Karen Hawke was awarded her PhD in Public Health at Flinders University in 2016. She has a strong interdisciplinary background traversing a range of fields such as psychology, neuroscience, phylogenetics, infectious disease, public health and molecular epidemiology. She has a special interest in improving the health and wellbeing of populations most at risk, both within Australia and overseas and is currently researching infectious disease epidemiology in Aboriginal communities nationally. Karen’s PhD identified the molecular epidemiology of HIV subtypes, quantified transmitted drug resistance among the HIV infected population in South Australia, and used phylogenetic analysis to identify unique recombinant HIV strains and transmission clusters, then linked these to public health outcomes. In 2014 Karen joined the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), and currently works in Aboriginal Health Equity. Karen is also a principal investigator within the Australian Molecular Epidemiology Network (AMEN) – which is researching molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic analysis of HIV subtype and drug resistance patterns across Australia in order to inform public health policy about HIV prevention, intervention, and treatment.