Associate Professor Tambri Housen

Contacts

Contact email:tambri.housen@anu.edu.au
Location:Building 62 Mills Road, The Australian National University
Centre:Department of Applied Epidemiology
Link:ANU Researchers profile
BSc- Nursing (Curtin), MPhil App Epi (ANU), PhD (Curtin)
Honorary Associate Professor

Biography

Assoc. Prof. Housen is affiliated with the Australian National University and the University of Newcastle where she supervises several Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates conducting research with a focus on cross-cultural, mixed-methods operational research, that informs policy and culturally relevant evidence-based practice. She has worked in the areas of complex humanitarian emergencies, primary health care service delivery, mixed-methods operational research, and health security workforce strengthening.

Highly collaborative, she has been named primary or co-investigator on AUD $13.6 millions of funding toward research and global health security workforce strengthening. An infectious disease epidemiologist and registered nurse with over 20 years' experience working with population health practitioners from diverse backgrounds, including frontline community health care workers, local non-government organizations, international non-government organizations including Médecins Sans Frontières, international organizations, including the World Health Organization and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, and several universities. She has lived and worked in various countries in Africa, Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region.

Assoc. Prof. Housen is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, the Western Pacific Regional representative on the World Health Organization (WHO) Academy Quality Committee, a member of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) capacity building and training network and a GOARN focal point, and a member of the FETP (Field Epidemiology Training Programs) Learning Advisory Council. She is actively involved in strengthening field epidemiology capability in the Indo-Pacific region through several collaborative projects funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Her leadership style is founded on the practice of values-based leadership. The clear articulation of organizational or program values, and the creation of a positive culture grounded in these values allows for diversity in a team while striving for a common overarching vision which enables success and high levels of job satisfaction in the team.

Research

Research interests

  • Health security workforce strengthening
  • Cross-cultural mixed-methods research to inform policy and culturally relevant best practice in health care delivery
  • Operational research promoting evidence-based practice in response to humanitarian crises
  • Research promoting evidence-based practice in health systems strengthening

