Catriona Mackenzie

C atriona is a surveillance sociologist. She trained as a social scientist and then specialised in international development, but she has worked closely with Ausvet in animal health surveillance projects in Australia and around the world for over 20 years.

Her recent projects have included understanding surveillance stakeholder needs and motivations to design a user-focused surveillance system during the development of iSIKHNAS in Indonesia, analysing sociological issues surrounding surveillance data sharing in Canada, participating in surveillance training for the veterinary services of 45 African countries, and analysing the political, historical, social, tribal and environmental aspects of disease surveillance and eradication programs in Namibia.

Catriona is also actively involved in developing and implementing innovative approaches to the creation of powerful and sustainable surveillance and animal health information systems, working with a multidisciplinary team using cloud-based technology and a bottom-up design philosophy.  Her most recent work involves ongoing stakeholder engagement in a ground-breaking integrated approach to research in the Chilean salmon industry. 

She is particularly interested in exploring truly integrated One Health approaches in remote indigenous communities.  The health, well-being and prosperity of these vulnerable groups is intrinsically linked to housing, essential services, employment and education.  Integrating these factors with all health services will empower these communities to advocate for improved resources, measure and evaluate ongoing activities as well as improve the health and well-being of individuals.

Catriona was born in Jamaica and is widely travelled.  She has spent many years based in a number of countries including 5 years living and working in Thailand and Laos where she worked in a range of development roles and learned both languages well.  She has extensive experience in Indonesia, Chile and Namibia.  She has been based in Lyon, France for the last 14 years and speaks French fluently.  Cate is a passionate dog-lover and has been collecting original early photos of dogs with their owners for many years.  This extensive collection documents a long history of love humans have had for their canine friends as well as part of the rich social history of France.