Dr Stefanie Puszka

PhD; Graduate Certificate in Yolŋu Studies; Bachelor of Indigenous Knowledges (Honours); Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Economics)

Medical anthropology, caregiving, chronic conditions, disability, aged care, housing policy, decolonial approaches, gender, Indigenous economy, social security, governmentality, Northern Australia

Dr Stefanie Puszka is a medical anthropologist and Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Psychology. Her research is grounded in collaboration with First Nations community-based partners and seeks to understand First Nations care ethics and how it might shape health and social policy.

Her first monograph, Care Circuits: Yolŋu Kidney Disease, and the Work of Policy Translation (forthcoming, Rutgers University Press) explores the role of care practices in the translation policy from strategic documents, guidelines, funding models and eligibility criteria into homes, hospital beds and everyday lives.

Her current project is exploring the intersections of care and work within the NDIS in remote First Nations communities and the possibility of a First Nations care workforce grounded in First Nations values and practices of care.

Dr Puszka is committed to undertaking policy-engaged anthropology in both her research and teaching, which encompasses courses in applied medical anthropology, qualitative research methods and health humanities.

Grants, tenders, fellowships and consultancies

Care economies: The First Nations disability workforce in remote Australia, Puszka S, ARC – DECRA (DE260100636), 2026 – 8

Evaluation of the NDIS Alternative Commissioning Pilots in Remote and First Nations Communities, Puszka S, Bain-Donohue S, Sutherland S, Olsen A, Phillips C, Markham F, Commonwealth Department of Social Services tender, 2024 – 5

Towards the development of a family-based approach to type 2 diabetes care in First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, Puszka S, Kirkham R, Dhurrkay Y, Garrawurra N, Rossingh B, Maple-Brown L, Massey L, Diabetes Australia, 2023 – 5

Towards the co-design of a family-based approach to type 2 diabetes prevention and management in remote Northern Territory First Nations communities, Puszka S, Kirkham R, Dhurrkay Y, Garrawurra N, Rossingh B, Maple-Brown L, Massey L, Menzies School of Health Research Small Grant, 2023 – 4

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices in disability support services project: A collation of systematic reviews, Dreise T, Puszka S, Walsh C, Smith D, Markham F, Yap M, Dinku Y, Eckford-Williamson B, Murray M, Commonwealth Department of Social Services tender, 2021

Beyond parity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce planning: Achieving equity through needs-based and strengths-based approaches, Lahn J, Puszka S, Lawton P, Dinku Y, Nichols N, Markham F, consultants to the National Indigenous Health Leadership Forum, 2020

Implementation and evaluation of the Darwin mental health and suicide prevention social media campaign, Nagel T, Povey J, Mills PPJR, Puszka S, Sweet M, Northern Territory Primary Health Network, 2019-20

Improving access to housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander renal patients with complex care needs, Puszka S, Jeff Cheverton Memorial Scholarship, Deeble Institute for Health Policy Research, 2019

Capacity-development and awareness-raising for Indigenous kidney disease through Indigenous voices Barbara Hale Fellowship, Puszka S, Australian Federation of Graduate Women, 2018

Livelihoods of Indigenous People displaced from remote communities to urban centres for dialysis treatment, NHMRC postgraduate scholarship (GNT1132700), 2017 – 19