New Director of Research appointed to lead program towards greater impact

Scientia Associate Professor Natalie Taylor, an internationally recognised behavioural and implementation scientist, has been appointed to the new role of Director of Research at UNSW School of Population Health. 

As Director of Research, A/Prof Taylor will develop and lead initiatives to enhance the School’s research strategies and collaborations so these can lead to greatest benefits for people and communities globally. 

The School of Population Health is ideally positioned to undertake nationally and globally relevant research focusing on finding real life solutions to the increasingly complex problems faced by populations, practitioners, and policymakers, says A/Prof Taylor. 

“The research we do at the School aims to contribute to a safer society, bolster health systems, and support communities worldwide towards better health,” said A/Prof Taylor. 

“A huge strength of the School is its emphasis on harnessing the power of partnerships from across UNSW research centres and collaborations nationally and internationally to achieve greater impact and scale in addressing the most pressing population health challenges,” she said. 

The School is a highly collaborative environment with research strengths in health economics, big data, mathematical modelling and implementation science which help generate robust evidence and identify implementable solutions says A/Prof Taylor. 

“I look forward to working with colleagues across the School and beyond to take new ideas forward which can build on our collective research impact,” said A/Prof Taylor. “Providing mentoring, networking and capacity building opportunities for staff and students will be a key focus.” 

Growing consumer involvement and partnerships in School research activities is a priority that A/Prof Taylor would like to explore in her new role, as well as building strong links with the NSW Translational Health Precincts, and Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE), and Sydney Health Partners.  

“Our relationships with key stakeholders, many of which are represented in our post-graduate teaching programs, ensure we have line of sight on existing and forthcoming challenges in health to inform our research questions and projects,” she said. 

“These also help us to integrate our findings and methodological learnings back into teaching, and crucially, ensure our outcomes are of most benefit to society.” 

A/Prof Taylor joined the School in 2021 as Associate Professor of Implementation Science and Health Systems. The focus of Associate Professor Taylor’s work is to identify the best ways to ensure the new knowledge and approaches generated from scientific research reach those who need it most – the patients. Associate Professor Taylor has led over 20 co-design projects to develop health system interventions with cancer consumers and clinicians, and developed a range of approaches, tools, and training resources to facilitate clinical process mapping and theory-informed co-design of interventions with corresponding implementation strategies in a range of healthcare settings locally, nationally, and internationally. Associate Professor Taylor is winner of the 2016 NSW Premier’s Awards for Outstanding Cancer Research Excellence in Translational Research in Cancer Award, the Australian Institute of Health innovation Researcher of the Year award in 2015 & 2016 and the UNSW School of Population Health Peter Baume Public Health Impact Award in 2021. 

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UNSW School of Population Health