Dr Barbara Nattabi is a Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Coordinator in the School of Population and Global Health. She is an experienced medical doctor, public health researcher, and educator with more than 20 years of experience spanning clinical practice, infectious disease research, and higher education in both Australia and post-conflict Northern Uganda.

Prior to joining her current role, Dr Nattabi served as a Senior Lecturer in Rural and Remote Health at the Western Australian Centre for Rural Health (2010 to 2019) and was awarded a prestigious NHMRC Early Career Research Fellowship (2014 to 2018).

Her research focuses on sexually transmissible infections, health services reform, and quality improvement in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sexual health care. She is an Associate Investigator on the NHMRC Partnership Grant for the ATLAS Network (2022 to 2026) and a Chief Investigator on the Australian Research Council project, “Roads to the Future: Infrastructure and New Development in Africa.” Dr Nattabi has secured $4.4 million in competitive research funding, including $3.4 million in Category 1 grants.

Dr Nattabi's broader research interests include HIV and other infectious diseases, sexual and reproductive health, family violence, refugee and migrant health, social determinants of health, stigma and discrimination, and the public health impacts of infrastructure development.

As an educator, she has extensive experience in curriculum development, postgraduate supervision, mentoring, and teaching. She coordinates units in Health Program Evaluation and Epidemiology and Control of Communicable Disease and contributes guest lectures across multiple programs within the School of Population and Global Health and the UWA Medical School. Her excellence in teaching has been recognised through nominations for Excellence in Teaching and Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Beyond her research and teaching, Dr Nattabi is actively engaged in university governance and community service. She serves on numerous committees, works closely with migrant communities, and contributes to the academic community as a reviewer for more than 13 journals and NHMRC grant applications. She has been invited on over 30 occasions to provide expert commentary on COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases for local and international media and regularly contributes to expert advisory panels within and beyond the university sector.

School of Population and Global Health Public Health Postgraduate Coordinator

Unit Coordinator, Health Program Evaluation (PUBH5705)

Unit Coordinator, Epidemiology and Control of Communicable Disease (PUBH5761)

Lecturer, War on Pandemics (PUBHM001)

Focus on HIV, COVID-19, sexually transmitted infections including chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis, and health systems reform to control STI transmission

COVID-19 and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

Sexually Transmitted Infections and Blood Borne Viruses including HIV

Primary health care

Health services research

Quality improvement of primary health care

Rural health services

Rural health education

International AIDS Society

UWA Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN)

UWA Academic Staff Consultative Committee

Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM)

UWA Women in Science Community of Practice

VaxPol Lab, University of Western Australia

African Professionals of Australia (APA)

Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF)

Community of Practice for Action on HIV and Mobility (CoPAHM)

WA Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Applied Research and Evaluation Network (SiREN) Interest Group

Health Program Evaluation (PUBH5705)

Epidemiology and Control of Communicable Disease (PUBH5761)

War on Pandemics (PUBHM001)

Epidemiology 1 (PUBH4403)

Integrated Medical Systems (IMED3111)

Integrated Medical Systems (IMED3112)

Health and Illness in Human Populations (PUBH1101)

Foundations of Global Health (PUBH1102)

Vokes R, Spencer R, Woldeyes Y, Nattabi B, Adusei-Asante K. (2023-2026) Roads to the Future: Infrastructure and the New Development in Africa.

Nattabi B. (2021-2022). Bridging the gap in quality of care: System oriented approaches for the control of sexually transmissible infections among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

Lopez, D., Nattabi, B., & Jenkins, S. (2019-2021). Process evaluation: Real-world data to evaluate the implementation of a randomised control community pulmonary rehabilitation trial for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

Thompson, S. C., Moran, M., Fisher, C., Martin, K., Nattabi, B., & Fordham, H. (2019). Conversations for Change: accelerating efforts to prevent family violence

Nattabi B, Gudka S, Ward J, Rumbold A. Quality improvement interventions for improving the detection and management of curable sexually transmitted infections in primary care – Cochrane Review.

Nattabi B, Rumbold A, Matthews V, Gibson-Helm M, Boyle J, Larkins S, et al. Determining factors associated with sexually transmissible infection and blood borne virus screening in pregnancy at Indigenous primary health centres