Professor Freya J.I. Fowkes

Deputy Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Head, Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Taking students

Working groups

Malaria and Infectious Diseases Epidemiology

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

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13 Jul 2025

Evaluating malaria reactive surveillance and response strategies in northeast Cambodia: a mixed-methods study

Malaria Journal

Win Han Oo et al

Open access

01 Apr 2025

Mapping residual malaria transmission in Vietnam

The Lancet Regional Health - Western Pacific

Michael McPhail et al

Open access

01 Apr 2025

Human antibodies against Anopheles salivary proteins: emerging biomarkers of mosquito and malaria exposure

Trends in Parasitology

Ellen Kearney et al

Open access

Current projects

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Understanding malaria transmission and immunity to inform malaria elimination

We aim to determine how malaria immunity impacts on the transmission of malaria and how immunity influences malaria control interventions.

Developing a novel assessment tool for entering the malaria elimination phase in the Greater Mekong Subregion

Countries in the Greater Mekong subregion of Southeast Asia have committed to eliminating malaria by 2030, but validated assessment tools are still lacking.