Groups

Projects

Publications

  • Parry, A, Kirk, M, Colquhoun, S et al. 2022, 'Leadership, politics, and communication: challenges of the epidemiology workforce during emergency response', Human Resources for Health, vol. 20, no. 1.
  • Dawel, A, Shou, Y, Smithson, M et al. 2021, 'Corrigendum: The Effect of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Wellbeing in a Representative Sample of Australian Adults', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 11.
  • Parry, A, Kirk, M, Durrheim, D et al. 2021, 'Emergency response and the need for collective competence in epidemiological teams', Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 99, no. 5, pp. 351-358.
  • Harfield, S, Elliott, S, Ramsey, L et al. 2021, 'Using social networking sites to recruit participants: methods of an online survey of sexual health, knowledge and behaviour of young South Australians', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 348-354.
  • Chhim, S, Piola, P, Housen, T et al. 2021, 'Malaria in Cambodia: A Retrospective Analysis of a Changing Epidemiology 2006-2019', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 18, no. 4.
  • Banwell, C, Housen, T, Smurthwaite, K et al. 2021, 'Health and social concerns about living in three communities affected by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): A qualitative study in Australia', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 16, no. 1.
  • Parry, A, Kirk, M, Durrheim, D et al. 2021, 'Shaping applied epidemiology workforce training to strengthen emergency response: a global survey of applied epidemiologists, 2019-2020', Human Resources for Health, vol. 19, no. 58.
  • Parry, A, Kirk, M, Durrheim, D et al. 2020, 'Study protocol: building an evidence base for epidemiology emergency response, a mixed-methods study', BMJ Open, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 1-8.
  • Dawel, A, Shou, Y, Smithson, M et al. 2020, 'The Effect of COVID-19 on Mental Health and Wellbeing in a Representative Sample of Australian Adults', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 11, 579985
  • Kenny, B, Miller, M, McEvoy, V et al 2019, 'A protracted outbreak of Salmonella Hessarek infection associated with one brand of eggs—South Australia, March 2017 - July 2018', Communicable Diseases Intelligence, vol. 43, pp. 1-9.
  • Hii, A, Chughtai, A, Housen, T et al. 2019, 'Epidemic intelligence needs of stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific Region, 2017', International Journal of Infectious diseases, vol. 79, no. S1, pp. 1pp.
  • Harfield, S, Beazley, R, Denehy, E et al. 2019, 'An outbreak and case-control study of Salmonella Havana linked to alfalfa sprouts in South Australia, 2018', Communicable Diseases Intelligence, vol. 43, pp. 1-10.
  • Kenny, B, Miller, M, McEvoy, V et al. 2019, 'A protracted outbreak of Salmonella Hessarek infection associated with one brand of eggs - South Australia, March 2017 - July 2018', Communicable Diseases Intelligence, vol. 43, pp. -.
  • Housen, T, Lenglet, A, Shah, S et al 2019, 'Trauma in the Kashmir Valley and the mediating effect of stressors of daily life on symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety', Conflict and Health, vol. 13, no. 58, pp. 1-9.
  • Housen, T, Ara, S, Shah, A et al. 2019, 'Dua Ti Dawa Ti: understanding psychological distress in the ten districts of the Kashmir Valley and community mental health service needs', Conflict and Health, vol. 13, no. 59, pp. 1-11.
  • Housen, T, Lenglet, A, Ariti, C et al 2018, 'Validation of mental health screening instruments in the Kashmir Valley, India', Transcultural Psychiatry, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 361-383pp.
  • Fonseca, M, Abdi, A, Karsten, J et al 2018, 'Antibiotic Resistance (ABR) in Neonates with Suspected Sepsis admitted to a Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) supported Medium Care Unit in Quetta, Pakistan', International Journal of Infectious diseases, vol. 73, pp. 123-124pp.
  • Hii, A, Chughtai, A, Housen, T et al. 2018, 'Epidemic intelligence needs of stakeholders in the Asia-Pacific region', Western Pacific Surveillance and Response Journal, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 9pp.
  • Housen, T, Lenglet, A, Ariti , C et al. 2017, 'Prevalence of anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder in the Kashmir Valley', BMJ Global Health, vol. 2, pp. 13pp..

Teaching

Masters of Philosophy - Applied Epidemiology Scholars

Srean Chimm - Field Placement: Institut Pasteur du Cambodge, jPhnom Penh, Cambodia

Stephanie Wheeler - Field Placement: Hunter New England Population Health Unit, Newcastle, New South Wales

Kirsten Williamson - Field Placement: Hunter New England Population Health Unit, Newcastle, New South Wales

Stephen Harfield - Field Placement: South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia

Charlee Law - Communicable Disease Epidemiology. Field Placement: Health Protection New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales

Aurysia Hii - Applied epidemiology of infectious diseases for epidemic response in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Field Placement: Integrated Systems for Epidemic Response (ISER), University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Bernadette Kenny - Surveillance, prevention and control of infectious disease and trauma in South Australia. Field Placement: South Australian Health Communicable Disease Control Branch, Adelaide, South Australia

Jana Sisnowski - Prevention and control of sexually transmissible infections and other infectious disease across multiple settings. Field Placement: The Kirby Institute for infection and immunity in society, UNSW

Ximena Tolosa - Applied epidemiology of influenza and other respiratory infections in Australia, Bangladesh and Cambodia. Field Placement: World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza (VIDRL), Melbourne, Victoria

 

PhD Candidates

Amy Parry - Strengthening local and international epidemiology workforce during emergencies in low resource settings.

Sally Carter - Developing and evaluating a parent-level intervention to address child mental health needs in humanitarian contexts

Chaturangi Yapa - Primary health care service delivery by international actors in humanitarian emergencies

James Flint - The impact of a field epidemiology and operational research training program on health systems in Papua New Guinea