Founder

Adjunct Associate Professor, Sonia Martin, is a health equity consultant, an LGBTQIA+ advocate, and a dedicated registered nurse with over 30 years of experience working with vulnerable populations. Sonia's journey began in 2017 when her passion to alleviate homelessness led her to establish a local street health outreach service. Leaving her public health sector job in 2018, she initiated change by providing healthcare from the back of a car, reaching those disengaged from healthcare for up to three decades. Sonia continues her work with people experiencing poverty and homelessness in Australia through her organisation, and as founder of OneBridge.  

As a recipient of the Dr Dorothea Sandars and Irene Lee Churchill Fellowship in 2022, Sonia's global travels to India, France, Italy, the UK, the USA, and Canada in 2023 furthered her commitment to improving access to primary healthcare and palliative care for people facing homelessness and poverty. Sonia's ground-breaking work has earned her the 2022 Outstanding Leadership Award in Entrepreneurship, the 2021 Australian Health Minister's Nursing Trailblazer Award and was nominated for Australian of the Year in 2020 and 2022. 

Sonia is the Chair of Australia's first national Street Heath Faculty with the Australian College of Nursing. She is an Honorary Associate Professor with the University of the Sunshine Coast, contributing to undergraduate and postgraduate health curriculum through equity advocacy. Her work in the Australian street health sector has lead her to develop The MartMolly Method; an equity informed health and social care framework for clinicians.

Sonia aims to amplify her influence through evidence-based research, identifying policy gaps, and engaging in advocacy on a national and global scale, bringing health equity and access to vulnerable populations.