Rate My Professor Jennifer Schumann

Associate Professor Jennifer Schumann is an Associate Professor (Research) in the Department of Forensic Medicine at Monash University. She earned a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Pharmacology in 2006 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Forensic Medicine in 2011 from Monash University, with her doctoral thesis entitled 'The toxicology of serotonergic drugs and pharmacogenetics in sudden death'. As Head of the Drug Intelligence Unit at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine since November 2018, she also serves as a lecturer in Monash University's Department of Forensic Medicine. Her career includes visiting postdoctoral research positions at the Karolinska Institute and National Board of Forensic Medicine in Sweden, and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris in 2014. She is an Associate Investigator on the NHMRC-funded Emerging Drugs Network of Australia (EDNA) project and the Forensic Lead for EDNA-Victoria.

Schumann's research examines harms associated with drugs in the community to inform Australian public health policy and practice, with a focus on addiction, misuse, and overdose of pharmaceutical and illicit substances. Her expertise spans forensic toxicology and public health, covering preventive medicine, overdose, forensic medicine, driving behaviour, prescription and illicit drug testing, and intentional injury prevention. She has received the 2019 Churchill Fellowship, Australian French Association for Science and Technology Fellowship (2013), International Association of Forensic Toxicologists Travel Award (2019), and Victoria Fellowship (2013). Schumann is Editor of the International Association of Forensic Toxicologists (TIAFT) Bulletin, Vice President of the Forensic and Clinical Toxicology Association (FACTA), and Chair of the FACTA Drug Checking Committee, which produced the first guideline for best practice in analytical drug checking. She has presented her research at conferences worldwide. Key publications include 'Identification of nitazene-related deaths in Australia: How do we make it accurate and timely?' (2026, Drug and Alcohol Review), 'An analysis of offence patterns and legal response to one-punch fatalities in Australia' (2025, Medicine, Science and the Law), 'The analysis of methylamphetamine and para-hydroxy-methylamphetamine in post-mortem hair samples using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry' (2025, Drug Testing and Analysis), and 'Trends in alcohol, MDMA, methylamphetamine and THC in injured and deceased motor vehicle drivers and motorcyclists over a decade (2010-2019) in Victoria, Australia' (2025, Injury Prevention).