Rate My Professor Rebecca Fanany

Associate Professor Rebecca Fanany serves as Senior Lecturer in Public Health in the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at Central Queensland University. Her academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts with High Distinction in Life Sciences and History of Medicine from the University of Minnesota, a Master of Science in Environmental and Occupational Health from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health from the University of Tasmania. She is also a Registered Sanitarian.

Prior to her academic career in Australia, Fanany worked in public health compliance roles in the United States, including as a Risk Assessment Officer at the Minnesota Department of Health and a Compliance Safety and Health Officer at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Chicago. In Australia, she has held teaching and research positions at the University of Tasmania from 1993 to 1998, Deakin University from 1998 to 2006 and 2012 to 2018, and La Trobe University from 2009 to 2012. She also served as Course Manager for the Personal Injury Education Foundation at WorkCover Victoria. Fanany's research focuses on language and culture as determinants of health, cultural consonance, the experience of ageing, and health issues in Indonesia and the Malay world. Notable publications include the book The Elderly Must Endure: Ageing in the Minangkabau Community in Modern Indonesia co-authored with Ismet Fanany (2019), a chapter on 'Greek Identity in Australia' (2019, with M-I Avgoulas), and 'A cross-sectional study of COVID-19 impacts in culturally and linguistically diverse communities in greater Western Sydney, Australia' (2021, with W Mude et al.). She received the Deakin University Excellence in Teaching Award in 2004 and has consulted for WHO-SEARO and UNESCAP on Indonesia. Fanany is accredited to supervise higher degree research in Public Health and Health Services and Other Language, Literature and Culture. She holds memberships in the Australian Public Health Association and the Australian Health Promotion Association.