Professor Maxine Whittaker is the Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, and Dean of College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences at James Cook University. She is also co-Director of the World Health Organisation's Collaborating Centre for Vector Borne Diseases and Neglected Tropical Diseases.
She was previously (2008-2016) Professor of International and Tropical Health and Co-Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Health Information Systems, Director of the Health Information Systems Knowledge Hub, Program Director of the Australian Initiative on Control and Elimination of Malaria/Pacific Malaria Initiative Support Centre and co-Secretariat of the Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network.
Prof Whittaker has lived and worked in many countries including Bangladesh, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea. She has extensive experience in project and programme design in health and development, especially in infectious diseases, One Health, and sexual and reproductive health and gender analysis, and using rapid formative research and anthropological methods and for a variety of international development partner and NGO organizations.
She has developed local research teams in social sciences methods in Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Northern Queensland remote communities, and Vanuatu, and participated in the development of training materials and activities to support this capacity development.