Professor Freya J.I. Fowkes
Deputy Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Head, Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Working groups
Background
Professor Freya Fowkes is an NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Head of the Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology group at Burnet Institute. She is also the Director of the Centre of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of Melbourne.
Freya completed her doctorate in Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Oxford and post-doctoral training at New York University and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Her research program spans basic science, epidemiology, statistics and mathematical modelling and focuses on malaria in high-risk populations and antimalarial drug resistance.
Freya is involved in several multinational studies of malaria elimination and works with international partners, including WHO and the National Malaria Control Programs, to translate findings into relevant malaria control, elimination and surveillance strategies.
Qualifications
- 2007: DPhil, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
- 2002: MSc, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom
- 2001: BSc (Hons), University of Glasgow, United Kingdom
Positions
- 2023–current: Deputy Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, Burnet Institute
- 2011–current: Head of Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Burnet Institute
- 2011–current: Senior Principal Research Fellow and NHMRC Fellow, Burnet Institute
- 2021–2024: Head, Malaria Elimination Initiative, Burnet Institute
- 2007–2010: Post-doctoral Researcher, Walter + Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
Appointments
- 2024–current: Director, Centre of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Melbourne
- 2018–current: Chief Investigator, NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence in Malaria Elimination
- 2019–current: Professor of Epidemiology, University of Melbourne
- 2011–current: Editorial Board, Malaria Journal
- 2018–current: Australian Society of Medical Research
- 2010–current: Victorian Infection and Immunity Network
- 2008–current: The Australian Society of Parasitology
- 2005–current: The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Awards
- 2020 Crofts Publication Award
- 2018 Frank Fenner Award for Medical Research
- 2017 Crofts Publication Award
- 2016 Georgina Sweet Award for Women in Quantitative Bioscience
- 2014 Burnet Institute Gust-McKenzie Medal
Burnet publications
View 112 moreEvaluating Thailand’s malaria reactive surveillance and response strategies for malaria elimination: a mixed-method study
Infectious Diseases of Poverty
Win Han Oo et al
Acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of an expanded role for community health workers for malaria elimination in Myanmar: A mixed-method study
PLOS Global Public Health
Win Han Oo et al
Evaluating malaria reactive surveillance and response strategies in northeast Cambodia: a mixed-methods study
Malaria Journal
Win Han Oo et al
Current projects
View 11 moreHealthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB)
A collaborative research program aimed at providing life-saving health care for women and children in Papua New Guinea.
STRIVE: stronger surveillance for vector-borne pathogens
Infectious diseases are an increasing global health threat, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
Discovering the mechanisms and targets of immunity against malaria
In the fight against malaria, we're exploring antibodies that can directly inhibit host cell infection, interact with immune cells to kill and clear malaria or recruit the body’s complement system to neutralise infection.
Past projects
View 6 moreWHISPER and SHOUT: mobile phone health interventions among sex workers in Kenya
We conducted a mobile phone-based health promotion with women who are sex workers in Mombasa, Kenya, to reduce unintended pregnancy.
Interventions for monastic schools in Myanmar (WASH)
We partnered with the Monastic Education Development Group to build the capacity of the monastic school system in Myanmar to provide quality education and promote safe, healthy and child-friendly school environments.
MNCH support in Myanmar's Northern Shan State
The project adopts a continuum of care for reproductive health and child health through a range of service providers at the township level.
