Hilary is Head of the School of Public Health and Social Work at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). She is an environmental epidemiologist and bioanthropologist researching the health impacts of global heating, especially on more vulnerable populations, and has expertise in the development, implementation and evaluation of adaptation strategies. She has consulted for WHO and UNDP on climate adaptation strategies for health, and she led the health impacts assessment for Australia’s national climate change review (The Garnaut Review, 2008).
At sub-national scale, Hilary has worked on community-based adaptation projects in the remote Pacific and in the Ethiopian Rift Valley, and contributed to a number of city and state-based health adaptation strategies in Australia, including for Sydney, Queensland and Tasmania. She contributes regularly to media and public debate. Areas of expertise include extreme weather, vector-borne disease, food safety and security, health systems and vulnerability. Hilary advocates for rapid and managed energy transition away from fossil fuels to protect health, now and in the future.