Dr Catherine Smith

I’m a medical anthropologist and public health social scientist, with a special interest in health and social equity, the socio-political drivers of health and illness, and the development of institutional trust in healthcare.

I am currently a research fellow in the UNSW School of Population Health, where I am supporting a team-based project researching the uptake of big data in Australian public health, with a particular focus on how big data analytics and the development of government-regulated integrated data infrastructures might influence social and health equity.

In addition I have long-term in-country experience in Indonesia, carrying out critical and applied medical anthropological research. I have also carried out research and consultancy to contribute social scientific perspectives to transnational infectious disease elimination programs (specifically malaria elimination).

I'm an advocate for more socially attuned public health, including through the application of social scientific methods and theory to public health.