Associate Professor Maarit Laaksonen is a biostatistician with over 20 years of international research experience in epidemiology and public health at the University of Sydney's Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health. She serves as Associate Professor (Teaching and Research) and specializes in biostatistics, focusing on disease burden methods and their applications. Previously, she worked at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Finland and the University of New South Wales, including as a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Big Data Research in Health. Her career includes leading national and international projects on disease burden and health economic evaluations, contributing to advanced statistical analysis in public health.

Laaksonen's research develops innovative measures of disease burden and applies them to population health data to inform strategies for reducing chronic disease impact, particularly cancer. She holds the Cancer Institute NSW Career Development Fellowship (2019/CDF1022) and leads studies identifying determinants of future cancer burden to improve prevention, early detection, and outcomes. Her work integrates advanced statistical modeling with health data to support evidence-based decision-making and shapes cancer control strategies. Key publications include 'Every tenth malignant solid tumor attributed to overweight and obesity in Finland' (2023, European Journal of Cancer), 'The future burden of oesophageal and stomach cancers attributable to modifiable risk factors: Projections to 2060' (2022), 'The burden of colon cancer attributable to modifiable factors—The Netherlands, 1990–2017' (2022, International Journal of Cancer), 'The future burden of kidney and bladder cancers preventable by modifiable risk factors in Australia' (2019, International Journal of Cancer), and 'Association between overall diet quality and postmenopausal breast cancer risk' (2021, Scientific Reports). She contributes to biostatistics teaching and workshops in the Sydney School of Public Health, recognized for methodological rigor and policy relevance in biostatistics and public health research.

Professional Email: maarit.laaksonen@sydney.edu.au