My approach to system change scales community benefits
ProfESSOR Katina D’Onise AM
I think in populations, not individuals.
There is a well-accepted disciplinary approach to population based system change that I apply, allowing for innovation and creativity in problem solving while using evidence based frameworks for change.
This thinking can allow us to scale, reaching vastly more people than traditional individual or programmatic approaches. There are key elements to the approach that I can apply to your business to sustainably improve productivity and effectiveness, leading to better and fairer outcomes for the community you serve.
Why the focus on equity?
Early on in my career, in my final year of medical school, I studied in a remote hospital in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. This was a major shock to me, coming from the wealth of the urban Australian healthcare system.
I saw firsthand the devastation of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, the poverty which limited peoples’ access to any healthcare, and hospitals with insufficient resources to manage very sick people.
This experience shaped my career into a focus on the societal drivers of health and wellbeing, prevention, and equity.
Passion for Human Rights
I am passionate about human rights. My work has focused on changes that can be made to the institutional systems that discriminate and cause harm, because these systems have wide-ranging influence in our lives. Small changes at the system level can have big effects across the population. This work was recognised with a Member of the Order of Australia for services to public health through policy, legislation and research translation.
Experience
I have worked for over a decade as an Executive in government and through that understand the challenges and opportunities in working at the system level.
Examples of major projects I have led include:
- Rapid deployment of an effective and scalable contact tracing capability for COVID-19 control, using evidence to build the strategy and a digital system to achieve scale
- Integral to termination of pregnancy reform
- The statewide Anti-racism Strategy for South Australia
- The COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy project bringing together a broad coalition of stakeholders and using community development approaches
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery,
- Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine,
- PhD Epidemiology,
- Fellow of Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine,
- Fellow Royal Australian College of General Practitioners,
- Member Australian Institute of Company Directors
★★★★★
“Katina’s skill in undertaking comprehensive gap analyses to inform recommendations for system-wide improvements has been integral to ensuring a best practice approach across our organisation. Her efficiency in producing comprehensive results in short timeframes is exceptional.”
Publications
I continue to publish in the peer review literature on a range of topics through my role Adjunct Professor, School of Public Health University of Adelaide.