Professor Rosana Pacella

Professor Rosana Pacella BSc (Hons), PhD

Associate Dean, Research & Knowledge Exchange (FEHHS) and Director of the Institute for Lifecourse Development, Professor of Global Health

Key details

Professor Rosana Pacella

Associate Dean, Research & Knowledge Exchange (FEHHS) and Director of the Institute for Lifecourse Development, Professor of Global Health

Rosana Pacella is Professor of Global Health and Associate Dean Research and Knowledge Exchange in the Faculty of Education Health and Human Sciences at the University of Greenwich. Prof Pacella has been the Director of the Institute for Lifecourse Development (ILD) since its launch in 2019. The ILD focuses its interdisciplinary expertise to promote the lifelong wellbeing of vulnerable populations. It is an anchor unit of research excellence embedded in the community, working in close partnership with an extensive network of private, public and third sector organisations to tackle global challenges and solve real and pressing problems that impact our society. All aspects of the ILD research environment were judged to be of world-leading or internationally excellent quality in the UK Research Excellence Framework - REF2021.

Prof Pacella also holds an Adjunct Professor appointment in the Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Her research focuses on burden of disease and cost-effectiveness analysis, and she is a global expert on quantifying burden of disease attributable to violence including child maltreatment and bullying. Prof Pacella has led critical analyses to understand the impact of violence on health systems and overall population health, and the effectiveness of interventions to prevent and mitigate long-term consequences across the life course. Previously in the Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) at QUT, she established and led a health services research team conducting economic evaluations of evidence-based wound management innovations and was awarded the QUT Vice-Chancellor’s Performance Individual Award for the impact of this research on policy and practice.

Prof Pacella was the principal investigator on the £1.3 (AUD2.3) million NHMRC project to conduct the first Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS) 2019-23, before moving to the UK and remains a chief investigator on this landmark study. The ACMS findings were publicly launched on the 4th of April 2023 to senior government members as well as research and sector leaders from across Australia. From 2000-2007, Prof Pacella worked in the Burden of Disease Research Unit at the Medical Research Council on the South African National Burden of Disease study and led the Comparative Risk Assessment component, with evidence from this groundbreaking work used to inform policy.

Prof Pacella has played an important role internationally, in building capacity in burden of disease assessments among researchers who are employed or contracted by governments. More recently she has expanded her interests to training clinicians and researchers in cost-effectiveness methods. She has authored more than 140 journal articles mostly in high impact journals and has been awarded over £2.4 million in research funding from nationally competitive schemes. Prof Pacella obtained her PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1993 and has supervised several PhD students to completion.

Posts held previously

  • 2018 - 2019 Head of Research, University of Chichester
  • 2014 - 2018 Associate Professor at Queensland University of Technology (Faculty of Health) I Australian Centre for Health Services Innovation (AusHSI) I Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation I School of Public Health and Social Work
  • 2007 - 2014 Senior Lecturer, University of Queensland (Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
    School of Population Health)
  • 2000 - 2007 Specialist Scientist at Medical Research Council of South Africa (Burden  of Disease Research Unit)

Allied health professions, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy Social work and social policy