Doctor Rachel Thorpe

Dr Rachel Thorpe

Dr Rachel Thorpe

Senior Research Fellow
Donor Behaviour Research Group  Donor Health and Wellbeing Research Group 

Honorary Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne

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Rachel is a health sociologist. Her research focuses on the social context of blood donation and using social theories to better understand what makes it possible for people to start and continue to donate different products. Rachel is currently interested in how to increase participation in blood donation by people with diverse social characteristics, and in donor perspectives on genomic testing of donated blood.  

She completed her PhD in Sociology at La Trobe University in 2015, and worked in HIV social research, gender, sexuality and aging before joining Lifeblood.

AWARDS
  • CI NHMRC Genomics Health Futures Mission Streams 3-5 2021: The Australian Genetic Diversity Database: towards a more equitable future for genomic medicine in Australia

 

LEADERSHIP
  • Peer reviewer for numerous journals and conference abstracts
  • Peer reviewer for competitive grants
  • Supervisor for Honours, Masters and PhD students
  • Examiner for student theses
  • Member of the International Sociological Association, Australian Association of Gerontology and The Australian Sociological Association

Key publications

Donor and non-donor perspectives on receiving information from routine genomic testing of donor blood.
Thorpe R, Jensen K, Masser B, Raivola V, Kakkos A, von Wielligh K, Wong J
2022
Transfusion
63(2):331-338
View publication
Blood collection agency messaging to donors and the public in Canada and Australia during the early days of COVID-19.
Haw J, Thorpe R, Holloway K
2022
Frontiers in Communication
6:281
View publication
The vasovagal reaction among blood donors: a qualitative study of factors that affect donor return.
Thijsen A, Thorpe R, Davison TE, Nguyen L, Masser BM
2021
Social Science and Medicine
282:114142
View publication
Understanding donation frequency: insights from current plasma donors
Thorpe R, Masser BM, Nguyen L, Davison TE
2020
Vox Sang
115:174-181.
View publication
The role of identity in how whole-blood donors reflect on and construct their future as a plasma donor
Thorpe R, Masser BM, Jensen K, Van Dyke N, Davison TE
2020
Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology
30:73-84.
View publication

Dr Rachel Thorpe articles

illustration of four people in white lab coats
Research study update: Beyond the iron gate

People with Hereditary haemochromatosis (HHC) who donate at Lifeblood reported that they feel more like donors than patients. This suggests that Lifeblood could change the way we communicate with them, as we currently communicate with them as “patients”. They did not know much about plasma and had mixed views on being able to donate plasma.

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illustration of a scientist in a white lab coat standing alongside a woman holding a large red blood droplet
Communicating with donors who have rare blood types

What does it mean to find out you’re rare? Lifeblood researchers set out to explore the experience of donors learning of their rare blood type: what it means for them, their donation behaviour and perspectives on the communications received.

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a scientist is in a laboratory wearing blue gloves and protective glasses while holding a test tube
Views on genomic testing of donated blood

What was the question? We know relatively little about how donors and non-donors think about the testing of blood for genomic markers.

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