Judith Katzenellenbogen

Assoc/Prof Judith Katzenellenbogen is an epidemiologist working within the Cardiovascular Research Group at the School of Population and Global Health. Originally trained as an occupational therapist, her expertise in epidemiology has underpinned a public health career in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. This has included experience working on health issues and health inequities in all three countries and from diverse perspectives, including disease-specific research and burden of disease analysis, health purchasing, needs assessment, program evaluation and strategic planning. She edited the first epidemiology textbook designed specifically for the South African context, now in its 4^th edition.

Her doctoral work involved the application of linked data analysis methods to estimating the burden of stroke in Western Australia. Post PhD, she has undertaken innovative linked data and mixed methods approaches to the study of coronary heart disease, stroke, atrial fibrillation, heart failure and rheumatic heart disease, particularly in the Aboriginal context.  

She has received uninterrupted research fellowships since 2012, including from the NHMRC (judged NHMRC 2017 ‘10 of the Best’ in Australia) and Heart Foundation (consecutive awards; funded to 06/2023). She leads a multidisciplinary team of researchers focussing on Aboriginal Heart Disease and Stroke. She is a Chief Investigator on current NHRMC research grants, including Synergy (StopStroke), Partnership for Better Health (Healing Right Way Trial) and Project (End RHD in Australia: Study of Epidemiology, ERASE) Schemes.

She supports the public health and Aboriginal teaching program at UWA as a visiting lecturer and supervises higher degree by research students. She has a strong focus on capacity building, research partnerships and research translation, with collaborations nationally and internationally.