Dr Lal Rawal

Position

Senior Lecturer-Public Health with School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity, Sydney Campus
Adjunct Fellow with School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University

Biography

Dr. Lal Rawal is currently a Senior Lecturer-Public Health with School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences, CQUniversity. He is an Adjunct Fellow with School of Social Science, Western Sydney University. Prior to these roles, Lal served as Research Coordinator and Academic (Casual) with SSS and School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University between 2018 and 2019. Between 2013 and 2017, Lal worked in Bangladesh with icddr,b, the international research institute and BRAC University, as Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Academic, respectively.

Dr. Rawal has over 16 years of experience in the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of large-scale intervention and observational studies across countries of Asia and Australia. Dr. Rawal is currently leading as well as involved with various research projects funded by international/bilateral agencies and universities in Australia, Japan, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia - most of the projects use Implementation Science Research and Co-design approaches.

Dr. Rawal’s research has made major contributions in a number of areas including NCDs prevention and control and has been published in prestigious journals such as The Lancet, Nature; JAMA Journals; WHO Bulletin; BMJ Global Health; BMC Public Health. Lal is a first author on over 25% of his publications, indicating primary work; last named author on around 20%, indicating leadership and research collaboration; and middle author on 55%, indicating mentoring of students/ early career researchers and junior staff members.
Lal has published over 135 peer-reviewed publications in international peer reviewed journals including and six book/ book chapters, that have been cited over 23176 times (available here (opens in a new window) h-index since 2017: 43.00 and i10-index 80) (Google Scholar, June 2023).

Dr. Rawal received his PhD in Global Health and Master of International Research Bioethics from Monash University, Australia in 2014 and 2008, respectively; Master of Public Health from Mahidol University Thailand in 2005, and Master as well as Bachelor of Education (Health Education) from Tribhuvan University, Nepal in 2004 and 2002, respectively.

Apart from his ongoing research and teaching roles, Lal is also involved with international research and scientific groups, including (a) Collaborator to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) group (since Feb 2019), administered by the Institute of Health and Metrics (IHME), US; (b)  Invited Scientific committee member to the 2nd International Symposium on Community Health Workers, 2019; (c) Mentor and Supervisor for Publication Mentorship for the first-time Women authors in the field of Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR), co-managed by the Health Systems Global and Alliance for HPSR, and (d) Editor, Thai Journal of Public Health (TJPH), Thailand.

Lal has over 10 years of experience in supervising HDR (PhD and Master by Research) students, currently including a primary supervisor for 4 (2 PhD and 2 MRes) and Co-supervisor for 1 PhD students at CQU.

Research Interests

• Epidemiological studies
• Implementation science research
• Health systems and policy
• Chronic non-communicable diseases prevention and management
• Health behaviour and health promotion
• Migration and indigenous health

Qualifications and Recognition

• PhD (Global Health), from Monash University, Australia
• Master of Internationational Research Bioethics, Monash University, Australia
• Master of Public Health, Mahidol University, Thailand
• Bachelor of Education/Master of Education (Health Education), Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Research & Publications

Following are some selected ongoing and recently completed research projects and Lal’s roles to these research works:

• CI-B: Implementing a life course approach in antenatal and postnatal care settings for prevention and reduction of non-communicable disease risks in Nepal (IpreventNCD), co-funded by NHMRC and Norwegian Research Council (NRC) (AU$ 2,643,098.90, 2023 - 2027). Salary coverage: PSP4, 20% for years 1 and 2 and 40% for years 3, 4 and 5.
• CI-B: Diabetes self-management in rural Nepal: A Cluster Randomized Trial, funded by Japan Association for Medical Research and Development, under the Global Alliance for Chronic Disease (GACD) (AU$ 988,000, 2019-2023);
• CI-A: Non-communicable disease (NCDs) and associated risk factors among South Asian migrants and refugees living in NSW, Australia. Funded by Central Queensland University, Australia (Au$ 15,900, 2020-22);
• CI: Bicultural Identity and Resilience among South Sudanese Refugees in Sydney and Melbourne: Public Health Implications, funded by CQUniversity, Australia (AU$ 20,000, 2020-22)
• CI-D: Enhancing students’ service-learning experiences by ensuring innovative outbound programs have positive social impact, funded by CQUniversity, Australia (AU$ 12,000, 2020-22).
• CI-B: Improving Diabetes Care in Nepal, funded by World Diabetes Foundation (AU$ 378,946, 2017-19);
• CI-B (Lead consultant): Use of community health workers for prevention and management of non-communicable disease in selected countries of Asia”, funded by WHO SEARO, Asia Pacific Observatory (AU$ 178,000 2016-18);
• CI-B: Pharmaceutical systems improvement in Bangladesh, funded by USAID (AU$ 84,445, 2016-2017);
• CI-A: Developing health communication commodities for improving MNCH in Bangladesh, funded by UN commission on life saving/ CCP, JHU (AU$ 36,664, 2015-16);
• CI-B: Success Factor Study on Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health, Cross-country analyses (10 fast track countries), funded by WHO HQ Geneva (AU$ 70,552, 2015-16), and
• CI-A: Health Workforce Development in Bangladesh, funded by WHO SEARO (AU$ 77,600, 2014-16).

Note: Dr. Rawal’s substantial contribution to above mentioned and other several projects over the past five years have led to generating over 8 million AU$.

Dr. Rawal has published over 135 publications in leading peer-reviewed international journals, 6 book/ book chapters and over 20 project reports submitted to the international and UN funding agencies.

• For a complete list of Lal’s publications please see his publications page (opens in a new window)

Contact Details