Talking Business With Alan Kohler

Susan decided to turn her hand to creative writing after a long career in medical research, public health advocacy and the pharmaceutical industry. She holds Master’s degrees in pharmacy and biostatistics, a PhD in epidemiology and health economics, and was a National Health and Medical Research Council Neil Hamilton Fairley Fellow. She holds honorary professorships at Griffith University and the University of Melbourne. Many of Susan’s research projects have influenced health policy. For example, her early work on the use of theophylline in acute asthma highlighted its toxicity and led to an appropriate decline in its use. The ecological analysis of the effectiveness of needle-exchanges that she published in The Lancet, was pivotal in securing government support for these programs. Her major area of expertise is cost-effectiveness analysis and she has written numerous successful submissions, on behalf of not-for-profits and pharmaceutical companies, for government subsidy of medicines.