Catherine Chamberlain, PhD

Professor Catherine Chamberlainopens in new tab/window is a Palawa woman from the Trawlwoolway clan (Tasmania), National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Leadership Fellow (2024-2029) and Head of the Indigenous Health Equity Unit in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne. A Registered Midwife and Public Health researcher, her research focus is on perinatal opportunities to improve health equity. She has over 25 years’ experience in the health sector, including leadership positions within academic institutions, government and health services.

Professor Chamberlain has established a highly productive program of research to improve health for children and families, and received the 2019 Lowitja Research Leadership Award. She currently leads two large multi-disciplinary projects: Healing the Past by Nurturing the Future — involving co-design, development, implementation and evaluation of perinatal awareness, recognition, assessment and support strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma; and Replanting the Birthing Trees, which aims to transform cycles of intergenerational trauma to intergenerational cycles of nurturing and recovery.