
PhD, MPH, BOptom(Hons)
Anna Palagyi is a Senior Research Fellow in health systems at the George Institute for Global Health and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW. She holds a National Health & Medical Council Early Career Research Fellowship and supports the development and implementation of a program of health systems research across The George Institute for Global Health.
Anna's research centres on the co-design of effective implementation strategies to strengthen primary health care services in resource-constrained settings of the Asia-Pacific region. She has a particular interest in the development of appropriate health system responses to healthy ageing: Anna previously implemented a longitudinal study on aspects of healthy ageing in older Australians with cataract and in 2019-20 lead an assessment of national healthy ageing policy, program and service priorities in Fiji, in partnership with the Fiji Ministry of Health & Medical Services.
Anna is committed to evidence-informed health policy and practice. She has a strong track record of partnering with government stakeholders in the design of policy-relevant research, has co-authored commissioned reports for government bodies and advocacy groups, and has produced policy briefs for government departments.
• NHMRC Early Career Fellowship [GNT1161527]: A health systems approach to strengthening primary health care. (CIA) 2019-2022.
• NHMRC-GACD Research Grant [GNT1169763]: Scale-up of a primary care intervention for cardiovascular risk management in Malang, Indonesia. (CI) 2019-2023.
• The George Institute for Global Health LMIC Seed Funding: Promoting evidence-based policies, programs and services for ageing and health in Fiji. (CIA) 2019.
• Pfizer Independent Grants for Learning & Change. System level Intervention to improve Medicines use for Prevention of cardiovascuLar disease in Indonesia (SIMPLI). (CI) 2018-2019.
• NSW Agency for Clinical Innovation. Ophthalmology Network Pilot Funding: Best pRactIce surGical and refracTive management of cataract: the BRIGhT Project pilot study. (CI). 2018-2020.
• Ariadne Labs (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Development of Reports on Gaps in Primary Health Care Research (Asia-Pacific). (CI) 2018.
The Age. Waiting to see, Dec 3, 2016: <weblink>
The Sydney Morning Herald. Cataracts patients left vulnerable to falls and depressive symptoms languishing on wait lists, Dec 4, 2016: <weblink>
INSIGHT: Australia’s Leading Ophthalmic Magazine. Cataract patients experience depression and falls, Dec 7, 2016: <weblink>
The Australian. Calls for speedier cataract surgery, Nov 3, 2015: <weblink>
The Senior, August 2013: Falls and cataract surgery.
Australian Optometry (Official newspaper of Optometry Australia), August 2013: Cataract surgery wait raises falls risk.
Transforming the Nation’s Healthcare. Health and Ageing Australia Research Roundup. July 31, 2013: <weblink>
My Research Supervision
The role of behavioural economics in designing incentives for community health workers in resource-constrained settings (PhD, UNSW)
Monitoring government responses to human rights and health inequities faced by women and girls in low- and middle-income countries of the Asia Pacific region (MBBS Independent Learning Project, UNSW)