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Professor Natalie Walker - University of Auckland

Updated: Apr 20





Dr Natalie Walker is a Professor in Population Health at the National Institute for Health Innovation, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and Director of the Centre for Addiction Research, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. Her primary area of interest is the conduct of phase III pragmatic community-based clinical trials, particularly in the field of smoking cessation. She has published on e-cigarettes, cytisine, varenicline, nicotine reduction, exercise, hypnotherapy, and incentives for smoking cessation.


Chief Investigator - NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame

Director of the Flinders Clinical Trials Platform, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Australia


Professor Natalie Walker joined Flinders in March 2025 as Director of the Flinders Clinical Trials Platform, which is physically located within the Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute (FHMRI). The platform supports trial research across the entirety of Flinders University.  Prior to joining Flinders Natalie was based within the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Auckland University, New Zealand, where she was Co-Director of the Faculty Research Centre for Translational Health Research and Co-Director of the Faculty Research Centre for Addiction Research. 

Natalie started her 30-year research career in environmental epidemiology and infectious disease epidemiology, then moved into cardiovascular disease and modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease (i.e. tobacco and alcohol). She is particularly interested in identifying affordable, practical and scalable interventions (appropriate to local conditions and populations) to improve health and wellbeing. Her work has spanned from preclinical research through to policy.  She has specific expertise in the design and conduct of clinical trials, especially pragmatic community-based trials that are designed to inform practice and policy. 


Qualifications

  • PhD (Medicine): University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

  • Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Health: Otago University, Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

  • Master's of Science: Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

  • Bachelor of Science (Honours): Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

  • Bachelor of Science: Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Honours, awards and grants

  • 2023 Recipient of a University of Auckland Research Excellence Medal (Team)

  • 2018 Fellow of the international Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT).

  • 2012 - 2016 Fellowship: New Zealand Heart Foundation Douglas Senior Fellowship in Heart Health (Prevention)

  • 2001 - 2003 Fellowship: Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, National Heart Foundation of New Zealand

  • 1997 - 2000 Fellowship: Public Health Research Training Fellowship (Career Development Award), Health Research Council of NZ



26 October 2024 - Has Our Goal For a Tobacco-Free World Changed To a Nicotine-Free World?

E-cigarettes first entered the international markets in the early 2000s, with rapid product innovation and evolution since this time. Correspondingly, country-level policy around access to these devices has evolved, varying greatly around the world (https://gsthr.org/countries/). Some countries have been quick to embrace vapes as a reduced-harm product to help people who smoke tobacco switch to a “cleaner” source of nicotine. Continued>>


Co-signee to "Urgent vaping law reform needed in Australia" that endorsed concerns of the 

Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ANACAD), that the prescription policy is failing and that the Minister's proposed vaping crackdown will only make things worse.

Letter>>





14 October 2021 - Panel Advising TGA "Nicotine vaping products, the NZ smoking cessation experience Practical tips for Australian prescribers"




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