An Aboriginal women born of Yawuru, Indonesian and Welsh heritage, Kalinda Griffiths’ interest in health stemmed from witnessing the preventable illness and disease experienced by her immediate and extended family. At 17, her career began in Indigenous health research with a laboratory traineeship. She gained experience predominantly on the Diabetes and Related conditions in the Urban Indigenous Darwin study, the largest and most comprehensive dataset on diabetes-related conditions in urban Indigenous populations. It was during this work that she acquired a keen interest in driving solutions through the use of data. She then completed an undergraduate degree in biomedical science and a master’s degree in public health before undertaking a year of specialised training in cancer epidemiology. She graduated from her PhD in cancer epidemiology at the University of Sydney in December, 2017.

Kalinda is currently Scientia Fellow at the Centre for Big Data Research, UNSW and holds honorary fellowships at Menzies School of Health Research and University of Sydney. As an epidemiologist, her interest is in empirically addressing complex health disparities in populations through existing data. Her research currently addresses issues of quality and the utilisation of ‘big’ data pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Her areas of focus include Indigenous identification and the right for all people to be counted in the data, evidence-based approaches to Indigenous data governance as well as the measurement of health disparities, with a particular focus on cancer treatment and outcomes. She also holds a number or different roles including Deputy Editor of the Health Promotion Journal of Australia. Kalinda’s work shows us issues and considerations required when using data to describe disparities, as well as the critical role that data plays in directing health equity solutions in Australia and around the globe.

Dr Kalinda Griffiths is a Superstar of STEM.