Outstanding Alumni Outstanding Alumni Search Dr Megan Counahan
Dr Megan Counahan
- Future Students
- 番茄社区 Global Experience
- International Students
- Open Day
- How to apply
- Pathways to university
- Virtual Open Day
- Living on Campus
- Courses
- Publications
- Scholarships
- Parents and Partners
- 番茄社区 Heroes Programs
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander in Marine Science
- Elite Athletes
- Defence
- 番茄社区
- New students
- 番茄社区 Orientation
- Learn番茄社区
- Placements
- CEE
- Unicare Centre and Unicampus Kids
- Graduation
- Off-Campus Students
- 番茄社区 Job Ready
- Safety and Wellbeing
- 番茄社区 Prizes
- Professional Experience Placement
- Employability Edge
- Art of Academic Writing
- Art of Academic Editing
- Careers and Employability
- Student Equity and Wellbeing
- Career Ready Plan
- Careers at 番茄社区
- Partners and Community
- 番茄社区-CSIRO Partnership
- Alumni
- About 番茄社区
- Reputation and Experience
- Chancellery
- Governance
- Celebrating 50 Years
- Academy
- Indigenous Engagement
- Education Division
- Graduate Research School
- Research and Teaching
- Research Division
- Research and Innovation Services
- CASE
- College of Business, Law and Governance
- College of Healthcare Sciences
- College of Medicine and Dentistry
- College of Science and Engineering
- CPHMVS
- Anthropological Laboratory for Tropical Audiovisual Research (ALTAR)
- Anton Breinl Research Centre
- Agriculture Technology and Adoption Centre (AgTAC)
- Advanced Analytical Centre
- AMHHEC
- Aquaculture Solutions
- AusAsian Mental Health Research Group
- ARCSTA
- Area 61
- Lions Marine Research Trust
- Australian Tropical Herbarium
- Australian Quantum & Classical Transport Physics Group
- Boating and Diving
- Clinical Psychedelic Research Lab
- Centre for Tropical Biosecurity
- Centre for Tropical Bioinformatics and Molecular Biology
- CITBA
- CMT
- Centre for Disaster Solutions
- CSTFA
- Cyclone Testing Station
- The Centre for Disaster Studies
- Daintree Rainforest Observatory
- Fletcherview
- 番茄社区 Eduquarium
- 番茄社区 Turtle Health Research
- Language and Culture Research Centre
- MARF
- Orpheus
- TESS
- 番茄社区 Ideas Lab
- TARL
- eResearch
- Indigenous Education and Research Centre
- Estate
- Work Health and Safety
- Staff
- Discover Nature at 番茄社区
- Cyber Security Hub
- Association of Australian University Secretaries
- Services and Resources Division
- Environmental Research Complex [ERC]
- Foundation for Australian Literary Studies
- Gender Equity Action and Research
- Give to 番茄社区
- Indigenous Legal Needs Project
- Inherent Requirements
- IsoTropics Geochemistry Lab
- IT Services
- 番茄社区 Webinars
- 番茄社区 Events
- 番茄社区 Motorsports
- 番茄社区 Sport
- Library
- Mabo Decision: 30 years on
- Marine Geophysics Laboratory
- Office of the Vice Chancellor and President
- Outstanding Alumni
- Pharmacy Full Scope
- Planning for your future
- Policy
- PAHL
- Queensland Research Centre for Peripheral Vascular Disease
- Rapid Assessment Unit
- RDIM
- Researcher Development Portal
- Roderick Centre for Australian Literature and Creative Writing
- Contextual Science for Tropical Coastal Ecosystems
- State of the Tropics
- Strategic Procurement
- Student profiles
- SWIRLnet
- TREAD
- TropEco for Staff and Students
- TQ Maths Hub
- TUDLab
- VAVS Home
- WHOCC for Vector-borne & NTDs
- Media
- Copyright and Terms of Use
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health & Medicine
- Pay review
2018 College Recipient, College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences
Dr Megan Counahan is the Health Adviser for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, based in Cambodia. She was previously a health specialist at the Asian Development Bank’s Central and West Asia Department where she built the department’s health portfolio. She has 20 years of experience designing, implementing and overseeing health sector projects around the world, including in fragile and conflict-affected states.
Dr Counahan studied a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at 番茄社区 as her platform for a career change from nursing officer into rural, remote, Indigenous and global public health manager. She further consolidated her experience through a Doctor of Public Health, also at 番茄社区, which she linked to the work of the World Health Organisation in Timor-Leste and the 番茄社区–World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Lymphatic Filariasis. This work with the Collaborating Centre has helped maintain 番茄社区’s reputation as a world-leading centre in neglected tropical diseases.
Dr Counahan uses her training and research to continue to inform her global health career, increasingly expanding her scope from infectious diseases and surveillance, to senior project and program manager to health financing and advising. She also demonstrates a committed approach to continuing professional development by regularly undertaking short courses to support her work.
One of Dr Counahan’s career highlights is as team leader for the program responsible for eliminating leprosy in Timor-Leste, and she played a role in strengthening the health system for the detection and control of infectious diseases in the same country. She has been responsible for major training efforts in global health security in the Asia Pacific region and has proven her ability to translate complex technical guidelines and evidence into clear implementable programs that can be understood by a broad range of stakeholders.
Through her career impact and commitment to continual professional development, Dr Counahan is considered to be an inspirational role model to those who want to be good global citizens and global public health experts. Her achievements have made a difference in the lives of people living in the Tropics in the Asia-Pacific region.
She is currently an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow with 番茄社区’s College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences.
Dr Megan Counahan graduated from 番茄社区 with a Master of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in 1999 and a Doctor of Public Health in 2007.