Academy Fellow

Professor Carla Treloar is one of Australia’s most accomplished and international recognized social scientists. Her achievements in her field has been recognized in her appointment as Director of two leading social research centres at UNSW Sydney. She is an outstanding contributor to the academic community and a distinguished research leader supporting 105 staff in her centres. 

Professor Treloar’s work in hepatitis C and injecting drug use spans the disciplines of health psychology, sociology, public health and health services research, much of it located at the field-defining intersection of social science and medicine. She has developed a world-leading and highly effective collaboration with clinicians and epidemiologists to explore the social aspects of drugs and drug-user health and to embed social research centrally in studies of hepatitis C care and treatment. Her work focuses on the gaps, failures and harms of health and social systems and is influential in guiding much-needed change to meet the needs of people who use drugs. Her research demonstrates the highest academic standards, but Professor Treloar also produces applied research used by affected communities, policy makers and health practitioners to improve health system and societal responses. Her research has been (1) translated into practice by community-based hepatitis C prevention agencies; (2) integral in changing the laws on the distribution of sterile injecting equipment in two Australian jurisdictions; (3) informed social media campaigns targeting young people at risk of hepatitis C (NSW Ministry of Health); (4) cited in an Obama White House communique on stigmatising language and drug dependence; (5) used to restructure the delivery of hepatitis C prevention services in NSW; and (6) routinely cited in national strategies and international guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis C. Professor Treloar is renowned for her commitment to ethical and respectful conduct of research in close collaboration with affected communities. She has led research and community engagement activities with the most vulnerable and marginalised Australians, including Aboriginal communities. Her commitment to these communities is evident in all her research—from the issues and populations studied, the methodologies used, her outstanding productivity and effectiveness in communicating results to all stakeholders, and her commitment to advocacy and action.

Professor Treloar is the recipient of ,825,000 in research funding and has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles. Her h-index is 37 (via Google Scholar; 28 via Scopus) and her career citations total is 4386 (via Google Scholar; 2656 via Scopus). She has supervised 10 PhDs, 2 Masters by Research and 9 Masters by Coursework students to completion. She holds editorial positions on three leading international journals. She has been an invited speaker for 67 local, national and international conferences. She is a member of 54 government, health agency and community organisations advisory groups and patron of a rehabilitation service for women who are dependent on illicit drugs (Phoebe House).

Professor Treloar is an outstanding social researcher who is making an extraordinary contribution to social science research and scholarship. In both her centres, her leadership of a new generation of social scientists is increasing Australia’s research capacity and workforce. Carla Treloar is widely admired and held in the highest regard by academic peers, clinicians, front-line health workers, and affected communities

2018-2020 ARC College of Experts; 2017 University of Newcastle Alumni Medal for Professional Excellence; 2015 Hepatitis NSW Cheryl Burman Award; 2013 Dean’s Award for Achievement in Research Leadership. Faculty of Arts and Social Science, The University of New South Wales

1. Brener L, Cama E, Broady T, Hopwood M, de Wit J, Treloar C. Predictors of health care workers support for discriminatory treatment and care of people who inject drugs. Psychology, Health & Medicine. 2019 Apr;24(4):439-445. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2018.1546018. Epub 2018 Nov 19.

2. Madden A, Hopwood M, Neale N, Treloar C. Beyond interferon side effects: What residual barriers exist to DAA hepatitis C treatment for people who inject drugs?. PLoS One. 2018 Nov 30;13(11):e0207226. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0207226

3. Rance J, Lafferty L, Treloar C. ‘Behind closed doors, no one sees, no one knows’: Hepatitis C, stigma and treatment-as-prevention in prison. Critical Public Health. doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2018.1541225. Published on line 1 Nov 2018.

4. Broady T, Cama E, Brener L, Hopwood M, de Wit J, Treloar C. Responding to a national policy need: Development of a stigma indicator for blood borne viruses and sexually transmissible infections. Australian New Zealand Journal of Public Health. 2018 Dec;42(6):513-515. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.12809.

5. Treloar, C., Hopwood, M., Cama, E., Saunders, V., Jackson, L. C., Walker, M., Ooi C, Ubrihien, Ward, J. (2018). Evaluation of the Deadly Liver Mob program: insights for roll-out and scale-up of a pilot program to engage Aboriginal Australians in hepatitis C and sexual health education, screening, and care. Harm Reduct J, 15(1), 5. doi:10.1186/s12954-018-0209-y