Hello, my name is Adam Craig. I started at UNSW in 2017. I come to the university with 16 years of field epidemiology experience, the last nine of which have been spent working in Asia and the Pacific Islands. After completing my undergraduate science degree, I moved to Alice Springs to take up a position with the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress. This role provided me with the opportunity to travel to some of the most remote parts of Australia and work with some fantastic people – both community members and health professionals. It was in this job that I was first exposed to the principles of public health, and to social development and justice. Subsequently, I moved to Sydney where I completed a Master of Public Health at the University of Sydney; my public health training as part of the NSW Health Public Health Officer Training Program; and later a PhD in epidemiology at the University of New South Wales.
In 2009, on the wave of activity surrounding the 2009 influenza pandemic, I was fortunate enough to find a role as an epidemiologist with the World Health Organization (WHO)’s regional office in Manila, supporting the organisation and national governments in the region to upscale emergency surveillance and response systems in response to the threat. This experience provided the foundation for almost a decade of international work with agencies including the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Bank, the WHO, Abt Associates, the United Nations Development Program, the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and directly with a number of national governments.
Since 2006, I have worked on issues related to early warning surveillance system design in the Pacific Islands, most closely with folk from Honiara (Solomon Islands), Port Vila (Vanuatu), Suva (Fiji) and Tarawa (Kiribati).
My research interests relate to surveillance system design and health system strengthening, with a focus on small island developing state contexts. I bring a passion for finding solutions to the development, resourcing, and systems challenges that inhibit the delivery of public health programs to populations of developing nations.