Prof Leonie Segal

Professor Leonie Segal holds the Foundation Chair in Health Economics & Social Policy at the University of South Australia.

Her research is primarily concerned with improving the life chances of the most vulnerable members of society – parents and children exposed to intergenerational abuse and neglect, children experiencing serious psychological distress, children of prisoners and Aboriginal families in Central Australia.

Her research is designed to better understand the causes of distress and adversity and determine the desirable system response, working in partnership with clinicians, service providers, government and community.

Leonie uses a logic-driven approach, drawing on theory, original conceptualisation and quantitative and qualitative data to gain deep understandings to derive innovative approaches to solving complex cross-disciplinary problems.

Her research has encompassed a needs-based work-force model to determine the skill set and FTE required to address child and adolescent distress, exploration of the outcomes for children of prisoners in WA, partnership with Central Australian Aboriginal Congress to evaluate their family support programs.

Leonie has conducted over 200 economic evaluations of health interventions covering all modalities and population targets from low to high/extreme risk.

In a 25-year academic career, Leonie has amassed over 200 publications and received 20 research grants since 2000.