Rate My Professor Natalie Johnson

Dr. Natalie Johnson is a Senior Lecturer in Health Behaviour Sciences in the School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, at the University of Newcastle. She qualified from the University of Newcastle with a Bachelor of Education in 1989, postgraduate qualifications in Health Promotion in 1991, and a PhD in 1996. Following her PhD, she held an NHMRC Postdoctoral Fellowship from 1996 to 2000. Dr. Johnson was employed as a part-time Lecturer in Quality Improvement in Health Care from 2001 to 2005, returned to full-time employment as a Lecturer in Health Behaviour Sciences in 2006, and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2012. She was awarded a University of Newcastle Equity Research Fellowship in 2007 and a Gladys M. Brawn Career Development Fellowship in 2016.

Dr. Johnson's research encompasses health promotion and behavioural epidemiology. She has contributed to NHMRC-funded randomised controlled trials, including one testing the efficacy of counselling by an exercise physiologist on physical activity levels of insufficiently active primary care patients (2011-2013, $896,589) and another testing an electronic screening and brief intervention program on alcohol consumption among hospital outpatients with hazardous or harmful drinking (2012-2015, $370,169). Her current focus is on the health and wellbeing of university students, particularly higher degree research students. Key publications include Luu et al. (2026) 'The impact of mandatory work-integrated learning placements on university student wellbeing in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand: a scoping review' in Studies in Higher Education; van Kessel et al. (2025) 'Relationship between university belonging and student outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis' in Australian Educational Researcher; Hutchesson et al. (2025) 'Priorities for research on improving health behaviours for optimal mental health of Australian university students: A twin-panel Delphi study' in Health Promotion Journal of Australia; Mogre et al. (2020) 'Barriers to self-care and their association with poor adherence to self-care behaviours in people with type 2 diabetes in Ghana: A cross sectional study' in Obesity Medicine; and Dundas et al. (2019) 'Does Increasing the Experiential Component Improve Efficacy of the "This Is Public Health" Photo Essay Task? A Nonrandomized Trial' in Pedagogy in Health Promotion. She coordinates and teaches large undergraduate public health courses, including PUBH1030 Foundations of K-6 PDHPE and PUBH1080 Studies in Population Health and Health Promotion.