Rate My Professor Aaron Jenkins

Aaron Jenkins is an Associate Professor in Planetary Health and Sydney Horizon Fellow in the Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, at the University of Sydney. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy from Edith Cowan University in 2017, along with a Master of Science, Master of Arts, and Bachelor of Arts. A Fijian citizen with over 25 years of experience in international development across 12 Oceania countries, Jenkins specializes in planetary health, eco-epidemiology, infectious diseases research, wetland management, WASH interventions, sustainable fisheries, and climate-health intersections. His work addresses environmental drivers of health risks, including typhoid fever, zoonotic diseases, and non-communicable diseases linked to ecosystem degradation in Pacific Island contexts. He is a member of the Sydney Infectious Diseases Institute and Charles Perkins Centre.

Jenkins' distinguished career encompasses Senior Research Fellow in Planetary Health and Adjunct Associate Professor at Edith Cowan University since 2017; Senior Program Manager at Wetlands International Oceania (1999-2011); Assistant Lecturer and Adjunct Researcher at the University of the South Pacific (2002-2011); and earlier roles in aquatic ecology and conservation consulting in Papua New Guinea and Fiji. At Sydney, he leads the Watershed Interventions for Systems Health (WISH) project, funded by the Australian Government and Bloomberg Philanthropies, co-designing ridge-to-reef watershed management with communities and Indigenous knowledge to combat diet-related diseases. He co-founded the Oceania chapter of the International Association for Ecology and Health, chairs the Oceania Planetary Health Forum Committee, and has authored 48 journal articles with 1,938 citations. Notable publications include 'Watersheds in planetary health research and action' (The Lancet Planetary Health, 2018), 'Healthy Islands at 30: revitalising an ecological framework for planetary health' (The Lancet Planetary Health, 2025, co-authored), 'Transforming place-based management within watersheds in Fiji: The watershed interventions for systems health project' (PLOS Water, 2024), and 'Human health depends on thriving oceans' (The Lancet, 2023). In 2025, he was joint winner of the inaugural Stephen J. Simpson Prize for Research Translation for his essay 'Trading tuna for tins: Chronic disease and the cost of disconnection'.