Annalee Stearne, a Nyungar woman from Western Australia, is a drug and alcohol researcher with a commitment to improving the health and social inequities faced by Indigenous Australian people, and empowering them with the knowledge to address alcohol and other drug issues in their own communities.
Between 2001 and 2016, Annalee was a researcher with the National Drug Research Institute’s Indigenous Australian research team, where her experience included spending three years in Alice Springs seconded to the Tangentyere Council's research hub. She has recently returned to NDRI to commence PhD research examining Aboriginal community-led responses to alcohol-related harms in the Northern Territory which is funded by the Centre of Research Excellence in Indigenous Health and Alcohol.
In 2006, Annalee was a member of the research team that won the National Drug and Alcohol Award for Excellence in Research, and a Curtin University Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence. In 2012, Annalee received the First People’s Award - recognising a substantial and practical contribution to the advancement of the health of Indigenous people – in the annual Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs (APSAD) Awards. Currently she sits on the board of the National Centre for Clinical Research on Emerging Drugs (NCCRED) and the board Palmerston Association (treatment service) where she advocates for Indigenous Australian interests.