traveling and spending time with his friends and family.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

For many years Deb taught music both in schools and from her private music studio. She has always been passionate about helping others learn new skills and express themselves creatively. 

As well as teaching instrumental music individually, Deb conducted musical ensemble groups for both children and adults, and also pre-school music and movement classes.

When one of her teenage sons, Lachie, developed CFS, Deb was inspired by the approach Active Health Clinic used to treat him and decided to change careers to learn more about the role of exercise in healing. She is very excited to now be part of the team.

Accredited Exercise Physiologist

Zoe has been following her interests to help others improve their health and wellbeing since she first realised it was what she wanted to do when she was 8 years old. Zoe developed her interest in becoming an Exercise Physiologist after serious injury and chronic illness as a child and through her teenage years. With learning more about the human body and rehabilitation techniques, this sparked Zoe’s interest in the field.

Fast forward many years, Zoe studied Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science, Certificate 3 and 4 in Fitness along side this, then her Masters of Clinical Exercise Physiology.

Zoe has been working in the industry for just over 7 years, mainly with chronic and/or complex injury and neurological disability, as well as helping those who would like to improve their quality of life through lifestyle changes.

Accredited Exercise Scientist & Pilates Instructor

Sarah is an Accredited Exercise Scientist, Personal Trainer and Reformer Pilates instructor with a passion for working with chronic complex illness. She has had 15 years of personal experience herself with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome among other conditions which at its worst left her wheelchair bound.

She loves all things health and fitness and has worked in the industry as an Exercise Scientist and Pilates instructor in various different settings including gyms, boutique studios and private practices in addition to having experience in elite sporting environments.

Sarah has commenced a Masters of Exercise Physiology to become an Accredited Exercise Physiologist in order to continue to follow her passion of assisting as many people as she can after experiencing the impacts of these conditions first hand.

Accredited Practising Dietitian

Luke is the clinic’s first resident dietitian. He completed a Bachelor of Applied Science/Master of Dietetic Practice at La Trobe University.

Luke loves combining his passion of food and nutrition knowledge with helping others improve their quality of life through their food intake. Luke approaches all food as food, and prides himself on working with clients to achieve their goals from a sustainable, holistic approach, keeping Active Health Clinic’s value of ‘respecting the whole person’ at the core of his service. He has a particular interest in gastrointestinal conditions and digestive health and working at improving these outcomes with food. 

He has experience in hospitals, community health and private practice. He is also completing his Honours degree in nutrition, with further study likely.

Outside of work and study, Luke enjoys playing guitar and golf, and is actively involved in his local AFL club as a player and volunteer.

Accredited Practising Dietitian

Mel recently completed her Bachelor of Applied Science and Masters of Dietetic Practice at La Trobe University in 2020. She is excited to be the second dietitian to join the AHC team and already has expressed the values and passions that are core to the clinic. 

Mel has always had a strong love for food and cooking through her Italian background and combined this with her interest in nutrition and science. Mel understands the emotional and physiological impact that food can have on our lives, and is passionate about using food as a tool to improve people’s quality of life. Mel practices with a holistic, non-diet approach, with a main focus on treating and respecting the whole person and aligning her therapy with the patient’s goals. 

Her particular areas of interest are gastrointestinal conditions, women’s health, mental health and healing patient’s relationships with food. She has experience in hospitals working in the renal and gastrointestinal units, and community nutrition projects. 

Mel has recently undergone specific training at AHC to be able to understand and treat nutrition complications in the conditions worked with at AHC. In her spare time, Mel enjoys cooking and sharing great meals and sweets with others. She also loves live music, travel, drawing and spending quality time with the important people and pets in her life