Dr Karinna Saxby | Melbourne Institute Research Fellow
Melbourne Institute Research Fellow Karinna Saxby’s journey into health economics has been shaped by her commitment to social justice and a desire to improve health outcomes for disadvantaged populations.
With a background in engineering and science, Karinna initially worked for KPMG in health and policy consulting. During this time, she developed a keen interest in health economics, particularly in understanding how policy could be leveraged to enhance the health and wellbeing of underserved communities.
“I got really interested in health economics and how we can inform policy to improve population health,” Karinna says.
This interest led her to pursue a PhD at Monash University, where she focused on healthcare use among disadvantaged groups, including people living with disability, LGBTQ+ populations, and First Nations peoples. Social justice has been a core motivator for Karinna.
“I’ve always had a strong sense of social justice and wanting to try and improve outcomes for disadvantaged populations,” she explains.
Karinna’s research delves into the ways healthcare systems and broader social structures can impact health disparities among marginalised groups.
One of the events that deeply impacted her work was the Marriage Equality campaign.
“During the Marriage Equality survey, I became really worried about how the ‘No campaign’ coverage in the media affected the mental health of LGBTQ+ Australians and this has inspired a lot of my empirical work.”
Since completing her PhD, Karinna has been employed as a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute.
Here, she’s expanding her research to explore how structural stigma influences the long-term health conditions of sexual minorities.
I’m trying to demonstrate that these inequalities are not only an important human rights and social issue, but an important economic issue.
“For example, altogether my work would suggest that in stigmatising regions, sexual minorities use less preventative healthcare, and this is leading to deterioration of health and the development of long-term, and more costly, chronic health conditions.”
Karinna hopes to further investigate how these inequities affect the use of acute healthcare, such as hospitalisations, and whether the economic burden of healthcare disparities can be addressed through policy reform.
One of the surprising insights Karinna has gained throughout her research is the impact that policies and structural conditions have on health outcomes.
“I think that sometimes it can be surprising to people just how much policies and structural conditions matter,” she says
As a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, Karinna has found significant support to further her research.
The University of Melbourne offers a wealth of resources for early career researchers, including grants and networking opportunities, all of which have been instrumental in pushing her work forward.
“UniMelb has quite a lot of support to help drive your research forward, like early career researcher grants,” she says.
For Karinna, the importance of her work lies not only in the social justice implications but also in the economic impact of these health disparities.
“When we have a finite share of resources, it is really important to understand how we can do these things in a way that’s cost-effective and targets populations with the greatest capacity to benefit,” she explains.
Healthcare policy is a critical lever for improving population health, and Karinna hopes to provide policymakers with the evidence needed to advocate for a more inclusive and equitable healthcare system.
By exposing the economic and health repercussions of structural stigma, her research aims to drive policy changes that can uplift priority populations and create lasting societal benefits.