Bio Sketch
Dr Helene-Mari van der Westhuizen is a postdoctoral researcher and lectures in global health at Oxford University. She has expertise in case study research and different types of evidence syntheses. She trained as a medical doctor in South Africa and completed her doctoral research at Oxford University using qualitative methods to examine TB prevention in rural, low-resource contexts. Her research on tuberculosis and COVID-19 prevention has been relied on for national and international policy and she has led evidence syntheses for the World Health Organisation on infection control. In 2022 she was awarded a fellowship in global health that focussed on pandemic preparedness policy. She is co-founder and vice-chair of the Board of the Tuberculosis advocacy organisation, TB Proof. Key areas of work through TB Proof includes mitigating TB stigma and policy implementation accountability. She is currently leading a realist review on participatory research methods in health funded by the Wellcome Trust.
